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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Help me find a way around this tricky situation!

91 replies

SunsetOnTheHorizon · 16/07/2018 16:54

Long time lurker here. I'm only posting as I am desperate for some ideas on how to get around my tricky situation.

We recently moved home to a nicer area with good schools. Currently DC are attending the school in where our previous house was located, which is about 20 minutes drive away now.

Dc2 has secured a place for sept 2018. Dc1 has not but has been put on the waiting list.

Here comes the dilemma... End of the school day is the same for both schools. I don't want to be relying on after school clubs as they both have a language class to get to at 4.30.

What can I suggest to the school to help?

I have spoken to the Head of the current school and she is adamant that i cannot collect dc1 earlier than hometime.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

MidniteScribbler · 18/07/2018 00:27

No one would expect another parent to take their child every day after school for free, that's bonkers.

This is the woman who thinks that it is the school's job to look after her kid for her convenience. Of course she will expect someone to hang around for half an hour after school every day so she doesn't have to pay for ASC.

PhilODox · 18/07/2018 00:53

ASC it is then until I get to know a local parent who can help
WTAF?
Why would any parents, that don't even know you yet, offer to help you out every day for a language class?

Original poster

SunsetOnTheHorizon · 18/07/2018 02:35

Stranger things have happened. At the current schoool I know these parents that actually do do this. She collects her fellow parents'' ds and watches him till 4pm till his mum comes to pick him up. Obviously they got to know each other first. I wasn't expecting overnight miracles.

Tbh I didn't ever want to move them I always thought the travel to school wouldn't be such a PITA but hey ho things change.... kill me?

Back to the point of appealing. Anyone care to answer those two questions I have?

OP posts:

PanelChair · 18/07/2018 02:52

Frankly, OP, I find your attitude to
fellow posters rather offputting, but here goes.

Because your child is in KS2, the appeal rules are more favourable to you (or, at least, not so unfavourable) than they would be in KS1. You need to demonstrate that the prejudice (ie disadvantage) to your child in not having a place at the school outweighs the prejudice to the school in having to admit another pupil. You can mention things like your recent move into the area, your child’s need to make new friends nearby, sibling already attending etc. But that might not be enough on its own - not everyone can get a place in a local school as soon as they move to a new area, if schools are already full - so you’ll help your case if you can pinpoint other reasons why your child needs a place at this particular school and needs it now.

MidniteScribbler · 18/07/2018 04:06

She collects her fellow parents'' ds and watches him till 4pm till his mum comes to pick him up. Obviously they got to know each other first.

Perhaps they actually like each other. I sometimes keep my friend's child after school (I teach at the school), but because I am friends with her. She did not become friends with me to be a CF and get free babysitting. We were friends before I started at this school. Any school parent who sucked up to me, then dropped on me that they wanted me to have their kid for half an hour every day would be dumped so fast their head would spin.

3luckystars · 18/07/2018 04:16

It’s not really that tricky at all. Both children finish school at the same time, but in different places.

You will have to get someone else to pick one child up.

3luckystars · 18/07/2018 04:23

(and not many people will do this for free)

Candyflip · 18/07/2018 04:32

I can’t actually believe the fucking answers here. SHE HAS MOVED. Of course she should expect her children to be in school in her current area. I hate that about the U.K., and there really isn’t much (I live overseas, so have rose tinted glasses firmly planted) but to not be able to get a place at the local school? Bollocks. How old are your dc OP?

3luckystars · 18/07/2018 04:39

Her previous school is 20 minutes away.

Candyflip · 18/07/2018 04:56

Yep. So she will have to be either 20 minutes early or 20 minutes late, so she can pick up both children.

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 18/07/2018 05:24

Candy flip- how does the school accommodate another child when it’s full? Just accept everyone regardless of class size? Boot out the child living furthest away to make space? We can’t just pitch up at a school and demand they take a child. Everyone would demand a place at only the ‘best’ schools.

Candyflip · 18/07/2018 05:29

But how do they get in the school in the first place? I get it if the school really is oversubscribed, but there have always been out of catchment kids and I really disagree with that.

