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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

Late applicatin. Have a last-minute Reception place but feeling very unsettled about it all. Long

15 replies

TheRobberBride · 24/08/2013 16:18

Sorry - this is long.

I moved across the country over the Summer. Because of this, I had to make a late application for a Reception place for DD. I applied for a place at my 3 closest schools but they were all full. Which wasn't surprising as they are all good or outstanding and very popular. I am on the waiting list for those schools, plus another 3 less local but still walkable schools. I appealed for a place at the two closest schools but was unsuccessful. I didn't really expect to win as they were ICS appeals and my grounds were shaky but I thought it was worth a punt.

My original plan was to keep DD at nursery while I waited for her to get a place at one of the 6 schools she's on the waiting list for. But she is quite a way down the waiting list for most of them. Even for our closest school (200m away), she is third on the waiting list and I have been told by our LA that the 2 children above her have siblings at the school. So they are very unlikely to decide they don't want a place should one become available after term starts. Basically, I can't count on her getting a place anytime soon via the waiting list at any of these schools.

After having no school place at all for a while, the LA last week offered DD a place in a village primary 5 miles away. I didn't want her to end up with no school place at all so I accepted it but am now having second thoughts and wondering if I have done the right thing. The drive is going to be about 20 minutes in rush hour which isn't ideal. The LA will contribute to fuel costs which is good but there is no parking for parents at the school so I'll have to park on country roads which will be fun every day!

More importantly, I know nothing about the school really. I've read the ofsted report (which is Good) and had a look at the buildings (couldn't look around properly as it was locked up for the holidays) and that's it.

When we were living in Wokingham, I started looking around primary schools last September. I visited 8 and I spent a lot of time thinking about what kind of school would suit DD. The school I eventually put done as my first preference didn't have the best ofsted but it was one where I thought DD would flourish. We got our first choice in Wokingham but obviously I had to give that place up when we moved. Now I'm going to have to send my DD to school in 2 weeks, to a school I've never set foot in, to be educated by a teacher I have never met. I'm feeling quite about it.

The one thing that reassures me is that yesterday, I had a phone school from the school bursar. She'd received the notification of DDs place from the LA as well as an email I'd sent her directly. She then phoned me in her holiday to tell me a bit about arrangements for September and to tell me they were looking forward to having DD. I thought that was nice.

Have I done the right thing do you think? Will it be OK? I have to say that DD is very excited about starting school and doesn't seem phased by the idea of driving to school or going somewhere were she doesn't know anyone. Please reassure me mumsnetters! I just want to do the best I can for my DD.

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RandomMess · 24/08/2013 16:21

I'm really surprised u have to take your dd, don't they have to provide the school transport

It will be okay, and worst case scenario of isn't you can take her out and reassess your options

Original poster

TheRobberBride · 24/08/2013 16:25

I'm really surprised u have to take your dd, don't they have to provide the school transport confused

Sorry, I should have been clearer there. I had the option of either sending her in a pre-paid taxi or being reimbursed for fuel. I chose the latter as I'd far rather take her myself.

OP posts:

Biscuitsneeded · 24/08/2013 16:34

I think it's better to have a school place than no place. It sounds like a nice school and will probably do fine until a place comes up nearer to you. I wouldn't worry; children are adaptable and if you're willing to take any of 6 local schools something is likely to come up before too long...

admission · 24/08/2013 17:32

I think you have done the sensible thing in taking the school place, even if it is not ideal.
The fact that the school have been in touch bodes well and I would try and go and arrange to look around the school and meet the teacher and head teacher ASAP, so that you get a feel for the school.
If anything at a closer school comes up in the Autumn term then you can make a decision then whether to move schools or not but in the meantime be really positive about the school which is what your child seems to be.

