Primary school place confirmed, what's next?

[katmarie]

We had to apply for our ds's primary place pandemic style, so have not been able to visit the school or meet any of the staff, ask any questions about the process etc, other than what is on the coincil website. We've had confirmation this morning of the school, which is our closest one and our first choice so no massive surprises there. But I'm wondering what happens next. Should I contact the school and ask for a visit? Or just wait for them to get in touch? I imagine they will be pretty busy this week. DS is moving from a private nursery so I want to know what we and the school will be able to do to help him settle in.

Also need to start thinking about buying uniform, I definitely cant afford to get it all in one go, so going to have to get a bit at a time I think. How many sets do people usually buy? And what size? I was thinking to size up so he will grow into it. I'm very new to all this, ds is our oldest. Argh so many questions!

Check to see if you have to accept online.

Then wait. Its late May/early June they start doing the prep for next year, there's still lots of waiting list movement for the next few weeks, and the Schools are focused on SATS at the moment for Yr6.

The school will contact you in due course. I think we heard from ours in mid-May. This was pre-pamndemic. There was a parents information evening, and then a half day settling in session in July.

For uniform we went for 3 pairs of trousers, three logoed polo tops and a pack of three plain supermarket polos. Plus a school sweatshirt and a fleece - he never wore the sweatshirt so we just get him a fleece now.

My boy is tall and skinny, I really rate Next school trousers for him. And their shorts for the summer.

Thanks @Aroundtheworldin80moves I'll check online now and be patient! I'm probably more excited than ds is about starting school

Ask on your local FB group/neighbours who have kids at the school. There will be communication from the school about visiting with your child, uniform, settling in arrangements etc. The private nursery should send a report over to the school, and you’ll probably be asked to provide some more info nearer the time as well on your child’s capabilities and needs. If you can put a bit of money away you can get deals/more choice on uniform in the summer.

Well done on getting in at your preferred school. I also got an offer this morning from my first choice. Have you accepted the offer on the online portal?
I'm in the same boat and haven't been to the school during the application process (I actually went to the school myself as a child but not been there since). I'm assuming they will be in touch but it is early days, I expect they would wait until they have a final list of children who will be in the class before sending out information - and people don't have to accept offers until 04 May so could be a while yet.

Does the school have a Facebook page, might be some information on there? School (normally PTA) may also sell second hand uniform, if you are happy to go down that route.

School will probably also do at least one transition day this coming term. The school may also do a long settling in period when they first start in September, some do this over a number of weeks, others over a couple of days, some just throw them straight in. Personally, I think the getting them used to school routine quicker is better than a long drawn out approach.

You have to officially accept the offer (via the online portal I think) and then just wait to hear from the school. I was keen too but the school took a while to get in touch! There were a bunch of registration forms to fill in. Eventually they gave us log in details for their online system to order school uniform (the sweatshirts with school logo, that is, the rest you can obviously buy elsewhere).

At DC's school they wear their PE kit all day on PE days (1 day a week), so they only wear uniform on 4 days. I'd bought 5 polo shirts (only needed 4 in hindsight but they often come in packs of 5), 3 pairs of trousers and 3 sweatshirts. My DC is very messy so I ended up buying a fourth sweatshirt so I wouldn't have to stress about laundry during the week. But you can always start with 3 and see how it goes.

Shorts - I bought one pair which got worn in September and haven't been worn since (so definitely size up!) One of the trousers ended up with holes in the knees so I've asked my mum to turn them into shorts for me And I might buy another pair of shorts for this term, we'll see how it goes.

In terms of sizing I would say allow a bit of growing room but not loads. I got age 5-6 which is actually still a bit big and tbh it's all got stained so I'll want to get him fresh stuff for next year anyway.

If anyone knows how to get whiteboard marker pen out of school uniform I'm all ears

You may not hear anything for some while. They will wait for acceptances, rejections, waiting lists etc to calm down.
Then if more than 1 class they need to sort out who is in which class.
Plus the primary will have other things going on such as y6 SATs, y1 phonics checks etc.
Oh and of course Covid is still around.
It is possible you may not hear anything until around the early June half term.

Def buy uniform bigger rather than smaller.
As PP pointed out the PTA may run second hand uniform sales.
Why not put aside some money rather than buying too early?
Some people like to have 5 sets of uniform. I only had 2 I think as it didn't need to be washed every day. But it depends on how you like things to be.

@katmarie the school will contact you, bear in mind they may still be on Easter hols. I’ve written the letters for our new starters but they won’t go out until Tuesday when we’ve put the children into classes and then will invite parents into school for a session in June to visit the classrooms and meet teachers etc.

Glad someone else asked this! Check your local authority website about acceptances, as ours states we do not need to formally accept a school place.

Only thing I have done today is email school about a breakfast club space, as I know they’re limited.

Our old primary always had a parents' session and the PTA sold second-hand uniform there.

In terms of uniform, I'd say get as much as you can afford - definitely a polo shirt for every day of the week, else you're washing all the time. But you can get those from the supermarket and if you wait till nearer the summer holidays you won't be able to move for 2 for 1 offers.

