Less than a week to submissions deadline what to I need to ask at the schools ?

[MrsDimples]

Less than a week to Primary School submission deadline.

Only found out / realised week before Xmas. So could only ring local schools today / tomorrow for visits, before Friday.

What am I looking for?

What I looking to avoid?

What should I ask?

I know I have to go for my gut instinct & I already have a mental list to ask for,

BUT any pointers ???

I'm not that bothered about stats & results, more a feel for how a school is as a whole.

Thing is, a while back, a parent at a toddler group with older children said the council sends information out, which they do. I have been waiting for that & never received it. I have slipped through their net.

DD doesn't go to nursery but we are on the HV list and get called for checks, I do take her to children's centre stuff which you have enrol for and at each session you go to they take your details.

I can see it is an enviable position to be in, but very ironic, given I don't want her to go to school at all .

Let us know how you get on

I bet if you check here in a week or two there will be several panicked posts with people saying was I supposed to apply for a school - she's only 3. I remember one last year where someones well meaning mum had said you apply when they turn 5 and done nothing further about it until way after the deadline.

Posters are up in nurseries and libraries in our area plus in the local paper but nothing by post. No idea how many miss the deadline though.

That's true and if I don't put the most popular option down first - from my list, not the catholic - there is more chance of the clas not being full and being able to defer the start. Which is definitely my preferred position.

You've made me happy

Slightly off topic now. I find it quite strange that parents can be imprisoned for not ensuring their child goes to school, fined for taking days off for a cheaper holiday and yet there is nothing in place to ensure parents make the submission deadline / the amount of areas, I'm thinking London, where you have no guarantee of a school place.

Wierd.

If I was one of 'feckless', that didn't give a shit about DD & her education, she could be completely overlooked for any education What kind of process is that?

Yes tiggytape a warning of the date on MN would be a great idea.

A mum at a pre school class I took DD to missed the date. She only realised when we were discussing places allocated (I was in despair as DD hadn't got the place I wanted)

X post.

Not sure what if anything they do to check if all children of legal school age are in school or HE.

I assume they do nothing at first as you could be deciding to just apply for her to start at legal school age (term after 5). FWIW DD went private in the end and we never had to tell LA that I recall. It just took several calls/letters to LA and school to register we were declining the school place offered.

Back more on track op- if you are thinking homeschooling maybe ask about attitude to part time starts/flexischooling when you look around the schools this week.

I'm pretty sure the law on home education is that if you want to do it from scratch you don't have to do anything /tell anyone/get monitored etc etc, but if you do start them at school and then change your mind in favour of home ed, the LA have a duty to check on what you are actually doing (whether they do can vary).

Update: I did my submission over the phone this afternoon.

On Wednesday, a school I visited, the office manager offered to help me with the online application. The manager was going through it all, when I asked if I just went onto the website & did it, she pointed out I needed to set up an account and get a password from the admissions people. I said that some one had offered to do it over the phone on Friday and I was concerned that this wasn't how it could be down. She explained that the admissions department were really helpful, mentioned my contact by name and added that as not everyone has Internet access at home, some people do apply like this.

I rang this afternoon, did my submission - just two schools, risky, risky - and again checked that this was a legitimate way to submit our choices and she reassured me it was and if it wasn't the fifty other people she'd done it for today wouldn't be getting places either.

Time to sit back & quaff more thanks for everyone's positive input and .

I didn't get a reference number, but have got the contact name.

I did think last night, I wonder how they'll inform me, so I'm going to ring back on Monday. Also need to know what address to send my CTC form to.

I know that on the online application there are options to choose of why you want that school & when you click on an option you have to explain why. I didn't have to do that and asked why. The admissions woman explained that they don't use them in the decision, it's down to the criteria and distance but they have a legal obligation for a reason to be out and it may come into play for the catholic schools. This made sense to me, because what is the point of saying I want that school for XXX reason, when it comes down to siblings / distance etc anyway.

Well DD got offered a place at our first choice.

We got a letter from the council and a small pack from the school this week. I rang up the day after the emails are sent, as advised and was told over the phone, before we received the letter.

Still not had to prove where we live.

All Good & thanks again for everyone's help