When should I apply for schools?- DD four in Aug 2011

[TwoPeasOnePod]

Hello, just looking for a quick bit of advice from any parents in the know- my DD turns four next August and so will be starting primary school in September 2011, but we have not yet viewed any schools- when do I need to view them/put in applications?
Also, is looking at around four schools and applying for the two preferred ones the norm?! Or should apply for more? Sorry for (daft, probably silly) questions but Ive never done this before because shes my first child!
Thanks

Applications will be soon to start reception next September.

Depends on the area how many choices you put. I could do one here & know I could get a place but other places 4 choices wouldn't guarantee it.

i think your best bet is to ring the schools you want to apply for and ask when they start taking applications. some schools have different closing dates for application forms.

when i applied for ds i had to pick 3 schools in order of preference, but for dd i only had to pick 1 school as it was the same school as ds. (i think the closing date was febuary time but not too sure)

sorry im not more help im only going on my experience and all schools are different.

Hi - you'll probably get plenty of replies. You can look at as many schools as you would like - call the school and make an appointment as some Heads have set visit times. At that visit ask the Head what the school's actual admission process is and what the projected numbers are - living in catchment is no guarantee of getting a place. Also, look on your Local Education Authority's website and checkout what the admission's process is and what the timescales are. I had to call my catchment school and get on that list for the Authority to mail out the forms to me. Be aware though, that you need to call the LEA if that fails. Despite being on the school's list the LEA had to be called 4 times before a form was sent!

You ask how many to put onto your form. You will need to give as many preferencs as the LEA asks you to - here in Nottingham 4 is the norm and, indeed from this year, the minimum. Even then, there is no guarantee of getting in to any of the 4.

It may be worth you watching The Big School Lottery on BBC iPlayer. It is about secondary schools but the admissions process is the same for primary.

Good luck!

Go onto your council website or ring them up and they can give you the salient dates and some idea of the procedure ...

In Surrey our applications have to be in by the end of October and are done on line, but some schools require an additional application form.

The schools you are interested in should have some open days or look arounds organised - contact the schools offices to arrange

TY for quick replies, I have decided that I will ring the four primaries Ive picked tomorrow, and see if I can visit them next week (I'm due to give birth to DD2 in 7 days so panicking that I should make a start on the schools process for DD1 before I'm left with no spare time...)
I'm worrying that she will end up having to go to/only being offered a place at one of the two closest schools (both performing below average so I'm not even going to apply to them,instead applying to the four next-nearest schools who have all achieved 'good' in last Ofsted reports.
I presume this is ok to do, and we dont HAVE to pick closest ones??
thankyou, very useful info, will look at the LEA site now x

You don't have to pick the closest ones, no, but I would pay careful attention to the admissions policies of the ones you apply to. If they are like most regular (e.g. non church) they will give preference to siblings and then on distance - which, depending on how far you live, may rule you out. If you don't get a place at any of them, you will end up wherever there is a space, which will likely be an underperforming school maybe some miles away. The schools should be able to tell you how far the furthest successful application lived last year, and you can gauge from that your likelihood of getting in.

patriciaholm ooh good point,that had never even crossed my mind..The school I have reasoned is the most suitable (before visiting any, so may change mind..) is under a mile away, i think its about 0.78 of a mile away, hopefully that will be considered close enough (fingers crossed) BUT there are THREE infants schools closer to us than that, all underperforming in comparison, and NONE of which are in the four I would like to apply for..

Its horribly complicated, this primary school picking jobby!
Does anyone know, if it makes a difference if you put in your applications promptly, eg. would I be reducing the likelihood of getting her a place at the preferred school if I left it closer to the end of the application deadline?

Check with your LA asap - ours in Lancashire had to be in by 6th October.

We only had once choice - think more are the norm though.

hi dixiechick- just looked on the lea site, apparently applications for this area (North Lincolnshire) are between Oct 2010 and mid-Jan 2011, going to ring tomorrow just to be ABSOLUTELY sure! because that sounds like a wild difference between your areas deadlines?!

Def check - the good schools here can have a distance of about 0.4 miles for successful admissions!

Oh, and no, it makes no difference when in the application period you apply, just make sure you do it by the deadline.

here in london southwark applications have already started sept 1-jan 15 i think....

Look on the LEA website and there should be a starting school page that will tell you when the application has to be in.

Remember that not applying somewhere doesn't mean you can't be offered a place there - it depends on how many other people apply and whether they are higher up on the list than you are.

Remember also that you may change your mind when you visit - we moved house recently and I looked at lots of schools. I disliked one outstanding o e and really liked a satisfactory one.

here is the document about timescales - you can start applying mid October and have to apply by mid January. It makes no difference when between those dates you apply - it just needs to be before the closing date.

we can chose up to 3 and have to have applied by end of Jan

fyi - I was advised by a friend in the know to ignore the ofsted if its over a year old as anything could have changed - bear it in mind, but take a look around those schools anyway!

IN our LA you apply from about October, closing date is early Dec.

But it varies from one authority to another, so please check yours. For almost all schools application is via LA not the schools themselves.

You can apply on line which is quick and easy. They send you email as confirmation.

We applied for our catchment school which is pretty near as well so that was the only one we put down (had siblings for latter DC but no worries anyway if in catchment here) but most people would suggest putting down 3 or is it 4 you can put?

I live dangerously, only put one school for DS1 at secondary last year

(It's 5 mins away)

If you are selecting schools further away from you that you are not in catchment for, please be aware that you may not get a place at any of them nor at your nearest school (if you don't list it).

So yes, check where was the furthest that people were offered places last year (info from LA) to give you a guide. For example there is a very small (one form entry) school in this city that typically offers only to familes half a mile away. OTOH my DCs' excellent infant school has kids coming from 3 miles away.

Can I put in a word for your local schools? Ofsted is not be all and end all. Do visit them - you may be pleasantly surprised and if they are close that's a real plus IMO.
What is performing below average? If you mean satisfactory then that is often acceptable. Latest OFsted framework means "good" is much harder to get so check when the inspections were done too (ie recent "satisfactory" prob broadly simlar to 4 yrs ago "good").

Go and see as many schools as you want to consider. Phone in the next couple of weeks. Here you get to express a preference for 3 schools, the details are all on line.

Beware some schools have a supplementary application form which you also need to fill in (necessary when their admission criteria differ from the LEA norm). They will probably tell you all this on your visits.

Echoing the ignore the OFTSED, I know a few 'failing' schools I would be willing to send my kids to and a few outstanding ones I wouldn't.