Primary school place if I didn't fill out the application form for dd?

[Reastie]

Just intrigued. dd will be going to school in September. We have her at a private school nursery and are intending her to go to the private school. On this basis, we didn't fill in the school application form of preference for her state primary school. assuming we have no sudden and unanticipated changes in finances this won't be an issue, but I have been puzzling to myself what happens with her state primary place. Will we get a letter on Thursday offering her a place at a school of their choosing (which we will then turn down for the private school) or how does this work in th is situation? It's been something I've been wondering for months but can't find anything online about this.

Locally there was a big splash on the council website and and a full page in the local paper for a while before the date but I guess not everyone looks there. If there is a problem of people not realising then maybe something on a national scale such as something on CBeebies might help?

Odd - I agree that would be helpful, although the deadlines are different in Scotland IIRC so it might be slightly complicated.

But yes, CBeebies, and maybe paid ads on Nick Jr, Disney Jr, etc. Do government PSAs get preferential rates?

My LA used to put a slip in the electoral registration form that went to every household. We still had people coming to appeals, who had applied late and claimed not to know about the deadline. Ultimately it is the parents' responsibility.

"Ultimately it is the parents' responsibility."

This.

Every now and then my wife's school has a child turn up for reception start that isn't on the the list. Parents have just assumed they can send their child to local school on the first day in September!
Has happened in both what some would call middle class areas and deprived areas. They just didn't understand there is a process.

Thing is, all LAs have this information on their websites, it's disseminated through nhs, libraries etc. How can people (other than newly arrived) not know?
cbeebies wouldn't help if you've no television for example.
I'm surprised someone capable of finding and paying for an independent place hasn't actually looked into this earlier, unless you definitely were never going to use state I'm which case why wonder about it now?
We did what fish describes and applied for DC1, but turned down the place when offered as we knew finances were in place. We didn't apply for subsequent DC as we knew they'd stay where they were.

I was nearly caught out by this, I live very rurally & just naively presumed I'd get a letter at some point detailing what I needed to do (we'd also moved around the deadline so I was unsure which school I'd be considering), I thought I had tonnes of time to sort it out, it wasn't until I was chatting to a teacher friend that it dawned on me I had missed the deadline.

We do live in an area with an overabundance of good schools, none of which is oversubscribed though. I may not have been quite so cavalier if there was a competition for places or the risk of placement at a failing school.

Two large families at our school forgot to apply. One already had 3 others in school so knew the system. She was going through a divorce and it just slipped her mind. Her Dd still hasn't got a place and the Dd is at a school 2 miles away now in year 2. Her younger children got places no problem and are now in year 1 and reception.

I'm in OPs area and there is very little information about applying for state schools anywhere. My dds go to a private school but I don't recall seeing any information about applying for state schools other than in my local facebook mums group. There are lots of adverts for open days for private schools at the local station and in newspapers but very little information on the state sector. The GP surgery and minor injuries unit possibly have posters along with a million posters about colds, STIs, giving up smoking, drugs, depression, diabetes, weightloss etc and I don't remember seeing one about school deadlines. Maybe they put them up for a few weeks before the deadline when we haven't been sick. I'm also a regular library goer and used to go to playgroups and other activities and again don't recall seeing anything.

I wouldn't be surprised if plenty of busy parents don't meet the deadline (although I've never met one.)

In my area - all the schools advertise open days etc. in the local press. All nurseries hand out leaflets about how to apply to state schools. Decent private nurseries also talk to parents about which schools their children are going on to, very few private schools have nursery schools attached but if you get into the nursery class you are assumed to be continuing to prep school.
There is information and posters in GP surgeries, libraries, and other activities used by pre-school children.

But there are parents who assume their child will get into local private schools and who have to look around last minute for a state school place.

To not know you had to apply, you would have to be pretty insular and not have any older more knowledgable friends.
I can understand forgetting to apply because there are other things happening in your life - I was anxious with my youngest to make sure I did apply, as her oldest sibling was applying to secondary school at the same time.

I just want to clarify I didn't miss the deadline, I was aware of it mainly because of a local fb group. Most of dds friends we meet out of nursery are in a different school year. This doesn't effect me in an important way (hopefully!) it was a wondering and concern for those with parents who may not bother send their children to school. I went on a tour of a local village school and decided against it for dd. any other school we would apply for we would be highly unlikely to get a place at and we wouldn't intend on sending her there anyway unless circumstances changed. I debated about doing it anyway in case so I had a back up state place, but decided against it and for other people who weren't in my situation and were actually intending on sending their da there to get the places (assuming everyone doesn't do this back up thing and I'm naive).

