Ok what happens when the council wont offer you a nursery place at chosen school?

[mosschops30]

About 6 months ago I phoned our local school to put ds's name down for nursery. Its not the primary school he will go to as thats Catholic and they dont have a nursery class.

Anyway sent my form in the council on time and got a letter this morning saying there was no place for him in Spring. Which is fine by me as I;d rather him start next september. They do say that they will look at it again for spet 08 but does this mean he will go to the back of the queue again or because he wasnt accepted for spring will he have more chance of going september.

They have sent me a list of available schools but none of them are in our area and some are across the other side of the city!

Any advice would be great thanks

Probably depends on their application policy . As it is a new school year they may well have to look at all the eligible applciations together but potentially your ds would be towards the top of priorities if they base it on age for example. iiwy I'd give them a ring to see if you need to resubmit an application for next year or if they carry the existing one over, and ask .

I am hoping he will be top of list for sept 08. I will have to phone and ask.
I'm annoyed because another parent who doesnt live within 2 miles of my chosen school got a place (albeit not this year), I just dont know how they work it?

mosschops it depends on the numbers applying and the number of siblings catchment areas can vary quite alot if they are'aren't may siblings.

You need to find out from the school or LEA how admissions are determined as schools and school nurseries will have a strict criteria to apply when there are more applications than places.

If you were in our school then I you would have to apply again and take your chances with everybody else for September.

god it sucks doesnt it. I'm glad he'll be going to catholic primary where he will get a place. I dont know how people cope with all this competition for schools I cant be arsed with it.

goingfor3 this child didnt have any siblings at the school or live in catchment, I know this because he sister is in highschool with dd

Surely you have had to apply for the Catholic school though? It's just the same. There is always competition if a school is over subscribed and no competition if it is undersubscribed. If your Catholic school is oversubscribed it will have an admissions criteria based probably on church attendance then siblings then proximity.

The child who got that nursery place was lucky because that year there were less children who had a higher priority e.g. siblings, nearness to school

I agree with wheresthehamster there's no gurantee that your son will get a place at the catholic school if there is alot of competion, your neighbour may have got in last year but that doesn't mean that your son will get in if other children who go to the church with siblings and live closer are at high numbers.

Catchment areas for nurseriues are generally much larger as some children still use full time day care so won't take up a place until starting school.

well I am assuming he will get a place given that his sibling goes there, we attend church and live in the parish/catchment.

I have now spoken to the council and its something to do with rising 4's whatever that is. Apparently he will be given priority in september which suits me fine, because he will be older.

Rising 4s means that they give priority to children who will turn 4 in the term in which they start nursery. So, if he won't turn 4 until autumn, priority has been given to children who will turn 4 in the summer term, and he will get priority in September.

But why don't you apply to any other nurseries? You still get the grant.

Do you mean private nurseries?

I suppose so. They ahve all sorts of names, I don't know exactly what, some are businesses, some are run by parents, some are non-profit, some are part of a community or sports centre. The buisness ones are generally more expensive. Dd went to a mornings only pre-school at a local sports centre, which was completely grant-funded.

The council have said they will fund a place if no school within 2 miles can offer him a place. However this has to be on their approved list and I dont know what they are yet.
Hopefully I wont have to sort all that out, being in my final year of my degree, doing placement and dissertation I could do without the extra hassle really