DS school choice predicament. HELP!

[tvhearts]

So my DS is at a lovely preschool/nursery class (I’m not sure what it’s called in your area) which is part of the school he’d attend. He’s been there since September and has settled ok. It’s our local village school and my MIL use to work there and is good friends with the current head. There were a couple of things that have bothered me about it, lack of outdoor provision, classrooms are a little small and crowded and ok this is going to sound bad but all the staff are 45+ it’s great in one respect that the staff have been there years but i do think it perhaps means the school isn’t very “forward thinking” That said the staff are really caring and basically we were happy with the school.

We have to complete the form for his place at school in January and my husband suggested looking round a few others before we made our final choice ... BAD IDEA ... we did and really fell in love with one. I won’t go into loads of details as the post is already long but it’s fabulous and we really want DS and eventually DD to go there. We love that they do so much outdoor stuff and the class sizes are really small. My DS has done a couple of trial mornings as obviously we didn’t want to make a decision without doing that first and he really loved it he seems to have taken to it so quickly, he also seems to love the teacher which is cute. It’s definitely added to the final decision.

So basically the question is this - how the hell do I tell the other school?? I’m just so aware I look like a total bitch who’s snubbing my local school! Offending my lovely MIL and all the friends I’ve made there “it’s not good enough here for my child” etc etc but I don’t want to send my DCs to my 2nd choice school to be polite?

PLEASE be kind, I know I probably sound horrible saying all this but would welcome any words of advice as I’m really struggling with what to do here.

Ok so it does it in order of priority, so if they are over subscribed they look at 5 things if you have a sibling in the school is 3 and then distance is number 4 so looks like I could be ok?

Yes, it should be fine then. Sibling links are in a higher category than distance. But you still have to get your first child in! Fill in your form putting the school you really want first but make sure you fill in as many schools as there are spaces and include a really safe bet as one of them (probably your current school). Good luck - I hope you get the outcome you want come April.

Thanks, I don't think it should be an issue though. Do you also think I shouldn't mention it until I know then? Because I want to start him in the preschool at choice #1 it seems daft to keep him at both?

It’s up to you. But if you don’t get into your chosen school then you’ll DS will have had to move twice in a year. Your local council should have a list somewhere on their website of how oversubscribed/undersubscribed all schools in their area were last admissions round (and sometimes going back a few years). If the school has been consistently undersubscribed it might be worth the risk. But I wouldn’t do it if it was oversubscribed.

• Your not you’ll obvs.

It's definitely not oversubscribed, you can choose your hours at the preschool as they still have room for 8 more children d

No I meant oversubscribed for Reception. It’s perfectly possible for a school to have preschool places but then be oversubscribed when it comes to full time education (partly because lots of working parents choose nurseries or childminders over preschools). So it’s possible you may get your DS a place at the preschool but then have to move him if he doesn’t get a Reception place there. You need to check if the school is usually oversubscribed for Reception or not before you decide.

Lol miaow! Our hearts sink at the thought of rescuing soggy work from 30 clipboards and draping them artistically over the drying rack every week. This is after 15 minutes of children hopping and falling over outside the classroom door swapping from boots to shoes (which are never where they left them) and then, after gratefully clutching the radiator for five minutes, having to dress and go back out to retrieve lost bows and gloves etc from the mud. Oh, the joys of forest school!

What I would do is this:

• keep your DS in current nursery for now
• keep quiet about where you are applying to
• when places are allocated, if you have got into your preferred school & if there are still nursery places, then switch him then for the summer term

If he doesn't get in to your preferred school it would be socially awful to have jumped ship just to come back again.

After places are known, if he is going elsewhere, then just state simply 'Yes local school is lovely, but we thought further school would suit DS better long term' and leave it at that.

😂😂 yes I suppose it must be a right ball ache for the staff but lovey for the kids xx

You need to firm up exactly what the situation is with admission to the preferred school. Is it full? Because most schools that genuinely great schools would be full. If it is not full are other year groups not full and it is because there is simply not enough pupils for the schools in the area.

If you are convinced that there is likely to be space in next years reception then you put that school down as first preference and you put the local school as second preference. Then you are protecting yourself against the possibility that suddenly everybody has discovered the wonderful school by listing the school which you are likely to get a place at, if you do not get into the preferred school.

If this is what you want to do, then you need to check just when exactly you can move to the preferred school nursery because there are time limits assuming you are using the 15 free hours. It could be that it is too late to start immediately after Christmas, as I believe there is something about working a term as to when you can change So please check before you commit to changing your nursery provision.