It would make sense to have more info, maybe on local radio stations etc.

Johnny glad it wasn't just me that missed the signs!

My friend missed the deadline- for her 4th child! And she had walked past a poster with the deadline on it twice a day with two of her others...............

Even friends with children in the year above should know the process - though they might not be talking about it!

A dad at nursery nearly missed the deadline despite the posters, it was lucky he said to me "and at the weekend I need to get Humphrey's application done" and I said "err, the deadline's Wednesday" - he'd walked past the poster every day for 3 months! Still, they were on time I. The end!

Surely if you have a baby you're aware they are going to have to go to school at some point and you will need to find out how? Would take about 5 mins of googling or a quick phone call to the local school.

I don't think I've ever seen a poster or any kind of communication re school places but do remember phoning the nearest school when my eldest was fairly young to find out how it worked. The deadline for reception is only January for September admission so not like parents need to be thinking years in advance.

Pray tell, nobody, what would have happened if you had made that speculative call on 20 January about a child aged only three and a bit?

If you thought school started at five, you'd think you were well ahead.

And what about parents who grew up under a different system (eg private, or Scotland, or overseas)? Are they to get this information by osmosis?

It could be in the red book. Very simple to say baby's DOB 04/04/12, apply for school 01/09/15-15/01/16 to start in September 2016.

It is on my local radio (and its often mentioned on national news etc.).

I think most people who don't apply are intending to home educate, a few may forget.

MrsHathaway - what use would it be in the red book? You only get that if your child is born here, lots of children arrive after birth.

Thinking out loud - it's one of the few chances "the system" has to make contact with all children regardless of background. They tell you when to expect eg preschool boosters and eye tests.

Where 2y checks are offered, the relevant dates could be a line on the invitation letter.

This doesn't catch all children, no, but maybe the CBeebies reminder catches parents who don't need to visit the GP often, or the poster in the children's centre catches parents who thought they wouldn't be applying until the year after.

Posters at the tills at ELC/Toys R Us around Christmas time?

I want everyone to know what the deadlines are, and the consequences of missing them. Surely a blanket

(apologies, phone thinks it knows better than I do)

... blanket approach to advertising, taking every free/cheap/easy opportunity to say to parents "this is when you have to act to get your child a state school place" has to be worthwhile.

Don't know! How long is it since children started at 5? I knew nothing about children when I had DS1 and had no friends with kids at that point but isn't questioning when your child will start school one of those things you just do quite idly when you're thinking about the future? In a general thought process kind of way, it comes up when you think about childcare if you need it, work, having more children, when you see very small children in school uniforms, have a really bad toddler day etc. I wouldn't think it would take 3 years to want some concrete information. Otherwise missing the deadline would be alot more common.

I think if you'd grown up under a different system or were moving country, you'd be especially curious.

I only replied to this as it made me laugh a bit. My mum still complains 40 years later that she was surprised that the local school still hadn't contacted her the week before I was due to start and I've always thought she was a bit bonkers to really not think to find out before then, the letter might have got lost in the post? They might have had the wrong phone number etc. I went to a different school because she was so cross! She's still indignant. It gets rolled out every time one of my children starts school. Fortunately I was very happy where I ended up!

Totally understand Reastie's scenario if you had never intended to use the state system.

In my area every health centre, baby clinic, doctors surgery, nursery, post office, library, council offices, local shop has posters displayed.

Now that all children are eligible for Early years' funding, probably most get told by their pre school provider.

I had to do a form for nursery each term saying the sessions I wanted to claim - if that's universal then that form would be a good place to put it!

I honestly don't think it's a big enough problem to warrant the cost of adverts on national tv

All good points. I think Mumsnetters are more engaged with the process than the average parent, mind you.

Bless your mum

In my local area there are adverts on the local radio station and the local authority and NHS are linked up so if your child is registered with a GP and is born within the right dates, you get an application pack through the post.

Most nurseries also have posters up so I do think it would be difficult for the whole process to completely past you by unless you were very new to the area or very stressed at the time.

Posters at nurseries do seem like they should be and are pretty cost effective.

I never listen to local radio or read the local paper and I'm sure far fewer parents of under 5s do either than attend some kind of pre school, sure start or healthcare setting in the run up to applications - the posters tend to go up in August/sept because applications open in sept.

we received a letter from local council telling us we needed to apply by x date and where we could find information etc.

I think this was on the basis that we are registered with local gp/health visitor.