Siblings and waiting lists for primary school

[Hoon]

Hi we are thinking of moving within London and are wondering if anyone has advice on the following:
We hope to move this summer. My ds will have completed reception and be heading into yr 1. My dd will be coming up to application time for her reception place to start in 2013. If she is offered a place at a school we like at what point can my son be considered a sibling in terms of waiting lists?
The areas we are considering are Kingston upon Thames/surbiton and crouch end/Highbury.
Many thanks for any advice.

My reception child went up to first place on the waiting list as soon as I accepted the place for her older sibling, which I did by phone. That was in July for a September start.

I don't think your DS will be a sibling until the summer of 2013. Also I believe some LAs will only give preference to younger siblings, not older ones.

I'm sure one of the experts will be along soon.

Yes that's true, your DS won't be able to have sibling priority until the day your other child starts at the school. I know because I have two in reception iand one starting in september and moved last september, we need to get our R children into the local school but there is a long waiting list (apparantly we are top already though even without sibling priority as we live next door!).

Ooh just read other replies about July? Maybe its different for different councils, I spoke to someone last week at in year admissions and they said I have to ring when the younger child starts school to claim sibling priority.

I think the July part is only because its at the end of school term. I think I would be double-checking that's how they handle it and preferably get it in writing in case you need it for an appeal.

definitely double check with admissions, we had lots of misleading and wrong information from them hence my dd missed a whole term of reception

Community schools in both Kingston upon Thames and Islington should give your son sibling priority provided your daughter will be attending the school when he starts according to their published admission criteria. That means he will not get sibling priority until the summer holidays.

My eldest was going into Y3 - juniors - of a primary school so maybe that made a difference.

I suspect that your immediate concern is to find a school for your eldest who will be going into yr1 in September. Many schools will be full and you will therefore not find it easy to get into a local school. If you go to appeal then the infant class size regs may apply, which will severely limit the possibility of winning a place at appeal.
In reality you have till the end of the Autumn term to get your eldest sorted out and in a local school but you do also need to consider whether that then gives you problems with getting a place for your daughter at the same school.