Clueless re process for school applications!

[Idontthinklikethat]

My son is a September baby so I know he’ll start reception when he’s 5, but otherwise I’m feeling a bit clueless about the timeline! What’s the process regarding looking around schools (assume open days)? When do I apply and will I receive anything by post to prompt this? I have tried to look into this but there’s not much clear cut info out there, is this because I need to contact each school were interested in? I’m actually normally ahead of important things I need to do like this but I feel a bit in the dark! Thanks I’m advance for any help !

I’m in Leeds and we needed to contact the individual schools to arrange visits. Some did open days for a group, some were just us. This was pre-Covid though.

If I remember rightly, applications open in November and could be submitted until about January and you’re notified of your placement in April.

Some schools, require an extra form and some documentation. For example for our faith school we had to provide certificate of baptism, record of attendance at church, confirmation we were listed on the church census and a letter from our priest.

Does he go to nursery? They’re usually pretty good at reminders to apply. There’s never been anything through the post IME.

IIRC applications for children in the right age group open the Sept before you would expect them to start school, have to be completed by mid Jan and places are announced in April ish?

We never did open days as my children attended the nursery attached to the school, and we are only in the catchment for one school so it seemed pointless.

Applications will go through your local authority. Have a look at their website and it should give you details. The deadline will be in January 2022 assuming a September 2022 start. You will get an offer in April.

Schools usually have open days during the Autumn term but they were disrupted last year. Obviously nobody knows what will allowed this year.

www.gov.uk/apply-for-primary-school-place

When is he five? You apply in the January before he is due to start. Your LA website has details of the timings, open days, priority criteria by school and previous year admissions data.

Bear in mind they (usually) start the Sept of the school year in which they turn 5, not when they are 5. So for a summer birthday you may well have to apply by the January when they are only three and a half.

When you come to fill in the form take some time to consider the choices you make.

First of all, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you have a choice, you are expressing a preference, so only putting down one school is not a good strategy. If you are not offered it then the LA will allocate a school that has spaces and might not be very close to home. Use all your preferences..

Look carefully at the admission criteria for each school , especially if it is a faith school. Sort out any paperwork well in advance. Ditto if you are making an application based on medical or accessibility. Think about distance, check the last distance a place was offered for the last year, it’s not foolproof but it is a very rough indication.

Once you have decided which schools you would be happy with think about how you want to put them on the application form. The schools will not know the order but the LA will use your order to allocate the school you are offered.

So put your dream school first, even if you think it is unlikely to be the one you are offered, you never know.

List your other schools in preference order.

Make sure you put a local easy to reach catchment school on there somewhere towards the bottom of the list, even if you don’t particularly like the school it is better to have a place in a local school that you don’t like much than a place in a school you don’t like much on the other side of the borough.

If you have other, younger children look carefully at the sibling criteria on the school admission form . Increasingly schools are putting siblings in catchment above siblings out of catchment. Not an issue for a first child, but could cause problems when you come to look for a place for a younger child.

If you get really stuck there is a group of really knowledgeable people on MN, who are experienced in school admissions law, sit on appeals panels and are able to offer general or specific advice.

All the information you need should be on your local authority website.

Google "School admissions My Council". It should bring up all the info.
He will probably still start aged 4 (and quite a lot), unless his birthday is literally the first few days of September (first day of term this year is 1Sept round here).
You need to apply the Autumn before he would start. There is not usually a prompt, unless you see a notice in the library, GP surgery or at nursery sort of places.

Use ALL your choices. Put a school you are fairly certain to get into based on historic applications. Put the schools in the absolute order you would prefer them. The order only becomes important you qualify for more than one school. Then they offer you your highest preference.

The admissions info should give open events info - certainly they do for secondary. Bear in mind covid might affect these events.

When is he 5? Next September?

In which case, you’ll be applying this time. Applications open in Autumn but the deadline is early January. It makes no difference when you apply so long as it’s before the deadline. The council will not look at any applications until the deadline has passed. You will receive an offer in April on National Offer Day.

Schools have no say in applications. It’s done purely on criteria (catchment, siblings, church attendees etc). Each school will have an admissions criteria on their website. Read it.

We were able to look round schools last year, we did it in early Autumn before covid got really bad. You ring the school & arrange a time. In normal times, you can look round when the kids are in. Sadly we could only look round after school when it was empty. Not quite the same but it did help a lot in decision making!

Most people have a catchment school that you are very likely to get into. But you don’t have to list it as an option if you don’t want. We didn’t as we hated it. Use all your options. We had 3. London has 5 or 6 I think!

We got info from nursery & the council but also, I just googled the date applications opened and had it in my calendar so I wouldn’t forget!

Thank you!

Key bit is to look at criteria for each school. The LA web site will have stats for previous year normally. You put down your preferences. If you qualify for more than one eg on distance, only then will LA take your preference order into account. Put down at least one realistic choice

Thanks @Marmite27 so did you have to do this even if this was your local and catchment school ? Ours is a local C of E and although I attended a C of E when younger we don’t attend a church now but I’d like my DS to go to there potentially (provided we like it) I noticed it does have such a form but figured this was only if it’s oversubscribed…

@Idontthinklikethat

Thanks *@Marmite27* so did you have to do this even if this was your local and catchment school ? Ours is a local C of E and although I attended a C of E when younger we don’t attend a church now but I’d like my DS to go to there potentially (provided we like it) I noticed it does have such a form but figured this was only if it’s oversubscribed…

You need to see if the faith school requires supplementary information forms (SIF) this will be on the admissions section of the school website and the LA. SIFs usually go directly to the school and then you fill out the common application form on the LA site.

If you are applying to a faith school make sure you check the admissions criteria carefully, Catholic schools require a priests reference too but not sure if that applies to CofE.

You would need to submit the additional form so that your application is placed in the right priority category. However you are correct that if undersubscribed it would make no difference.

@Idontthinklikethat

Thanks *@Marmite27* so did you have to do this even if this was your local and catchment school ? Ours is a local C of E and although I attended a C of E when younger we don’t attend a church now but I’d like my DS to go to there potentially (provided we like it) I noticed it does have such a form but figured this was only if it’s oversubscribed…

Yes it’s our closest school.

Here there are defined boundaries for catholic schools, C of E schools and non faith. If you were to put them on a map we’d be in the boundary accepted for 6 different schools as not only do the overlap, but completely overlay each other in some cases!

Some areas have catchments for schools, some just do straight line distance. Where there are too many in catchment straight line distance can also be used.

It sounds like there are additional criteria for your local C of E school. In that case it's definitely worth checking what those are from the school website and also checking the local authority for previous statistics: they should tell you if anyone who doesn't meet the religious criteria gets in, and if so how far away the furthest lived each year. (or you may have time to develop sufficiently visible religious faith again)