Nursery and primary school admission

[loubielou123]

Hi all,

As far as I have read, having nursery place does not guarantee a place in the attached primary school and admission is based on the LEA criteria. BUT, can this help do you think if it comes to an appeals process?

The reason I ask is that my 3.5 DD has a place in a school nursery for this year and we are debating whether to send her there or to send her to a private nursery for the pre-school year. Can it help to get a place in the school? I'd love to hear your thoughts/experiences and stories.

thanks

LL

If the LEA criteria state that nursery attended is not taken into consideration then it won't be taken into consideration :) The LEA have to apply (and be seen to apply) the criteria strictly.

The only thing I can think of where it might be relevant were if your DD had SEN/medical needs which would be exacerbated by changing schools. I guess that's not the case as you're thinking about sending her to a different nursery.

The law states

CHANGES TO SCHOOL ADMISSIONS CODE OF PRACTICE FOR
ADMISSION OF CHILDREN BELOW STATUTORY AGE
A government review recommended that 4 year olds should start school in the September following their fourth birthday. A revised School Admissions Code will come into force on 10 February 2010, and will require all admission
authorities to provide parents with this choice of a school place for entry from September 2011. The changes affect two paragraphs of the current Code, which are detailed below:

Admission of children below compulsory school age
2.65 For admission to the 2011-12 school year, and subsequent years,
admission authorities for primary schools must provide for the admission of all
children in the September following their fourth birthday. When determining
the arrangements for primary schools the admission authority must make it
clear that:

a) the arrangements do not apply to those being admitted for nursery
provision including nursery provision delivered in a co-located children's
centre;
b) parents of children who are admitted for nursery provision must apply for a
place at the school if they want their child to transfer to the reception class;

c) attendance at the nursery or co-located children's centre does not
guarantee admission to the school;

d) parents can request that the date their child is admitted to the school is
deferred until later in the school year or until the child reaches compulsory
school age in that school year;
e) parents can request that their child attends part-time until the child reaches compulsory school age.
Deferred entry to primary schools

There are one or two schools where the admission criteria give priority to children attending the nursery but that is extremely rare. Check the admission criteria for your primary school.

Attending the nursery will not give you the basis for a successful appeal.

Hi all,

Thanks for you replies. You have all been very informative.

LL