Am I supposed to be doing something round about now?

[quertas]

Hi all,
My dd starts school next year (sept 2014) and I was just wondering what if anything I should be doing at the moment. She's currently in nursery a couple of days a week. Should I visit prospective schools or is this not done? Aargh! Not sure if I'm jumping the gun or missing the boat! The stress!!!!

The deadline for applications has usually been January 15th in our area.
I would start looking round schools about now. The schools go back next week so maybe ring the week after to look round.

Relax. You have plenty of time to sort it out. The deadline for handing in school applications is in January sometime.

I suppose if you have quite a few schools that you'd like to check out first then start asking about going for a visit in the next couple of weeks

This link should tell you all you need to know...

www.gov.uk/schools-admissions/choosing-schools

Some schools might have open days, otherwise the Head is usually happy to chat to prospective parents and show them around. I'd contact the schools locally you'd be interested in and ask.

Check with your council,they normally get the forms and broschures published short after September.

The broschures should give you an idea about which schools lie in your area and what the distances were in the last year.

Then contact all the schools to see when they have open days.

I personally liked taking DH with me, just to get a feel for the school and 4 eyes just see more.

Our applications (London) opened today and closes on 15th January. The council has the new starting school booklet live on the website which gives information about the last admitted distance for pupils starting this September - this will give you an idea of whether you live close enough to get a place to a particular school or not.

You might want to think about going to school Christmas fetes as well as open days, look out for signs on the gates or just phone up and ask.

Thanks! Good to know I'm not late at least and the Christmas fete idea is a fab one, thanks!!! One day i WILL be organised (there's optimism!)

Open days are really informative - round here (Surrey) they take place in the next couple of months. You just turn up on the day and have a tour/listen to a talk. Then it is often useful to supplement this with a visit during a normal school day, so you can see how the place operates.

Our applications (Wales) close earlier than England - our area is in November, so if you aren't in England do check! Definitely worth looking around schools though.