Reception Admissions

[richkid04]

Hi everyone I am in need of some help. Today I received a letter telling me that my DD age 4 did not get her place in the school that we wanted because there was children with more priority than DD according the schools ) admissions policy. I am so mad and I will be appealing. I'm after any information, advice, tips that anyone can off to help me appeal this. DDtook about 3 months to get used to the teachers as they were strangers to her she has built up relationships with the teachers and made friends that she talks about all the time. She now understands that that is her school. I said to her while watching peppa pig lol " DD you might not be going to your school in September, you might go to another school, yes daddy all my friends will come with me, sorry honey they will be staying at that one you will make new friends, no daddy I don't want to make new friends I want my ones." my heart fell out of my chest. DD has been attending nursery at this school from September. Please help!

Thank you everyone.

If the school has a multiple of 30 in its reception classes, then this will be an infant class size appeal. The school can't go over 30 in a reception class except in exceptional circumstances, so to win an appeal you will need to show that either;

• they made a mistake which cost you a place; for example, put you in the wrong admissions category, or mismeasured your distance from the school
• the admissions criteria are so unreasonable that they should be set aside

It is very very difficult to win such an appeal; essentially you can only do so if the LEA made an error. Being in the school nursery etc, has no impact on the appeal. The letter from the LEA should tell you why you didn't get in - were you in the right admissions category?

You can stay on the waiting list for the school even if you accept the place you have been offered.

infant class size appeals are very difficult to win. As Patricia says, only if there has been a mistake. What did letter say?

Last year in dd school 7 siblings didn't get in as others were higher priority - it was infant class size - all appealed and all lost im afraid.

If it is not infant class size you have more chance of winning and need to look at what this school offers your dd that others don't.

Im sad to say, all the reasons you give, as real and serous as they are to you, will make no difference with an infant class size appeal - only mistakes will win e.g you were put in wrong category

I appreciate your concerns, but was it really necessary to have that conversation with a 4yr old about what's happening next September? All sorts of things might have changed by then and now she's worrying too, rather than just you.

You need to check that your application was considered correctly - placed in the right category, distance from home to school was measured correctly etc. Your LEA should be able to tell you the distance at which the last place was awarded and the distance at which they measured your home-school distance (assuming that this was why you did not get the place). Check too ehwre you arae on the preferred school's waiting list - if you're very near the top you may well get a place before September.

As Patricia says, much depends on whether this would be an infant class size appeal. If it would, the only winnable grounds for appeal are

• an error which has deprived your child of a place
• admission arrangements which are not in accordance with the law or the admissions code or
• the refusal to offer a place was so unreasonable that it can't be allowed to stand.

It doesn't sound to me as if you have any strong grounds for appeal.

Frankly, I wish it was more widely understood that, for the vast majority of schools, attending the nursery does not give priority for admission to the schools. My LEA gives a leaflet to all parents at its school nurseries, explaining this, and mentions it again in the schools admissions booklet. I think most LEAs do something similar.

If the nursery has encouraged you to think you would automatically get a place in the school, or encouraged the children to think they would all be moving up into the school together, that was wrong. Different admissions criteria will apply to the school and rightly so, because there may be many good reasons why people living close to the school don't take up nursery places there but still want to be able to apply for a school place. To state the obvious, you need to help your child think positively about starting school.

Have you been allocated a place at another school? If you don't like the school, you need to look for others and join waiting lists. Don't bank on winning your appeal.

Lastly, you seeen to have posted a great deal of identifying information about yourself and your child. You might want to ask MNHQ to remove some of it.

You need to get yourself on the waiting list, and find out what position you are. This will give you some idea of the likelihood of getting a place. If you are 1 or 2 then this might be quite high, but she might be much lower.

Secondly you need to accept, and ideally visit her allocated school. It might sound desperate, but they adapt so quickly at that age, more so than a year before. We were in the opposite position, we didn't put dd1 into nursery incase she didn't get a place, but she did! She was only one from her preschool to go, most others went to our 2nd choice, she only knew one other child going. By 3 weeks in she was v happy + settled, by half term she no longer talked about preschool, two terms in she didn't recognise a girl whom she had been friends with at preschool, even when we told her who it was.

It is devastating for you, but if you embrace it, then so will she. Do still appeal, go on waiting lists etc, but I know someone in your position who didn't get place, when they were eventually offered place at end of yrR they turned it down, despite their initial dismay.

Good luck, and I hope she is happy wherever she goes.

Following on from Clam's post, I would add any appeal panel will understand that you are upset not to get the school place you wanted, but taking a very emotional line about your heart falling out of your chest won't help. You need to present objective arguments why your child should have the school place. Panels don't like anything that looks or sounds like pressure or emotional blackmail.

