First school application for reception yr 1

[Mummyoply]

I am only applying for one (very popular) primary school in my catchment area for DS. Intake is 2021 and application due now. I wondered if i need/should complete the supplementary evidence? It's not compulsory as I can skip the box but I wondered if I should put something but what would I write for a 3year old?

He has no siblings/cousins etc at the school, we live very close and it's the best in the area and is always over subscribed.

It's a LA school.

Any advice? Thanks Mumsnetters

There really is no need to,write anything on the free comments bid on the form, unless you are highlighting something relevant to the application.

If you list only this school, what are your plans for education should you not get a place (say for example it's a high sibling year and all places are filled by those siblings and DZc who love even closer than you)?

Very risky to only put one school. We live 300m from a school and would have a place every year on distance. In dd's year there were 26 siblings so no spsces

You only need to provide supplementary evidence if, well, you have supplementary evidence! So proof of medical need, diagnoses, letters from professionals, proof of which category you're applying for etc.

Are you 100% confident he will get a place at this school? Have you checked the distance of the last child admitted in previous years?

Only use the supplementary form if the priority category your dc should fall into is not clear ie, if Looked After, EHCP, baptism . Agree you run the risk of not qualifying for a place and being offered a further less desirable school instead. Name at least one you would be reliably allocated.

I would use all 3 choices if in England.

I spoke to our local school and they said to include why you want the school or anything to support your application; so my son has an IEP at pre school so they said to write that.

It’s hard this year without looking around the schools but I would use all choices.

And it in England you have to jan 15th so no rush!

Thanks @meditrina , that's what I thought but it felt strange skipping the question.

We don't have a back up plan, other than appealing the decision if we don't get in. My son was born in a low birth year and I'm hoping that might work in our favour! It's also practically on our doorstep and no other school is closer. The other primary schools in our locality are in very 'rough' areas and have poor ofstead reports, we would have to go out of area, if this school didn't accept DS.

If is a faith school, there will be a whole supplementary form (known as a SIF) which you need to have countersigned by your vicar (or equivalent) and sent in by deadline (which might not be the same as the main entrance form)

The supplementary form is only if you need to proove something that will give you an advantage in the priority lists.

But honestly, my advice would be to put some more schools on the form. Putting more schools will not reduce your chance of getting your first choice school. And not putting more schools will not force them to give you what you want. What will happen if you dont put additional schools, and you dont get a place, is everyone with more than one school on the list will get their preferences looked at, and you will be offered a place where there is space after those allocations. This might not even be very local.

Thanks everyone, it's not a faith school and my DS has no health/additional learning needs etc. So probably no need to complete the supplementary evidence.

He's quite good academically for his age, but I'm sure most parents think that of their children! I just wondered if it was worth 'bigging him up'! ha ha to try and give us a fighting chance but that might put the school off us more than make them give him a place! I don't want to be 'that parent'!

If the admission number is a multiple of 15, or 20, an appeal just won't work due to infant class size. What makes you think you'd get a space at a further away school if you don't get a place at this one?

Put two more schools on the form.

Use all your choices! People make this mistake every year. It just means that on the off chance you are disappointed you won't be stuck with a school you hate but your genuine second choice and can still appeal if any sensible grounds.

OP they won't even see the form! No point in filling that bit in unless you are drawing their attention to supporting documentation that gives him a higher priority (adopted, wheelchair user for example).

@Mummyoply

Thanks *@meditrina* , that's what I thought but it felt strange skipping the question.

We don't have a back up plan, other than appealing the decision if we don't get in. My son was born in a low birth year and I'm hoping that might work in our favour! It's also practically on our doorstep and no other school is closer. The other primary schools in our locality are in very 'rough' areas and have poor ofstead reports, we would have to go out of area, if this school didn't accept DS.

If you go "out of area" your dc is still unlikely to qualify for place at a popular school. You can list any school on your form, close or not, but if it fills its places with those higher in priority based on the admissions criteria ie. Siblings, distance then he still won't get a place.

On what grounds would you appeal? Infant class size appeals only succeed if a mistake was made unfairly denying your dc a place.

The school do not consider the individual child. There is no picking and choosing. It is a very clear cut process that uses the admissions criteria to determine places. You can neither put them off nor sway them.

You also have literally nothing to lose by using all your preferences. Put one of the out of area schools as your second preference. And one you’d likely get into in third. Even if you are offered it you don’t actually have to accept it. But it gives you back up whilst you explore other options.

