changing from private to state, coul you go on a waiting list for a good state school ?

[mummyloveslucy]

If a child is at a private school but needs to change to a state school for year 1 (about 5.5 years old) can they go on a waiting list for any school neer them or will they just be allocated to whatever school has a place?
Friends of ours have a daughter in a private school and they have to take her out but are worried that she could be sent anywere.
They could possibly keep her there another term or so untill a place at a school became availabe.
I told her I'd try to find out what I could.

Back-tracking a bit- and purely curiosity about what a poster said earlier: Is it true that if you arrive after 'school has started' you can approach the school directly and can you then be offered a place on the head's say so? I thought ALL state admissions were through the LEA (apart from religious schools etc perhaps)- but apparently not? Better brush off that doctorate and twinset'n'pearls! tee hee.

No, late admissions may be dealt with by the school rather than the LEA, but admissions will still be made on the original entry criteria. You may live next door to the school for example and therefore be in 1st place on the waiting list, but if someone comes along who has a sibling at the school or who is in care then they will be in 1st place. Waiting list may not be the best way to describe it as that implies that if you wait long enough you will simply go to the top of the list, which isn't the case.

Abetadad's tactics are usually more common when applying for reception or Year 7 places rather than in year transfers. The tactics are slightly different for in year transfers as you are usually not restricted in the number of schools that you are being considered for, nor do you have to rank them. It may therefore be pointless to consider moving houses. However pertinent information would be to look at how long the waiting list for that particular yeargroup at the schools they are considering, how many children are in the yeargroup, and when did the last place come up (which will give you an idea of how recenlyt the waiting list has been thoroughly checked). Manipulation of addresses generally doesn't happen as much in year as you could be in play for more than one school.

I would suggest your friend to go for it! Put her child's name down for the two local schools. If she lives next door to one of them, then she will climb the waiting list on proximity. If she does not, then she needs to plan. The LEA may tell her where she is on the list.

She may need to be flexible about schools. If she is offered a school which she does not like, she should visit anyway, rather than be blinded by prejudice. If she still does not like the school, then she does not have to accept it. A state school will not be the same as a private school, so do not compare directly. However, with parental support, there is no reason why a child should not do as well in a state school.

I'm sorry Abetadad, but you are making me larf.

You don't always have to have tactics. You don't always have to play the game (whatever that is?).

Sometimes it is just a case of ringing your local schools and asking what the score is with the admissions list, and where your child might be on that list. That is certainly the way it is round here.

The way you are painting it is as if it is guerilla warfare and you are almost suggesting that there is a way of manipulating the admissions list. Which I don't consider to be true. The admissions criteria will be applied and places allocated accordingly as they come up.

State school can be great. DD is at a lovely one. Not amazing in terms of ofsted or reputation , but wonderful nonetheless. She is thriving, loves it, and we are very glad we chose not to send her to a private school.

Abetadad says his dc do not go to state school, so he is reflecting urban myths rather than how it really is for most people. (Yes, I know that it does go on, I'm not totally naive. Sharp practice tends to be confined to competition for extremely popular schools).

People often change school at non-standard times. People move house etc. This can be a pain if your have more than one school age child, but this is not the case in the situation the OP is describing. Even places at sought after state schools come up (although usually in year 3, when dc are moved to prep school).

We live close to a very oversubscribed state school. During the visit, the principal very kindly noted that many of us will be disappointed and would end up on the 'wait list'. But she said not to despair and if we really wanted to get in, we need to 'stay close' to the school. I think she meant keep phoning and showing your interest because a lot of people are technically on the wait list but actually don't take up places once their child is settled elsewhere or move away.

The point I am making is that the crieria may not be applied as strictly once the initial allocation is made.

Your friend doesn't have to ring up the LEA in the first instance.

Why doesn't she just ring up the two good states schools near her and see if they have a space in year 1.

If they do, and she has a look round the school and likes it, problem solved. The Head will be able to tell her then and there if they can take her child.

If her child is in reception, they might also have a place now in reception (it is a low birth year, after all).

You don't have to 'throw yourself at the mercy of the LEA'. You can speak to the schools direct!

(Just like independent schools!)

I think that in general the criteria are kept to pretty strictly. Perhaps because (and this is certainly the case with our nearest, most popular school) if they were to offer a place to someone living more distant from the school it would not take long for this to become common knowledge of the people remaining on the list!

I think parents are told to keep in touch so that the school can keep records of continuing interest which helps them to work their way through a list when a place does come up. But more than anything, as a way for the school to let parents down gently. Ring in, keep in touch - means round here, "ring up, you'll be told where you are on the list. We'll be very friendly and you will have felt that you have done something."

pooka - I am afraid to say you are right.

I think that this is what might happen to the OP's friend. Not knowing the system she will be told she is on the list, which will raise her hopes, but she will never ever get to the top of that list.

My dc's go to an oversubscribed and excellent state school

There are often places from Y1 onwards - people move house, live abroad, go private ... all sorts of reasons. Your friend needs to get on waiting lists, and ring as Pooka says. No cloak and dagger mystery - lists are operated very strictly. I wouldn't worry too much

I think OPs friend needs to phone the local state schools and visit those that have places. If she finds one she likes she will probably have to take up the state school place immediately. State schools in my area would not hold a place until the beginning of the academic year.

If your friend definitely needs to take her DCs out of private she should probably look into the state options asap as she will need to give notice to the private school. There will also probably be others moving from private to state (given the economic climate) so any places in good state schools are likely to fill up.

Haven t read this thread properly, but I would agree with having to be ready to move at short notice. It's not like the independent sector, where you pay a deposit and they hold your place until the next September.
The LEAs only give details of places vacant for the next term, which is one way for the independents to maximise their income; people have already paid a term's fees, so are more likely to feel tied to staying.
Youe friend might have to consider her last lot of school fees as a loss leader, as she'll probably have paid them before being notified of a place.

In our LEA (I am a school governor), people moving into the borough (or back into the state system from independent) after Reception are told to apply direct to the desired school(s). If there is a vacancy in the year to which admission is being sought, the school's usual admissions criteria kick in and the applications are prioritised according to those criteria. Some schools keep waiting lists from year to year, some don't and parents have to re-apply the following year if they don't get a place first time.

I would guess that, at year 1, there will still be quite a few parents keen to get their children into their first choice school, so whether OP's friends would get a place at their preferred school may well depend on how far they live from the school etc. It may also take more term for a place to become available.

Best thing to do (obviously) is to sound out each school about expected vacancies, waiting lists etc.