And do remember that technically she doesn't have to start school until she turns 5. Can you get her on the school's waiting list and keep her home until a place becomes available? (eg a pupil moves house).
Children are very adaptable. As long as you put on a brave face in front of her and encourage her to settle then she'll probably be fine wherever she ends up. Her 4 yr old friends won't be her friends forever. But I know it must be very upsetting and stressful.
Good luck.

thank you everyone for you messages. I will call the admissions office tomorrow to request a more details of the decition. I will let you all know. thanks you so much

i totally understand your concerns we were in exactly the same situation last year,dd was so upset as were we as she had made lots of friends dd was in the nursery but did not get into the reception class, we did go to appeal so did 14 others only 1 got in due to the LEA loosing paperwork and admitted if they had the paperwork then said child would have been offered a place, im afraid the appeals panel will not take into account your dds or your concerns about leaving her friends and the teachers and environment she has become used to, we tried all that due to our dd having a physical disability and being settled and no longer getting upset with questions and comments regarding her disability, and the fact she would have to go through all the questions and comments all over again.....basically we were told it wont take long for her to be accustomed to her new environment and any comments or upset will soon settle down, we did keep her in nursery till the following january in the hope a place would come up, it didnt so we had to take up the place the admission gave, one that was not on our list, but she settled in really well made lots of friends very quickly and is really enjoying school, so chin up best you can and tell dd all the positive exciting things she will do in her new school, take her to have a look around make it sound like an adventure thats what we did and we had to drag her out after an hour and a half lol xx

Just one thought about going to a school without her friends: DD went to an Infant school last year miles away from the nursery she attended for 3 years. From the other 59 children in the school she knew one and this girl was never a "best friend" style of friend.

She managed very well. She made lots of new friends and we worked hard to keep in contact with the close group of girls she played with at nursery. It helps that we parents became friends as well over the years.

DD knew that she wouldn't see most of her nursery friends again as the reason for the school was a move from one side of our borough to the other. We just stated it as fact, no comment about how sad it was or anything similar.

My boys were both at a nursery since around 6 months, and moved to join a reception class in an entirely different school. Both settled very quickly, and they could hardly remember nursery by the October half term.

I know it is something parents worry about, but it doesn't seem to bother the children at all.

Hi all, thanks again for all the messages. I have been on the phone all day talking to all different people. Some one told me that my dd did not get her place because the school was not in out catchment area. When checking with LEA the school is one of the 6 close school that are in out catchment. I am waiting for an admissions officer to call me back to confirm this information and look into this.

Thanks

what are the schools admission criteria and were does your daughter fit into that?

Depends what you (or rather they) mean by 'catchment area.' Many LEAs nowadays have flexible catchments, which means they fluctuate according to demand. So if there are more people with an appropriately-aged child living closer than you to the school one year, you might not get a place, whereas in a different year you might.

Also, it may depend on your closest school. Where we are, you are considered under Rule 4 for the school you are geographically closest to, but shift down to Rule 5 for any others further away than that closest. So if you really want an 'excellent,' over-subscribed school but there's a closer 'unsatisfactory' one, you're in trouble.

To the poster who said: 'It is devastating for you, but if you embrace it, then so will she.' This is not true. Some children do adjust quickly, but others are really bad with new situations. Kids differ.

This system is so un-child-friendly. What to do when your child is assigned a school which you know is a dreadful match? What to do with a sensitive child who's barely adjusted to nursery?

WHY is nursery admissions separate? WHY do they still allow separate admissions for infants and juniors? HOW much disruption can a small child absorb?

WHAT can a family do? Is there anywhere in the country with decent reception places where you could find housing, new jobs and childcare in one short summmer???

I do think schools should come with guaranteed catchment areas. Then at least you'd have enough warning to protect your child!

I said that, and yes I agree some children find school harder than others, and some of the children at dd school who have found the adjustment to reception hardest are those who went to nursery and expected school to be exactly the same. Other children come into school, best friends now have new best friends. It is a transitional stage.

Nursery can't be linked to school admission as those attached to schools generally have limited hours and age groups. People might choose another nursery because it is close to their work, because it offers full days, because their child has been there since they were 3months, or they moved and there wasn't space.

I maybe should have said that if the OP embraces the change then his daughter will be much more positive about it. And that her experience settling at school might be quite different to nursery. Dd2 never really settled at the (attached) nursery in the year + term she was there, she is very sensitive to noise, change etc, this time last year even her teacher didn't know how she would cope. Teachers were at a loss as virtually every other child wanted to be there more, and it was really unusual for them to be unsettled for so long. She was in tears because she was too scared to go into the end of summer term party. She wandered around playing with nobody. From day 1 though she loved school. There was more structure, there were different children to play with, other children had similar quirky immagination. At nursery we were concerned about ASD, now those concerns have gone, she is still quirky, but happy.

It would be great if you could choose exactly where they went, but unless all schools were uniformly good/excellent, and there was a surplus of places that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

ljny

It is right that nursery has no bearing as most nurseries operate a school day and this unfairly disadvantages working parents who would otherwise use wrap around clubs. It also disadvantages people moving into the area

I agree there are lots wrong with the system though!

sorry never read all of 3's post!

sunnyday - I appreciate the reasons why nursery places have no bearing on admissions. My own child missed out on nursery because I was a single working parent. So I understand that well.

But why are schools obliged to match the number of nursery places to their reception intake, if the same kids can't stay there? A friend's child has a full-day nursery place because the school is one-form entry - so the nursery takes 30 kids full-day instead of 60 half-day places. Where's the sense in that? It all seems quite contradictory - and, again, very disruptive for small children.

Schools are not obliged to match the size of Nursery to size of reception...I know of a school where the Nursery is half the size of reception, but still no preference for Nursery children of course.

nlondondad thank you for the correction. Where do you find your information? Seems like so much we hear from other parents, and even teachers, is wrong. Hard to get a handle on it all.