Applying for place in Reception for sept 2011

[74slackbladder]

Am applying for a place for my DS for next sept in the main school of the pre-school he is already in. On the application, it asks you to give reasons why you are applying to the schools you list - How important is this and how much time/effort should I spend on it? Clearly it is important which school he ends up in but will they really take any of it into account - will it not just come down to catchment and whether he has a sibling there (he doesn't)... Am I supposed to write lots of stuff about what a fab school it is?

I think it's probably wise to do it to the best of your ability. Have a friend who works for our LEA and she says that it's a good idea.

Still waiting for the forms here...

thanks. what kind of stuff is going to tick their boxes ?

when i applied for ace's schools last year, i applied for all catholic as we are and i talked about how near the school is, the ethos how he would benefit in a catholic school, that he will be respected by the staff and other children, he will feel valued and cared for, they will provide a safe and stable learning environment for my child

just a lil warning even if your child is at the school nursery there is no gurantee that your child will have a place there, just put the school as 1st choice.

thanks, i know its not guarenteed he will get a place but it will be our first choice. its not a religious school so i cant use that angle, i guess i will cobble something together.
i also have to give reasons for choosing the second and third choice too which seems odd

Whether or not your child will be admitted depends entirely on the admission criteria for the school. If you have special medical reasons or similar for wanting your child to go to a particular school you should spend time on this part of the application and make sure you give all the evidence you can to support your child being placed in a higher admission category. Otherwise, don't bother. It doesn't form any part of the admissions process.

i agree with prh47

We have to apply online here (I think you can do a paper version but I don't know how you'd get it). Ask for the admissions criteria from the school and comply with it fully on the stated reasons.

We will not get into the school we want, we know this. We've researched three acceptable schools and hopefully we'll get one of those but we have a paragraph supported the application to each one explaining the situation with preschools (she goes to two), social (peer group, village children etc.), siblings etc.

I'm afraid a lot of the advice on this thread is bad. Nothing you write will tick their boxes. It doesn't work like that. A primary school will have admission criteria something like:

• Looked after children
• Special medical or social reasons
• Siblings of children already at the school
• Distance

It may not be exactly that and it will be a little more complicated if it is a faith school, but there will be no mention of the reasons given on the application form. Unless you are justifying placing your child in a higher admission category spending a lot of time giving reasons is a complete waste of effort. They are not allowed to prioritise your child just because you give good reasons.

Sorry - some of the advice is bad, not a lot of it!

Actually it depends on the admissions status of the faith school, if is it a voluntary aided school, then the admissions are in the hands of the council and they can't discriminate for religion but voluntary funded schools are free to pick those from their religion. Or is the the other way round, I can never remember. Anyhow, I reiterate you need to ask what the admissions criteria are.

Here, the criteria generally are:

(1) Looked after children
(2) Siblings already in attendance
(3) Special medical or social reasons
(4) Distance

So they can vary widely - though looked after children always get first dibs.

also sen - special education needs

prh47 - thanks, as i suspected. i cannot see how they could run a sensible application process if was based on your 'reasons' as it would be purely subjective.

when you apply, you should or your council should give you - call your local council education authority and ask for the primary scholl guidance book, it will tell/help you with all the info you need for each of the schools.....