Admissions Myths

[TheRobberBride]

I have a friend who is applying for a Reception place for her DD this year.

She lives fairly close to an Outstanding primary. Her DD may get in on distance but there's no guarantee (based on info on LA website she would have got in last year but not the year before).

The other schools she lives near are not as popular. Special measures in one case and the other has a poor reputation locally-though it gets consistently good Ofsted reports.

My friend has told me that she is not prepared to let her DD attend anything less than an Outstanding school. So has put the closest Outstanding school first on her form. Her other 3 choices are comprised of the best schools in the rest of the County. There is absolutely no chance her DD will get into any of these 3. Their catchments are tiny and her DD has no special circumstances (no Statement not a previously looked after child etc).

I have tried explaining that if she doesn't get any of her choices then her DD will be allocated a place in the closest school that has space. I have pointed out the section in the admissions handbook where this is spelled out.

But she still persists in the belief that the LA will look at her form, see she is a 'discerning' parent and place her DD in one of the Outstanding schools.

I can't get through to her at all.

It's very frustrating. Talking to other parents, it really is amazing how many myths regarding school admissions still exist.

[nlondondad]

@EdithWeston

What is FAP?

[prh47bridge]

Fair Access Protocol. Every LA must have one. It defines how they will deal with children for whom it is hard to find a place.

[EdithWeston]

I'd characterise Islington as short of places because it had to create 80 bulge class places, 72 of which were immediately filled (according to other threads on this).

And apparently expects to need bulge classes again this round. So a shortage of permanent places, and very hard for parents to know exactly where all this years places are going to be and therefore to use their preferences in the ways described so sensibly here.

[nlondondad]

@prh47bridge for explaining what FAP is. I was aware of the process in Islington but not under that name.

What they did this admissions season is look at the outcome of the first admission round, and where there was an excess of demand over current supply negotiated with schools that were rated at least "good" by Ofsted and which had experienced roll reductions in the past to increase their numbers, they then re offered again at the same time as making sure that disappointed parents knew to use the wait list system.

They only "allocated" places under what I now know to be the FAP towards the very end of the process as they were keen that as many parents as possible get their first preference, or if that failed one of their original preferences, In the event there were only a handful of these allocations and they were all to schools reasonably close.

It helped that most people applied for places on time, and in fact the first bit of advice is

APPLY BEFORE 15 JANUARY !

[nlondondad]

@papermover absolutely right. Use the admissions brochure.

@EdithWeston I put your points to islington and this is their response:

"The strategy for September 2014 admissions is to make permanent the (previous bulge class) increases at Ambler and Hargrave Park. This has been confirmed in the primary admission brochure as 'subject to formal confirmation in February 2014'.

We have over 90 vacancies at present in reception and at this point, we are not planning any bulge classes for next year but cannot rule it out.

The 'shortage of places' point is mixing up reception capacity with capacity through all primary years. Also, bulge classes make best use of resources, optimising school capacity (e.g. one spare classroom can provide for a bulge class)."

[Debs75]

I haven't even looked at DD3's application yet as she is still 3 but she will be 4 in August so starting school in September. Do I need to apply before January 15th 2014. OK from that sentence I think I do. Bloody Hell I better get moving.

Can I defer her place for a term?

[PenguinsDontEatPancakes]

Debs - If she will be 4 in August, yes you need to apply by 15th January. Yes, you can decide that she will start after Christmas if you wish (although the merits of that aren't that clear cut even for young children, as they obviously then have to join an established class who've had a term of teaching).

[Debs75]

Right done it, didn't take too long. I put the local school her sis is at as my first choice. Should I put any other schools on as a back up or do I not need to bother?

[OddBoots]

Use all the spaces they let you have, Deb75. Even if you think your first choice school is a dead cert you have nothing to lose if you fill all the options and if the unthinkable happened you'd have some control not none.

[PenguinsDontEatPancakes]

Yes, use all the spaces.

[Debs75]

Isn't is a 'dead cert' if their siblings are at the school and they go to the nursery? There are a couple of nearby schools I could put down so will add them on

[CallMeDuringDrWhoAndIllKillYou]

You might as well put another school or two on Debs, it can't do any harm. That said, I did only put one school down for DS's primary application - he was a sibling, we live nearby and it's a pretty big school. It would have taken some wierd invasion of octuplets next door to deny us a place.

[CallMeDuringDrWhoAndIllKillYou]

Going to the nursery however normally doesn't make any difference - that's another widely held myth (except in a very few foundation schools). Our primary school secretary spends most of each autumn term tracking down all the nursery parents individually and persuading them that yes they really do need to fill in a form if they want to move up to reception.

[StarlightMcKenzie]

It's unlikely that you won't get into a siblings school if you are in the nursery but it can happen as many working parents don't use school nurseries due to their inconvenient hours.

[Papyrus02]

I have heard of someone filling in form straight away because, apparently, the places are filled on a first come, first served basis. Nothing in guidance sent indicates this is the case, of course!

[PenguinsDontEatPancakes]

Nursery attendance normally has nothing to do with admission to reception Debs. You should be fine as a sibling. But there could be a freak incident- and in the case of a freak incident you want the next best option, not the underperforming school no one wants. (I'm assuming by the way that you're not in a complex siblings in catchment/sibligns out of catchment question. That can make even siblings less certain to get in if you're an out of catchment sibling).

[Devora]

A MNetter who lives in my street had her child in the school nursery, but then didn't get a reception place initially because she lived too far. This is despite the much larger number of reception places - apparently lots of local families keep their kids in private nurseries or pre-schools until Reception.

She did eventually get a place, but it was an anxious summer.

[DazzleU]

My DC school clearly states having a nursery place at the school doesn't mean the DC will get a school place. Yet every year some parents don't 'get' this.

Catchment - their school also has a Catchment area.
Used to be that nearby streets DC would get in as number of local DC have risen last few years it has meant DC in Catchment area get places while just outside even across the road they only do now if they have older siblings at the school.

A lot of parents get very upset about that as 5-6 years ago being just outside catchment was much less of an issue. I image if DC numbers continue to increase each year then distance within catchment area would then come into play eventually.

[DazzleU]

Oh and despite the LEA being in charge of admissions and the criteria for admission being freely available and not related to religion - some parent every year will assume because it C of E that having their DC Baptiste or knowing local vicar will get them in.

[Debs75]

God it's complicated. The school is a catholic school so covers about half of the city. Non catholic like us there is a catchment area which we are in.
It would be nice if they were both in the same school. DD1 and DS were in separate primaries and these two will be in a different one to theirs, if they don't get the same one it will be a nightmare!
Anyway added another 2 to the list, they are both nearby so not too bad if we get them.

[Neverland2013]

We have a school right next to us which although on paper looks good is rather big. Therefore, we put as a first choice a school which was outstanding but out of our catchment. We got in. How that was possible I will never know as I know some other parents who live closer to our preferred school but who didn't get in. Three years on, we have decided that the outstanding school which we selected 3 years ago is not all that after all and will be taking our daughter out in January/2014.