AbbyR1973 · 24/08/2013 17:44

Just some further reassurance... When I was applying for schools for DS1 last year he didn't get any of my choices. LA gave him a place at a dreadful school the other side of town , which I was not reassured about even after looking around. Fortunately a school place came up in a village prinary school 7 miles away, a tiny school of 85ish pupils accessed by a country lane, with on-road parking.
Every day I count my lucky stars that DS didn't get any of my choices since they could not provide anything like what he is getting at this school. DS2 is joining him in Sept. We have a beautiful stress free drive to school through the countryside every morning, no jams and it takes

Original poster

TheRobberBride · 24/08/2013 18:25

AbbyR1973 Your story is really reassuring. Fingers crossed things work out as well for my DD as they have for your DS!

OP posts:

tiggytape · 24/08/2013 22:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BellaI · 24/08/2013 23:14

You can stay on waiting lists for the whole of the first year of primary school.

sleeplessinderbyshire · 24/08/2013 23:16

we've specifically chosen a village school 5 miles away because it is way way more the sort of place I wanted my DD to go than any of the more local (ofsted good) schools. a 15-20 min drive is nothing. If it were 40 mins I'd be thinking you might have made a mistake but 15mins is nothing unless you are in a big city

breatheslowly · 24/08/2013 23:52

Is your DD already at the nursery you would send her to? When does she turn 5? The bursar getting in contact sounds great. Will the petrol money continue indefinitely or only until a closer place is found?

melody1771 · 25/08/2013 03:17

Hi
With regard to not having met the teacher or seen the school....phone early the day before term begins and ask if you can pop in and meet the teacher and have a quick look round. I am a teacher and most years I have some one coming in to chat and meet me during the INSET day in September.

Hope everything goes well this term.
Mel

Original poster

TheRobberBride · 25/08/2013 12:50

sleeplessinderbyshire Yes, you're right. I know I'm lucky that we've been offered a good rated village school. Many people who make late applications end up in poor schools in poor areas so our situation is probably the best we could realistically hope for. And you're right that a 20 minute drive isn't that bad either. If I'd opted for a private school, I'd have had to have driven further every morning.

breatheslowly DD started at her new nursery at the beginning of July and had settled well. As a May birthday, she doesn't legally have to go to school until next September. I did consider deferring her place at school until April and keeping her at nursery in the meantime. But she is ready for school and as the Reception intake is only 15, I think it would be better that she starts with the rest of her cohort.

I think help with transport costs continue indefinitely as long as we stay at the village school. This was the only school that the LA offered and since it is more than 2 miles away, they are legally obliged to. The LA will not offer me another school place. They have found a place for DD and that is all they are legally bound to do.

As I understand it, If another school offers me a place via the waiting list, I am under no compulsion to take it and my turning it down wouldn't affect the fuel subsidy. If, however, a place came up at a school, say, 3 miles away and I decided to take it, the LA would not continue to help with transport costs as I had chosen to send her there. But that is not relevant to my case as all the schools we are on the waiting list for are walkable.

melody1771 Thank you for that suggestion. I don't know why it hadn't occurred to me! I have emailed the bursar again this morning requesting a brief visit on one of the two inset days before term starts.

Anyway, thank you everyone. I'm feeling much more positive about the situation this morning!

OP posts:

Sossiges · 27/08/2013 11:25

Thanks OP for posting, I am in the same situation myself so it's helpful to see what everyone else thinks. I didn't know about the fuel subsidy so will look into that! Hope it all turns out well for you (and me!)

UniS · 27/08/2013 19:07

the school may not have a car park, but ask where other parents park and walk from, you may find that there is pub car park or a rec ground at the other end of the village a few minutes walk away.

purpleroses · 27/08/2013 20:34

I'm pretty sure the council have to provide transport if the only place they can offer is more than 2 miles away - ie a taxi not just petrol.

It's probably worth pushing them on this even if you don't want her to go by taxi because the council may decide that the costs of taxiing her are so high that it is acceptably to go over infant class size limits. This happens regularly at a school my friend works at - they often end up with classes over 30 because of it (rural area, high mid year mobility)

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