Bezm · 18/07/2018 05:31

Firstly, you appeal to the local authority for a school place, not the school itself unless it's a private school.
Secondly, for the sake of your child you should use an after school club. Much better than relying on random people willing to have your child.
Finally, language classes EVERY night? Your poor kids must be exhausted!

shouldwestayorshouldwego · 18/07/2018 05:35

Aren't you better off paying someone else who does your language classes five days a week to pick up one of your dc and meet you there? I am guessing that the intensity means that it is for cultural/ religious reasons so the parents are part of a community? Or paying someone else to drive them. Some taxi firms have DBS clearance for school runs if you can find one. The trouble is that you won't get to know parents as quickly doing two school runs because you are always dashing off. How do you plan to get them both to school on time.

PhilODox · 18/07/2018 06:21

Shouldwestay has an excellent solution. Pay someone with those language skills to do pick-up.

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 18/07/2018 06:23

Candy flip- there are some areas where there are too few school places for the amount of children so they have to go to schools further afield.

For eg. We have a first school but no middle school in our town, the children have no choice but to go to the next town to school. If a child moves closer, should my child be told to leave? Of course not.

Candyflip · 18/07/2018 06:25

But surely the closest school is your catchment though? why should a parent have to pay for after school care? When they don’t want children at a different school?

GeorgieTheGorgeousGoat · 18/07/2018 06:30

They don’t do catchment schools as such. You just lost your preferred schools and if you meet the admission criteria, then they will offer you a place, sometimes you get whatever they can offer. Parental choice really has little to do with it.

Not sure how long you’ve lived over seas but certainly school applications are very different than when I was a child.

palomapear · 18/07/2018 06:33

Pay a childminder to collect after school.

TellsEveryoneRealFacts · 18/07/2018 06:35

Do they need language classes every night? Can you cut down on those for a start?

Or find a childminder who will take one child for a bit extra each day?

ChadwithaK · 18/07/2018 06:39

Why do they need to do a language class every day? You’ll have to use an ASC. You can’t exlect another parent to have your child every day after school you’ll piss people right off.

You really should have thought this through before you moved.

INeedNewShoes · 18/07/2018 06:43

Language class can be arranged at 6pm, as they have two classes operating. Which means I'll the dcs.home by 7.30pm. Pushing dinner time to 8pm.

A packed tea is the clear answer here, or a cafe en route to the language class.

freshstart24 · 18/07/2018 06:45

Why should school allow you to collect early or late without ASC? They can't allow this for parents who can't quite make pick up due to work, or having a younger child in a playgroup etc..

Look at it from the perspective of the school and other parents, rather than just from your angle.

I take a friend's child to school 3 days a week, and pick her up twice a week. However my friend is lovely, considerate and helps me out just as much if not more.

freshstart24 · 18/07/2018 06:47

Maybe if you explain that the knock-on effect of this is tea at 8pm, the school will rearranged their entire timetable?

shouldwestayorshouldwego · 18/07/2018 06:49

But surely the closest school is your catchment though?

No in many areas admission is decided based on as the crow flies distance so some people might be in catchment for a few schools and others just one.

It is further limited because the class sizes are generally limited to 30. Also unlike some other countries you don't HAVE to change schools if you move, this is good for continuity especially for those renting who might have to move often. English schools are quite transparent about their quality and exam results (by law) so it is often clear which are the more successful schools (although that doesn't mean that they will be the best for your child). Presumably the OP has moved into the area of a school which is as good as or better than the original school for her children so she wants to move them. If another parent moved from her new area to the old area, maybe because they were ill or lost their job and so wanted a cheaper house their children would be able to stay at the original school so would benefit from continuity of friendship and teachers supporting them. The system suffers from insufficient funding and overcrowding. Many schools simply can't squeeze in an extra child or too and the density of the population is such that there isn't always room for an extra school to be built to support the growing population. This would be true whatever the system used and it would be unfair to a child who is settled and happy if they had to move because someone moved closer to the school and they were now the 31st child in the class.

No school system is perfect and there are winners and losers. I have been in OP's position but I am grateful for the choice that we have had rather than just attending the nearest school.

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