I'm sorry to be so lazy

[ObviouslyOblivious]

But can someone kindly tell me when my DS needs to start school?
He was born in January 2011.

Thanks so much :)

Never - school is not compulsory.

Sept 2015 if he's in England :)

Thank you!

Application form will be sent out to you in September/October 2014. (I also have a Jan 11 baby, think we were on the same Antenatal thread, though I was using a different name then.)

Careful, not all areas send out a form. Many expect you to apply online, although they will send a paper one if you request it, and don't send anything directly to parents telling them when/how to apply - you have to find the info yourself.

If you are even vaguely considering private ( or think you might need a back up) you would need to get onto it now.

Definitely don't assume you will be sent forms. Our local authority doesn't send them out. Some nurseries distribute them, but most people had to go looking.

For state schools it is likely that you will have to apply in the autumn of 2014 - probably about October. Make sure you know what the deadline is.

I didn't realise that not all areas send them out automatically - my area does, I assumed that they would all be the same since the centralisation of school applications.

(I had DD so long ago that to apply for a school for her, you just went to the school and got their name written in a book, and then the school contacted you to tell you when your child started!)

My DS1 was the first year that they 'centralised' the applications in our County/ LEA area.

Why don't they send the forms out? What would happen if you didn't know when you were meant to apply? How do you 'find out' when you have to apply? I know LOTS of people that don't read newspapers, especially not local ones, and may not even THINK about centralised application deadlines.

In my LEA, they do it by the NHS number, or something similar, and registration with GP's. Then they send the form out to you.

What happens in an area like mine, if they didn't send them out automatically then? If there is a fairly stable population, but there are more dc than pre-school places, so there are at least 90-120 dc per school year than never attended pre-school as there just wasn't a place for them? Surely in some areas, that means that there are quite a few people who just have no clue about it, and just go to a school office in July expecting a place for the September? Or even only asking about a school place AFTER their dc turns 5yo?

Surely even a transient population would have their dc registered with a GP, which is how they collate the data needed to send out the application forms here? If one of the largest LEA's in the country can manage it, why don't all the others? Why do some LEA's leave it almost to 'chance' that the parents will find out?

And at the risk of sounding a bit, well, prejudiced (I'm not, my family is classed as 'deprived' ), some families wouldn't bother sending their child to pre-school, wouldn't think about schooling, until after their child was 5yo, wouldn't read newspapers, wouldn't see notices in pre-schools or toddler groups as they just don't go to them, BUT their child will almost certainly be either registered with a GP, or will have been born in a hospital and therefore have an NHS number...

It almost seems to me that in areas where they don't send out application forms automatically, that it is 'selection by the backdoor', as the ones who aren't bothered about education (surely ^precisely the people who MOST need to be reached) are the very people that are likely to miss out on the better schools with the better pastoral care etc, due to late (or no) application? And they therefore end up with their dc at a poorly-performing school, thus perpetuating the cycle?

My area doesn't send out forms either, but paper forms are easily available, at all the schools and the library.

Regarding 'hard to reach', I'm not convinced that receiving a form through the post necessarily means people would fill it and return it anyway. I can also think of at least one particular transient group of people that would not necessarily be registered with a GP.

Our LEA do not send forms either. You can pick them up from schools. The emphasis is on you as the parents to apply for a school place for your child, not on them to tell you to do so.

We don't get forms either but you can either do it online or pick up a form from the nearest school.

Essex automatically send out information packs and your personal on-line application number in October.
They use a list generated from children registered with a GP.

We have messages on bus stops and back of buses!

Our LEA send them out using NHS lists. However a significant part of the county comes under a neighbouring NHS area and the LEA say they don't have access to those records.

I just assumed that every area would do the same as Essex. I know of at least 3 people who wouldn't have thought about school for their DC until they were 5yo. They were shocked when they got their application numbers for their DC.

One of their DC may well have ended up missing Reception altogether if they lived in another area, with an August 30th birthday, if they hadn't applied when they were meant to, and they wouldn't have seen notices on buses etc as they walk everywhere, and their DD didn't attend preschool as there were no places for her locally.

It begs the question that if Essex can send out forms using information from the Health Authority, then why can't ALL LEA's?

Presumably they know tthat its not an issue in their area. Surely not many parents don't have any other friends who are parents, or get through the first 4 years without school crossing their minds once.
And just because they walk everywhere doesnr mean they don't see buses on the road surely?

forms are not sent as standard country wide becourse there is no legal obligation to attend school, or preschool.
it is the parents legal responsibility to insure there children receive an education. this can be done anyway the parent sees fit.
there for it is up to the parent to find out about application dates if they want to send there child to state school.
using medical data is at best misuse if information at worst an infringement of data protection.

In this area, there are adverts in Dr's surgeries, HV clinics, leisure centres etc. But the honest answer is, every year lots of people miss the deadline and end up at the bottom of the pile for school places. Ironically, there is very good outreach to the travelling community, through the SureStart centre, so they are probably not the ones that get missed. The usual problem is people that already have children at school and forget that they need to get an application organised for younger siblings!

Our school secretary runs a very full-on multi-lingual campaign each year to make sure that the parents of children in the nursery understand that they will not get an automatic place in reception unless they apply. But I don't know what happens if you're not in nursery.