It’s not the school who choose your son!

Literally all your info is uploaded in to computer software and it chucks out the top 30 matches. That’s it.

Remember you are not choosing a school but expressing a preference. If you don't also put a school you are a, likely to get and b, happy to get, they'll give you whatever is available.

Don't gamble this way.

You MUST use all your choices on your form. Otherwise you run the risk of being allocated a school even worse than the ones you don’t want but miles away. It can also be very difficult to get a reception place after allocations are made so don’t bank on just being able to move and get a place elsewhere.

We didn’t get a place at our local school - previously guaranteed for the ten years prior. There were four siblings who also didn’t get a place. Class size of 30, 34 siblings. Nobody without a sibling there got a place including the child who literally lived next door.

It was a very extreme case but it can and does happen. We ended up in a private school as a result.

Also, what would your grounds for appeal be if you didn’t get a place? It can’t just be it’s the best school or the one you want. Why should your child get a place over all others? Remember you are expressing a preference not a choice.

I don’t want to sound negative but you can’t just bury your head in the sand and assume you’ll get the place. I sincerely hope you do but unless your child has special educational needs, is looked after or previously looked after, has a sibling there or sometimes if the child of a staff member then it will most likely come down to distance and there’s nothing you can write in that box that will help.

If you do not list any further preferences, what happens (if you do not qualify for your first preference school) is that you will be allocated the nearest school with a vacancy.

The LEA will have fulfilled its obligation to you to provide a school place (and free transport if the nearest undersubscribed school is overmiles away)

So to go out of area would be possible, but you would have to find schools with vacancies. As most schools have distance as the tie breaker, it is quite likely the only ones which have spaces are either brand new or enduringly unpopular (very few areas have an oversupply of school places, but demographic changes mean it's not as tight as it used to be)

As pps have pointed out, appeals under the Infant Class Size rules are innable only if a mistake has been made and that mistake meant your DC was not offered a place that should have been offered, or the decision is so unreasonable it's perverts (threshold very high - child protection issues, or putting a child who uses a chair in the only local school that is not adequately accessible)

Thanks for all the advice and for explaining the allocation system, it's very much appreciated for this rookie!

@Mummyoply

Thanks *@meditrina* , that's what I thought but it felt strange skipping the question.

We don't have a back up plan, other than appealing the decision if we don't get in. My son was born in a low birth year and I'm hoping that might work in our favour! It's also practically on our doorstep and no other school is closer. The other primary schools in our locality are in very 'rough' areas and have poor ofstead reports, we would have to go out of area, if this school didn't accept DS.

You need to be aware that appeals will be almost impossible to win if the class size is a multiple of 15. Going out of area may not help either. The popular schools may well have filled up on allocation day.

You aren’t going to be at a disadvantage by deciding which of the other schools are your least worst and putting them on the form.

OTOH if you are happy to not send him to school and home educate, none of these things are an issue.

Have you found the big document that shows you distances for allocations in previous years for all the schools, so you can make some realistic back up choices? We got third choice. Turned out to be a fabulous choice.

My ds is going to start next September we’ve applied to same school as his brother he’s pretty much guaranteed to get in through sibling rule I’m still filling all my 3 options in just in case

We've all been rookies at one time or another. Put down any school you'd be likely to qualify for. Don't worry about describing your child's finer points as a potential pupil; schools don't get to choose, much as some of them might like to. One question: why is the application due to be submitted now? Isn't January the usual time? Not that there's anything wrong with being early, but as you seem very conscientious about this, it might be worth using the extra time (if applicable) to investigate some of the schools you've written off. Just in case it's one of those oddball years.

Repeating everyone else, but use all your choices! A crap school you've chosen is better than a crap school you haven't. You mustn't rely on an appeal - to put it in context, there were only 2 successful infant class size appeals in our (very large) county last year. If you don't get your first choice, you need a backup while you wait for a waiting list place or apply for another school as an in year admission.

This thread has been a revelation - thanks everyone!

I have found the 'Big Document' and have already started cross referencing schools in relation to distanced, ethos and offer, extra curricular and clubs and of course ofstead scoring.

One thing I do need to read up more on is Academy schools, what are your thoughts of Academy versus community? I also note there are different types of Academy schools - those who are sponsor led, charitable society led, Academy converter and voluntary aided schools. Can anyone help explain what this means in terms of how good the school is?