Help understanding primary school admission process

[dzara]

Hello all,

Each year, the main application round for schools concerns children who have reached school admission age for Year 1.

If someone wants to apply for admission into another year group, say Year 4 or Year 6, for admission in September (nit in-year admission) what is the procedure for that?

I suppose it would be difficult to get a place as places would fill up automatically by pupils from previous years in any given school? Are there provisions for pupils who join the school in later years?

Looking for somebody to explain to me how things work in general in this case.

Thanks in advance.

You submit an in year application to your LEA as they have the details of vacancies.

There's lots of reasons why there may be vacancies- people move out of the area, change to private/homeschool or the school was undersubscribed...

Some LEA won't allow an application until you have an address in the area so you can't apply until the house is yours but if you live in the same area then that's not an issue.

You say "not in-year admission" but what you're describing is the in-year admission process - even if the start date aligns to the start of an academic year.

The only possible exception is Year 3. In my area, most schools are Infants or Juniors, so many parents are applying for Year 3 admission - and some of the primary schools join in upping their class size from Year 3 so that they can also offer a few places.

Aha! So even if it's for starting in September it is still considered an in-year application! That was where I was mistaken then.

So in that case, it doesn't matter if we apply by the deadline set by the LEA or after, we would probably still be put on a waiting list anyway unless the school is not oversubscribed?

There is no deadline for in-year admissions. Children move schools all the time throughout the yer.

There is no deadline but you can apply too early. For example people asking for places now but saying their child won't start until Jan are being told to apply in December. Schools don't 'hold' places open. Because it wouldn't be fair to other applicants that need a school place now.

Thanks so much 👍
I get it now.

Cheers everyone 🫶

For Year three and above , if the school is full you can still apply. If you are refused ( as you will be) then you can appeal against the refusal. If you can demonstrate that the disadvantage to your child not being admitted is greater than the disadvantage to the school, then you will win the appeal and your child will be admitted even if this brings the class size above the PAN for that year.

Some areas open admissions for September in May/June (areas with lots of military families for example),cwitj a cut off date when they create the list against the admissions criteria. But these are the exception. (Lots of military families move over the summer holidays)

In my area you have to approach each individual school to see if they have a place and then apply to the school directly.

It's on the schools websites what you need to do for all types of school admission.

So on what grounds could you demonstrate that your child not being admitted will disadvantage them more than it would disadvantage the school? 🤔
In my case, the only thing I can think of is distance to the school as I don't drive and public transport is not very reliable but that is not a strong enough basis for an appeal I imagine.

For admission in September, there is also another factor to consider: if your child gets used to the school they're in and is happy there, it might be a mistake to transfer them maybe. If this happens not sure what I'll do.
As some primary schools are feeder schools for good secondaries, would it be worth transferring them for a better chance to get into a good secondary school?

What if they end up hating the new school? 😬

It is a dilemma.

Harder for primary in some ways as most primary curriculums are pretty similar, but things like strong after school sports or music provision with school orchestra for example, access if a child has limited mobility, expertise if the child has specific needs like issues with sight, speech or hearing and the school has provision. Sibling or other close family links. Stability in a local school if there has been family trauma etc.

if you @ some of the excellent appeal advisors on here I am sure they will have
helpful advice as they sit on appeal panels and know what ticks the box.

prh47bridge

PatriciaHolm

appeal advisors