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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Just confirming I am safe just putting down one school on admission form.

50 replies

Claifairy · 04/12/2012 13:11

LO is recently adopted and therefore number one on our chosen schools admission guidelines. We live opposite the school so I can't see there being any problems but just thought I would ask the experts for confirmation that I am doing the right thing!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

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ArbitraryUsername · 04/12/2012 14:58

Yeah. I figured I should heed the warnings everywhere on the online admissions form not to just put down one choice. I have no idea what could actually happen to prevent us from getting a place at one of the 4 schools. We live within 400m of 4 first/primary schools, and within 800m of 9! One of those 9 hasn't filled all 60 of its reception places in the last 3 years, and admitted kids from 3.5 miles away. It's my fail safe option.

crazymum53 · 04/12/2012 15:33

The admissions experts may be along soon to clarify the new admissions code. However I have seen many mumsnet threads in past years where people have only put down one choice of school and they have been allocated somewhere else so would recommend using your other choices.

HoratiaLovesBabyJesus · 04/12/2012 16:49

I am a belt/braces/string type. We filled our form with any even remotely plausible choices, in an attempt to block the schools that would have been really awkward to get to.

I can see the OP's point - the chances of there being sixty closer Cat1 children must be worse than winning the lottery twice!

sparkle12mar08 · 04/12/2012 21:37

There's no point in not using your choices, and you loose nothing in doing so. Whilst it would be unusual in the extreme to think that there would be 60 other looked after/statemented children living closer than you do, why would you not put down the other choices, other than just for the sake of it?

tricot39 · 04/12/2012 21:39

a neighbour put down one choice out of a possible six last year for her son. the school was at the end of her road but applications soared and they didnt get a place. the LA choice was luckily close to them but it could have been a disaster. why take the risk? i will be filling all 6 choices even though it would be odd not to get our first choice as odd things can happen!

MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic · 04/12/2012 21:47

We only put down one choice of Primary School - once DS1 was in the others were guaranteed via its sibling rule. We did the same with DS2's Seondary application. We knew he'd get a place, so didn't bother putting another choice. We were absolutely 100% sure though, if there's even the slightest chance of anything else I'd put a few other names down.

tiggytape · 04/12/2012 22:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

admission · 04/12/2012 22:31

The new admission code that comes into force for the September 2013 entrance does alter who has the highest priority. That is now for looked after children and previously looked after children. Previously looked after children is defined as children who were looked after but ceased to be so because they were adopted (or became the subject of a residence order or special guardianship order).
I think that you just need to be careful to make sure that your child does actually fit the criteria because it is possible to be adopted but not to have been a looked after child.
I would still put down at least one other choice. What for instance would you do if the LA suddenly announced that the school of preference was closing. I think it is just safer.

radicalsubstitution · 04/12/2012 22:37

OK, I'm being a bit flippant here.

OP's DC is adopted. So, based on the new admissions code obviously applied at their local school, is being treated as a child formerly Looked After (ie priority 1 along with Looked After).

Therefore, the only way they will not get a place at the local school is if 30+ Looked After siblings or Looked After children live closer. As OP has stated they live opposite the school (and assuming it's not a 25-story tower block), this is extremely unlikely.

It is probably more likely that the first choice school will be utterly destroyed by a falling satellite or other extra-terrestrial collision than the OP not getting a place.

However, it only takes 15 seconds to write the names of other schools into the form, in which case you are not losing anything.

I still only applied to one school. It was not destroyed by a falling satellite. We were still offered a place there (which we took).

I'm off to bed...

EllenJaneisstillnotmyname · 04/12/2012 22:47

My DS2 had a statement of SEN which named the school and the school had confirmed that they were able to meet his needs. In my LA he would have been given a place even if the school was full. I still dithered about just putting the one school on his form and had to ring the LA to confirm that that was OK. It was...

Original poster

Claifairy · 04/12/2012 23:15

Thanks everyone. I'll look at schools out of area. I really didn't want to be driving to other schools and concerned that the next closest school just isn't the right one.

