Will accepting a nursery place help with reception admissions at the same school?

[Cluelessmamaa]

We’ve been offered a nursery place at a brilliant school but would this have any impact on getting into reception, well the actual school?
It does state on the admissions page that it doesn’t guarantee you a place, however I wanted to ask other parents from experience, does it help? Or does it literally make no difference?

For context we live 4 miles away! I’m seriously shocked we were offered a nursery place.
LO attends a lovely private nursery. We’ve been there for almost a year and I’m really torn. Dd is 3 and will be 4 in October.
I applied for a nursery vacancy hoping it might help for a school place and my family live in that area. I applied for housing years ago and thought something might come up by now and we’d basically live and go to school there. I know that was wishful thinking!
I don’t know if I should accept the offer and cross fingers that we’ll get into the school too or just stay where we are and apply for it when it’s time. It’s a 15 minute drive but we live in another borough so I don’t even know how that would work when applying for schools. I’d want to apply for this school but also there’s 2 where I live that I would put on my list. I don’t even know if it’s possible to apply for a school in a different borough as well as your own. I hope I’ve given enough info.

So yes please tell me what you think I should do parents!

Our school nursery has totally different criteria - no 1 is age in the year. They prioritise older children because it’s a very “school like” experience - they wear uniform and do phonics etc. it really suited my autumn born DD but wouldn’t have suited my summer born DS so I didn’t send him (not sure he’d have even got a place).

Schools are free to do what they want with nurseries whereas local authorities set the criteria for the school.

Always always check the school admissions policy!!! Don't assume. Know the distance for the last child admitted in the previous year on which criteria - this is published information. They can be straightforward or they can be unusual.

DSs school has been heavily under subscribed for a number of years - in his year there were a number of children who were admitted who live more than ten miles away. It's a good school. But it's since cut the number of places available due to the falling birth rate.

The high school my son will go to in September has an unusual entry criteria. We knew this when we applied to primary. It is worth looking at over the next few years too as one of my best friends suddenly clocked the catchment area for the high schools near her - all her sons friends were in it but they weren't. I'd nagged her for a couple of years to look at it and she'd been umming and ahhhing about moving for a while. She's in the process of trying to move in a rush so she can apply in October.

The high school entry for my son's high school has caught out several people we know over the years who wanted their child to go to. One is currently trying to appeal but has a cat in hell's chance of success much to their distress.

It sounds ridiculous but knowing all your options when your kid is at nursery is much better. We moved when DS was 4 with much of this in mind so we didn't have to do multiple moves and DS change friends.

As PP it has no impact generally. But people think it does, DC school heavily implied it too, as they wanted the DC. But a 9 to 12 nursery school wasn't all that useful to people needing childcare. Ever year there would be outraged parents who had convinced themselves it guaranteed a place.

Speak to the head teacher. We're in a very similar situation although we live very rural whereas it sounds like you're in a city. We took a tour of the school and nursery and then asked about places. head told us the school is slightly oversubscribed but she's managed to find a place for all children so far. As I said we are very rural which I'm sure makes a difference but Head also said to us that she would make an effort for any children in nursery to get a place in the school going forward. It sounded very much like something within her control.

head told us the school is slightly oversubscribed but she's managed to find a place for all children so far

Only because the child met the admissions criteria in a school where enough places are available- nothing to do with going to the nursery.

Head also said to us that she would make an effort for any children in nursery to get a place in the school going forward. It sounded very much like something within her control.

It is not within her control, she doesn’t even see who has applied - just given the number of applicants on the day the applications close.
School admissions follow the School Admissions Code. This is a statutory framework issued under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998. It imposes binding legal obligations on governing bodies, Local Authorities (LAs), and appeal panels to ensure school places are allocated in an open, objective, and fair manner.
(note no mention of the headteacher)

Yeah @Workingmammabear I agree with @ThoughtTo – the head teacher has no influence over who gets a space at the school (assuming a state school in England btw). They didn’t "manage to find a place" for all the DC – they qualified under the admissions criteria. No point speaking to the head as it is not in their control and it is surprising how little some know about admissions arrangements to their own school tbh.