Is there a nervously awaiting primary admissions thread?

[drspouse]

Or have I just started the first one?

[ChubbyMummy12]

Thank you- We got first choice!!

[starpatch]

We got our wild card too. It's so complicated putting together your list in London. For those doing it next year wish I'd started visiting schools sooner!

[AgathaMystery]

Got our last choice today though know if families who didn't get any on their list...

...got the wild card I put down as (a) no one gets in & (b) no one gets in

Who knows anything about Free Schools?!

[AliensInUnderpants12]

Relieved that we have got our first choice school! There are quite a few children locally with no school place. Another local school is going to have a bulge class though so hopefully that will help. Very stressful for all those without a place.

[NormaSnickers]

DS has been offered a place at our preferred school so I'm very happy. Even though I was pretty sure that would be the outcome I was surprised at just how relieved I felt when I found out!
Congrats to all with good news and sorry to all who haven't got what they were hoping for - I hope you'll all end up in Sept with an outcome you are happy with.

[SaffaQueen]

Thanks all for the advice - going to be making a number of phone calls first thing tomorrow!

Congrats to everyone who got their preferred schools, seems to be a minority on my local FB group so an achievement!

[starpatch]

Got our second choice school but haven't visited it. It's a very popular school with reputation for being relaxed. In my defence I visited 7 schools but rather illogically not that one because everyone said it was so great and we are way over the distances previously offered. Fingers crossed I like it when I visit.

[tethersend]

Saffa, I would get in touch with your borough's Parent Partnership/Independent Advisory Support Service for support with this.

[tethersend]

Saffa, if the EHCP names the school (you may or may not have a battle to get it to do so), then your DD should get a place as she will be an 'excepted child', ie she won't count towards ICS regulations. You shouldn't need to appeal.

[SaffaQueen]

Patricia, we did not consult with the Head, but the local authority SEN team knew about our strong preference and reasons therefore and were meant to be in contact with the Admissions team on our behalf.

Our EHCP is not 100 percent final nor is the preferred school named in the latest draft. I need to chase up our plan co-ordinator in the SEN team. She was meant to be helping with school's admissions and guide us with the next steps in the process. We have been told that DD's resource placing is going before a panel, but don't know when. All very frustrating and confusing - I think I need to also maybe phone the borough admissions team, as well as preferred school tomorrow.

From the looks of it, does not look as if my appeals case is that strong. I can list reasons, but some of them will be more subjective than objective which won't help.

There are so many new builds going up in our area - lots of 2 bedrooms housing families. It's ludicrous that you can't get a distance placing for a school 500m away (2nd choice). 1st choice was 650m away - easiest to get to though.
Not enough schools being built, not enough childcare for babies (trying to find this currently as due back at work), & definitely not enough resource unit places (70 across our entire borough!).

Maybe it's a sign we need to move outside of London.

[tethersend]

1st choice here in Tower Hamlets- what s relief!

Saffa, has your DD got an EHCP now? Or when should it be finalised? If the EHCP names the school, they have to take her, whether they are full or not. All is not lost!

[PatriciaHolm]

"Children with exceptional medical, social, or psychological needs, where it is agreed by the local authority and headteacher that these can be best addressed at the school"

Ah, i suspect this may be where you have come unstuck. Did you consult with the head and LA before you applied to ensure that they agree that this school is the only one locally that can meet your needs? Or did you just supply your own medical documentation?

Obviously, now the EHCP has been granted, you are in a much stronger position (does it actually name this school though?), but at the time you didn't have it officially agreed that the medical requirements could only be met by this school.

If the EHCP names the school now, then you would have a reasonable case at appeal I would suggest (as you could argue that the LA made a mistake, knowing that the EHCP which names the school would be complete soon, in not putting your DD in the priority category).

If the EHCP doesn't name the specific school, you are on shakier ground, because the official line from the LA will almost certainly be that all schools in the LA are equally good and can cope with special needs.

[alien11]

chubby check online by logging in

[Chilver]

Login to the admissions website - we haven't got an email yet either, we just logged on

[ChubbyMummy12]

I Haven't recieved an email about what choice my DS got?! Anyone know what I should do?

[Chilver]

Got our 2nd choice (in London borough) and its our closest and wonderful so we're happy. Our first choice we were regretting putting as first choice although we know any people there so it's worked out. Only downside is that we don't know anyone at our second d choice - but we will soon enough!!

[NotCitrus]

Got dc2 into dc1's school.
Neighbour didn't get into our closest school where their dc is in nursery, but got the other likely option which means they still won't be at the same school.

In my area, there are now over 200 kids applying for what used to be 30 places and is now 60. It is physically impossible to put any more kids in unless you demolished an entire 2-storey building and re-built it with 5 storeys, which one school is doing and a couple have already done. When 2-bed flats are housing two families with a child or two each, but the LEA assumed 10 years ago that fewer than half would have children, there is no way you can just add more classes after all schools have been forced to take bulge classes for 7 years in a row.

[SaffaQueen]

Ok, preferred school's policy says:
In the event of their being more applications than available places and after the admission of children with a stat.ement of special educational needs or an EHCP where the academy is named on the statement or plan, places will be allocated against the criteria set out below:

1. Children in public care...
   
2. Children with siblings who are already on the roll at the school and will still be on the roll at date of entry
   
3. Children with exceptional medical, social, or psychological needs, where it is agreed by the local authority and headteacher that these can be best addressed at the school
   
4. Children living nearest to the school...
   

When I applied I requested prioritisation on social needs, attached loads of support and wrote as much as I could about why we believed our 1st choice was the best setting for her. They also have an autism unit on site, sensory room etc.
We are still waiting to hear if she will get a placement in the autism unit - this is going before a panel (separate process) But with only 14 places across all classes, I'm not feeling very hopeful. Especially after this.

[FuriousFate]

Tiggy - I'm not taking about the US as a whole, I'm talking about the state where I live. It's actually surprisingly similar to London in many ways, pretty densely populated and one of the smaller ones. The population waxes and wanes due to the number of embassy staff here (OK, probably outed myself there). The current system does cause problems and local parents are always up in arms about the portacabin equivalents. However, there is none of this having to ferry four different children to four different schools across a busy city that seems to be the norm in many parts of London.

As I said above, if we hadn't extended DH's contract here, we'd have been applying in the UK this year (Richmond). During DC1's birth year, 2011, the local paper was reporting the rapid increase in the birth rate and predicting doom and gloom for September 2016 as there wouldn't be enough reception school places available. While these things take time, no one can say that at least some (and better) provision couldn't have been made during the last five years to take this increase into account.

[PatriciaHolm]

Safe - you would need to check the exact wording of the criteria. As Tiggy says, children with an EHCP naming the school have to take priority, but a social/medical needs category (which you would have fallen into at the time) can differ in its wording and requirements.

[SaffaQueen]

Tiggy, yes. Only children in care or with siblings at the school have preference over a child with an EHCP. It's a very popular heavily subscribed school. The only thing I can think of is that her EHCP was not taken into consideration as was still in progress at time of application.
Surely there can't be 60 siblings or children in care?
Our allocated school is dreary and depressing and over 3km away (vs 800m for preferred school).
How I am going to manage my commute to work when I come back from maternity leave - this school is such a detour from home and my planned provision for my baby.
Literally shaking with shock and anger.