Admissions - if Lo was previously fostered does that mean looked after?

OP posts:

EllenJaneisstillnotmyname · 04/12/2012 23:21

Clafairy, unless she was privately fostered, then she would have been 'Looked after.' Were SS involved at all? 'Looked after' is just the new terminology for 'In Care.'

tiggytape · 05/12/2012 08:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Farewelltoarms · 05/12/2012 09:15

I put down one choice for my last child having always filled up all three. We four houses form the school, two form entry, two siblings already there. It is not impossible, of course that, sixty siblings would suddenly find themselves living in the four houses between us and the school, but it was extremely improbable. I took the view that I was saving the council and the schools a bit of work.
Yes why wouldn't you take the time to fill up the other places, but on the other hand why would you?

Farewelltoarms · 05/12/2012 09:16

That should read, we live four houses from the school obv...

Original poster

Claifairy · 05/12/2012 09:42

Lo was under SS and in foster care. I'll put down the 2 most local ones (except the faith school)to be on the safe side. I know all the children in the street and Lo is the only one starting in 2013 and it is semi's and detached houses so can't imagine a influx of new children in the road as only 1 is for sale!

OP posts:

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 05/12/2012 11:52

I think it's the right thing to do. You're virtually certain of getting in but if the school building did burn down it's worth having the second and third choices filled in. It costs you nothing and takes no time.

tiggytape · 05/12/2012 12:57

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Takver · 05/12/2012 19:14

Its all so ridiculously stressful, isn't it. We only get to put down one choice (either catchment school or one other school). We are perfectly happy with the catchment school, it's well under capacity and it is still all a bit tense (my friend lost her dd's form and is stressed about that!)

I'm sure it wasn't like this when I was at school!!!

prh47bridge · 05/12/2012 23:18

Takver - If you are only allowed one choice I presume you are not in England?

Takver · 06/12/2012 08:33

No, we're in Wales. We're very lucky as there are only 2 realistic options (because of distance/transport) and we can be pretty certain of getting either of them.

I really feel for people in England as even choosing between 2 in those circumstances is stressful enough (I acknowledge this isn't sensible, but its this sense of choosing your childs future)

redskyatnight · 06/12/2012 09:40

What do you do if you have no genuine alternative options? We put 1 option on DD's form because barring the falling meteorite she is bound to get a place. Our odds were even further strengthened by knowledge that the LEA's "back up plan" if short of school places generally would be to open a bulge class at the school we want to put down for her!

If we were forced to put a 2nd choice it would be very difficult. There are 10 (I just counted in my head so may have missed some) schools within 4 miles of us. These schools ALL have a history of not having enough places for children in their catchments. As an out of catchment child DD would stand no realistic chance of getting a place at any of them. Sure I could put a couple of them down as options 2 and 3, but they would be entirely wasted options.

The only schools she realistically would get into are the undersubscribed unpopular schools the other side of town - an absolute nightmare to get to.

I'm not prepared to "waste" (and it would be wasting in my opinion) lots of time driving across town to visit undersubscribed schools to see which one is mildly better than the others. If push came to shove, I actually would be quite happy for the LEA to randomly pick one of these for me (or rather DD).

When people talk about using up your choices on the admissions form, I can't believe that we are the only family in the situation where we know we really only have 1 school that our DC will actually get into.

tiggytape · 06/12/2012 11:33

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mummytime · 06/12/2012 12:30

I just realised: next year I will have to be applying for my baby to go to secondary school (its crept up on me).

Anyhow the weird one is that I now have 6 preferences, which is very odd as I don't think any town in my LA (Surrey) has more than 5 schools.
So if I use all my choices I will be applying to schools that are not only ones I don't want, but are too far away, just to make totally sure I don't get the school "no-one wants".

Actually depending on my baby's choice, we may well be pretty much 100% for our first choice (or the town is going to need a new school) under the sibling rule.

tiggytape · 06/12/2012 13:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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