Basically you do nothing bar possibly needing to accept the place. Our council don’t require that bit, it’s assumed acceptance unless you say otherwise.

We didn’t hear anything until early June from our school last year. We then got a letter with forms to complete & information about settling in sessions etc.

But I was excited, so I read literally every bit of information on the schools website 😂 I was pretty clued up by the time it came to June 🙊

Uniform wise- if you need to spread it out, do so. But just be conscious that your child might suddenly grow between now & September. I’d hang on until June/July. 100% for shoes. Uniform can be got pretty cheaply if needed, non-branded polos & jumpers from Asda etc but you do really need a decent pair of shoes & they are stupidly expensive in my opinion. Def hang on until you can be reasonably confident she’s getting a pair in a size that’ll last a while!

If in doubt on something like shirts, then a good strategy is to get one pack of the slightly-on-the-large-side size you would automatically go for, and then a pack of the size above that. Then you have something for emergencies, if a little baggy, but you'll get proper wear out of it next year or the year after.
Definitely watch out for secondhand - either through the school or things like local Facebook groups - no need for everything to be new.

Thank you all you lovely people for your insight and experience, I really appreciate it!

I can't see anywhere on the admissions portal to accept the offer, only to appeal, so I've just emailed to check with the council admissions team.

The school requires a sweatshirt with school logo on, and a PE tshirt as well, everything else is generic by the looks of things, so that's a relief. Love the idea of turning trousers into shorts, thanks! And I really don't mind going second hand for uniform, the vast majority of my kids stuff is secondhand, better for the environment and my pocket. So thank you for that tip too, I will look out for local uniform sales.

Shoes - if you need "proper" school shoes, it can be risky to leave it too late as the shops sell out. But check what's required - don't assume they have to have "proper" shoes. For recpetion, I bought DD proper school shoes in the second half of August, and she outgrew them by October. The next year, her feet hadn't spurted recently, so I sent her back in doodles and waited until October to get something for the winter.

@lanthanum

Shoes - if you need "proper" school shoes, it can be risky to leave it too late as the shops sell out. But check what's required - don't assume they have to have "proper" shoes. For recpetion, I bought DD proper school shoes in the second half of August, and she outgrew them by October. The next year, her feet hadn't spurted recently, so I sent her back in doodles and waited until October to get something for the winter.

Our second primary school wore slippers or gym rubbers inside so I literally never had to buy a pair of 'proper' shoes, just sent him in in his normal trainers or boots in winter. Saved a fortune actually though they always looked a bit odd in school photos. Definitely worth checking this one!

The uniform list on the school website says plain black school shoes, with buckle laces or velcro fastening. So I'll start saving now for those! We've always put the kids in clarks, although I do get a lot of their shoes second hand on ebay, becuse I have the foot measures for them so I can know what size to get. I think school shoes will need to be new ones though, if they are going to last.

The admissions people emailed me back to say that I don't need to accept the place, only tell them if I want to appeal, and that the school will be writing to me. So in the meantime I am off to read every word on the school website!

Look at Clarks outlets. Its the older designs, but let's be honest, no one can tell!

check about the acceptance procedure but after that you will hear from the school in the next few weeks. We had a comprehensive 'pack' with info on the school day/uniform etc.

pretty much everything has been cancelled by our school in the pandemic but before that they would do
a. a meeting for parents sometime in July
c. two/three different (optional) settling in visits for the children. During one of these they put on tea and coffee for the parents and some staff which was a nice touch.

sorry that should be a. and b. not a. and c.

My son started school this year and like you we had no open days etc.

In July we had a 1:1 meeting with his teacher outside. We weren't allowed in the classroom.

Via Facebook I organised a picnic with other new children in his class.

This year I think they will be able to do something where they invite all the parents in for a post acceptance open day, it's usually in July though when the exams etc are over.

You can book an appointment for Clark's in the next few weeks.

Get any uniform that isn't size dependant now. My son has to have a branded rucksack which we got as soon as we could.

I also went to look at the uniform in May time to see how much the branded stuff cost. They told us to come in June and no later to get it. Every year in July and August the queue from the uniform shop stretches up the high street.

Buy stuff with room and try to buy the best quality you can. Most of our uniform is school branded which was expensive but it has lasted and will be good for his younger sister too. Friends who have had full supermarket uniforms have found very few items last out the term.

Spend the minimum possible amount on polo shirts. They're virtually single use and come home destroyed.

@Oysterbabe

Spend the minimum possible amount on polo shirts. They're virtually single use and come home destroyed.

Conversely, My DDs wore school green polo shirts for 2 years, and DD1 passed down to DD2 so getting on for 4 years wear.

Oh that's good. Ours are white, therein lies the problem.

I'm not convinced by Clarks value tbh, they seem poor quality for the price. I suggest going to a shop that sells a variety of brands (eg Geox and Start Rite as well as Clarks) - try independent shoe shops, good quality smallish shoe shop chains, or John Lewis. Alternatively, you could try M&S as I've heard good things about their school shoes, they are cheaper than Clarks and look pretty hardwearing (my DS rejected the pair he tried as he said they weren't comfy, but he does that with a lot of shoes!)