Admission experts: I have a hypothetical question...

[TeddyBear5]

I have two singletons due to start reception in September. I am fairly confident they will both get in but on the off chance there is only one space left! who would get it? A friend, fellow parent applying this year actually, raised the point and I guessed it would be my older child. However I don't know! Is there an admission guideline for this to decide who would get the last space? Obviously they meet the same admission criteria and distance would be the same too!

Twins are excepted children, ie if there is only one space then one doesn't count towards the infant class size of 30 and both will be admitted; I wonder if this rule can be applied to children of different ages but in the same school year? And if not, why not?

Watching with interest...

They can't show preference to the older child as I think this would violate the admissions code- I don't think schools can use age as an oversubscription criterion...

I have been led to believe the excepted status only applies to multiple births which is why I'm stumped!

You need to read the Admissions Policy to see how multiple births and 'same cohort' siblings are treated in the definitions. If the Policy is silent then you will need to see what the distance measurement rules say. There may be a 'drawing lots' method to allocate a places where distance is the same.

Interesting.

If I had to choose I would leave the child who didn't get in at preschool rather than seek an alternative school and go on the waiting list. This makes sense to be my son since my daughter would be 5 and compulsory school age comes much sooner for her. He would barely be 4.

If it was given to DS, in theory could I turn down the spot, and would it be DD at the top of the list? I'm guessing that's a probably but not definitely. Could I put DS back on the waiting list?

It does seem slightly odd that otherwise he might start school before her! I'm almost 100% sure they'll both get in but I'm freaked out now that this could actually happen!

Before twins became special exceptions, in our LEA the parent had to choose which twin got the place and the other was at the top of the waiting list. This seemed pretty cruel.

See for twins that's cruel, but in my situation that would be ideal.

I would think that it happens quite often with step siblings or cousins living at the same address or children living in flats, would a ground floor flat be nearer the school than an identical flat 5 floors up?

Well only a week to go! Fingers crossed :-)

As an aside, if you want to keep your son in preschool you can anyway. You can accept the school place and start him later in the year or even at the start of year one.

I agree that it would be wrong to discriminate on age for twins or if they were two families that were equal distance. However I would think that when it was two from the same family it would be fair enough as one must be right at the older end and the other must be right at the younger end. (I think they'd have to be full siblings too, otherwise this wouldn't benecessarily the case) And it would make sense for the older one to start as the younger could remain in preschool much longer.

I wonder how many in, say, 5 years the twin rule actually applies to though. It's got to be not just twins applying but they must get place 30 (or whatever) which must be fairly unusual.

Talk of twins is irrelevant to OP, I think?
My guess is they go on alphabetical order, OP.
You'd have a good case for appeal, anyway.

I've seen admissions policies where a ground floor flat is deemed closer than the first floor flat (I forget which pp asked that up thread!)

As the normal rules which mean a sibling can be automatically classed as an excepted child apply only to multiples, you'd have to appeal (as they can only go over ICS numbers without employing more staff if the excess children are formally excepted).

I think it might be winnable, on the 'unreasonable' category (it's not an error, but an unfair decision as it treats same age-cohort siblings differently because of dob, and because younger sibling - unlike all other younger siblings - has no possibility of ever benefitting from sibling priority otherwise).

Alphabetical would be great as DD's initial comes before DS's (and obviously same surname!).

You're also correct about the ages. DD is 2/9 and DS is 8/8. outs self so she is compulsory school age in January, whilst he still has until the following September.

They both got in thank goodness. I can finish torturing myself with all the different combinations about what might happen.

Now for the practicalities of having two start school at the same time. (If indeed it will be at the same time!)