Primary School application dilemma... not a very exciting thread , but pleeaaseee give me your educated opinions, as I'm cracking under the pressure....

[mustrunawaywithasexyvampire]

In summary, ds1 is in nursery, and we now havwe to do the LEA application for reception September entry 2008.
We get 3 choices.

First, the one where he's at nusery. I love it there. But now that being in nursery is no longer a crtieria, he's back down to last on the criteria list (7 of 7), so its not looking good.

Second, CofE school thats even closer. Our neighbours got in , but we got turned down for nursery, so not likely to get offered reception. Neighbours do not go to church either, but blatantly offered the Dad's proffessional services for free!

Now, third choice options. I've registered interst in another CofE school, but we also got rejected there for nursery, and its further away.
Do I stick with this ay my 3rd choice? All the literature says to choose somewhere 'close that you have a chance of getting in to'. There are 3 non-religiuos schools closeish. The closest is horrendous, the second is prob stil too far to get a place and I've heard mixed reports but mainly negative. The third seems good, but is far (guessing about 1.5 miles) and the catchment area is 0.6 miles. But this one has no nursery, so good in that I wont be competing with existing pupils (but bad in that ds2 will be in a diff place when he has to go to nursery, and I may not be able to drop or pick up at the same time). And I didnt register an interest with this school, as I've never previously considered it.

Help!!!

I would say put the nursery one as first choice, the CofE ones as second and third and just wait.

Put in the "other comments" type bit about him being settled at nursery, friends with him etc. It might do nothing, but it is worth a shot!

At the end of the day, they are the 3 schools you want, so put them down - if you don't get them and end up with the crappy schools then you have lost nothing, but you have at least tried.

It'll be fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine

But if I dont get any of those 3, which is looking likey, I'll have waste my 3rd choice.then they're only obliged to find a place anyehere in the borough, so I could potentially be spending an hour or more travelling each way to school on the bus. And it might still be a shit school. So, I'm thinking , should I apply for a shit school that at least is a bit closer? ie 20 mins/30 mins?

Am thinking the only other option is to go and live back with my Mum Cant think of anything worse, but at least he'd be in a good school with no hassle.

There is no harm in applying even if you don't think you'll get in. You might be suprised. Your neighbor offered his services, is there anything that you can use to sway them.

Ah, see I was thinking they would put you in the next nearest school (the set up round here).

You might have to put shit as number 3

Living with your mum goes into murky areas and would be a nightmare for you, I would put that as lower down the list below shit school and travelling

Show em your video

can you go and look around the shit ones to form your own opinion?

Put the ones you want on the form, you dont have to accept a shit school, and if you dont get any of the three you apply for you can appeal, or apply direct to the schools once they have allocated all the places by the LEA.

Oh, also, you dont have to live with your mum, just say that she helps with care and will be dropping off/collecting child from school, I did this with my xMIL when I wanted my DD to go to a school quite far away. The school can be chosen due to the carer rather than the home iyswim.

My Mum lives 3 hours away so it'd be a bit far fetched to say she helps out!!!

They do allocate the next nearest school. But looking at the figures, even the shitty schools round here are over subscribed, which is why we'd get pushed further out.
And I basically would have to accept what we were given; you can appeal once, but if there's no places, there's no places. Then he'd have to wait a year before we could reappeal.

Not sure what I could do to sweetalk the vicar, as dh doesnt have professional skills that are useful in that context IYSWIM. And I did havr a go at attending that playgroup in an attempt to strike up conversation/make contacts, but it just didnt happen. Can I really just walk up to a total stranger and say 'helo, i really want a place in your school, what can I do for you?' Church attendance nota n option, as its has to have been for 2 yrs prior to application, plus it'd be sooo obvious .

oh, and the 2 CofE schools, we have applied directly (you have to do that aswell as the LEA form), and the community schools are only application by LEA.

Oh, and I meant to say paualplumpbottom, that we applied for nursery for all 3 of the church schools. Got rejected by 2, and the one he's in was a rejection then we got offered a place that wasnt taken up. So I'm thinking if they didnt accept him for nuresery, there's no reason why they would for reception. Esp as my 3rd choice church school still does class nursery attendance as a criteria for school.

is the intake the same size for nursery and reception? my kids' school has a one-class intake for nursery, 2 for reception - so your 'we got rejected for nursery, we'll never get into the school' assumption wouldn't apply there

Unfortunately that doesnt work; all the church schools are very oversubscibed.

I've decided not to appply for the really shit one, which is our closest school
I just phoned the others; one said 1.5 milesish is toooo far, so not much chance, but I'm going for a look round next week anyway. The other, that has a mixed reputation, said proximity was good, and I'm having a look on Friday morning. teacher sounded really nice. But, again, it depends on how many siblings in that year etc, and how many other applications.

I would put the good schools down anyway, there are always a couple of kids that don't take up places.

I wouldn't ever send my kids to a shit school.

I would keep LO at home until a place comes up at a school you're happy with - they don't legally have to go until they turn 5.

My DD is an August birthday so I wouldn't lose out if she didn't go for the whole of the first year - her pre school ed. is fantastic and would be sufficient until a good school came along.

But if I put down 3 church schools, and am likely to end of with none of these, then I risk being sent somewhere miles way. It only has to be in the borough; this could potentially be over an hour each way on the bus

There's no way I'd keep him off school though I'd be hanging sround waiting ofr a vacancy that might not come up; we techincally kept him on the waiting list for 2 other nurseries, and haven't heard back in a year(although I love the one he's at, so its not a problem).