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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

Do I need to apply for our nearest primary?

3 replies

Barbeasty · 19/09/2013 09:15

We are as guaranteed as you can be of getting DD into our parish Catholic school, but I obviously want to use the other 3 choices in case something goes wrong.

We are unlikely to get a place in our nearest school (there's a housing estate between it and us) so it would feel like a wasted choice.

My main concern is that if we didn't get any of our choices DD would probably be far enough away to need transport (ie more than 4 miles). Is getting transport based purely on being allocated a school that far away (I know you don't get it if you choose a school that far away unless it's your nearest) or do you need to have applied for a place at your nearest school and been refused?

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prh47bridge · 19/09/2013 10:01

The distance for free transport is actually 2 miles by the shortest walking route up to age 8 when it goes up to 3 miles.

The question will be whether you would have got a place in the local school if you had applied. If you would there is some justification for the LA refusing to provide free transport. If you are right that you would not get a place at that school my view is that the LA should provide free transport but you may have to fight them to get it.

Original poster

Barbeasty · 19/09/2013 10:55

Thanks.

The chance of us needing it are slim, as really the only way for us not to get our first choice school is for a major error somewhere.

This year we would have got a space in our local school, but it's a bizarrely low birth year and all the schools we intend to list were under subscribed too.

OP posts:

admission · 19/09/2013 11:06

Agree with PRH that it would be up to the LA to accept that you would not have got a place at the local school.
The best way of ensuring that situation is to put down the parish catholic school as first preference and the local school as your lowest preference. So if for any reason you do not get into the parish catholic school you will be on the list for the local primary school. If you are not high enough up the priority list order and you get allocated another school further away then there should be no question about your eligibility for free transport.

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