Reception school application

[Omnaya]

Hi everyone,

I am pretty sure I’m being completely
neurotic about this, but I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice?

My younger daughter is due to start reception in Sept 2024, and I completed my school admission application back in September of this year, shortly after the applications opened. I have received an email confirming receipt of the application. She currently attends the nursery of the school we hope she will go to (our first choice) and on Friday I received an email from the school saying that the council had informed them that we had not yet applied for a reception place for our daughter! I called the school and they said it was not a ‘blanket’ email, the council had specifically said that my daughter as well as 3 others hadn’t applied and they were chasing it with us, to either remind us to apply before the January deadline or let them know we’d be applying elsewhere. I told the school receptionist that we had applied, and she asked me to send her a copy of the confirmation email which I have done, and she’ll forward it to the council.

My paranoia had massively kicked in, so I also phoned the council schools admissions teams who checked my daughter out by name and details etc, and confirmed they had received her application and didn’t know why her name was on the emailed list.

i know I’m being completely paranoid, but I can’t help but worry that there is a glitch in the council’s computer system, meaning that for some reason my daughter’s record isn’t showing unless you search for it, and that when the offers come out, she won’t have been counted! Does anyone have any experience of council admissions and whether it’s likely this is human error or are the lists they send to schools computer generated?

I know I’m being completely neurotic but it’s been massively playing on my mind! I really can’t imagine my daughter going to any other school but this one in my local
area!

Any info would be much appreciated !

Sounds a bit dodgy.
I've not heard of councils being in touch with schools with names until after the January deadline. Could it be the school being extra cautious?

We found the application process glitchy last year but it was all sorted very easily in the end. If you've submitted your application on time, put the school as first preference and meet the admissions criteria next year, they will find you a place (or you can appeal which they don't generally want)

I suspect it was human error. Someone was cross checking records and didn't tick your daughter off, or muddled her up with someone with a similar name. You have proof you applied and you double checked. She is in the system so will get a place. Also you have paperwork you could use to appeal if there was an error (pretty sure there won't be!)

I know it leaves you unsettled. I had a call from the council asking me if my house was still unoccupied. I said no, I have been living here 6 months and told the council tax dept when I moved in. Nothing more came of it, it must have been an error between systems.

That’s what I thought @AyrshireTryer , but the council could see the email on their system too. I was really surprised as I always assumed the school knew nothing of who was applying until offers were made and they got the list of kids attending!

@mynameiscalypso Thank you, I know I’m being completely irrational as I have evidence I applied on time and that it went through successfully, so even if there was a glitch, it should be rectified if I had to appeal etc, but I’ve just let my mind wander since this email and started to look at worse case scenarios! 😅

@BendingSpoons Yes, the school secretary seemed to think they’d mixed her name up with someone once I told her that we’d definitely already applied, I just started to panic that rather than it being human error, it was some sort of computer generated list that was glitching and would therefore impact on offer day, but I think (hope) that’s just my imagination 😅 Thank you for your response, I think I just need to learn to cope with stress better and stop thinking the worse!

Call the council not the school and double check. The school should not have access to data at this point so feels like the school is dodgy not you.
Many people do not apply until closer to January deadline.

I agree. The school sounds like they're up to something dodgy. Plenty of people won't have applied yet, and calling you before the deadline is very odd behaviour. Also the fact the receptionist asked you to email proof you've applied to that school is really oversteping their position.

maybe the school is trying to get more applications? They might be worried they won't have enough pupils for 2024/2025

Can u go back on the councils portal to check the status of application? Maybe you applied and the email was a confirmation you have started the application but somehow not clicked the final submission?

@Attictroll @Whinge I called the council and I’m sure they confirmed they’d emailed the school.It does sound strange though and it’s making me second guess what they said as I was mainly focussing on them confirming they’d received the application. I might call them again Monday now I’ve calmed down a bit, just to clarify. The good thing is the council did confirm the application was received so I’m probably overthinking

@Alohapotato ah maybe, I didn’t think of that!

you can't receive the email confirmation if the application wasn't submited

@Soberfutures I went back in and it says LA has received the application. I also phoned the council and they verbally confirmed they’d received it. I probably really am panicking over nothing, it just all seemed odd 😅

@Alohapotato and yes I did definitely receive the email confirmation too so hopefully everything is ok

It's clearly an error somewhere that can be rectified as there's lots of time.

You reaction is pretty full on it you don't mind me saying. Neurotic, paranoia was mentioned....

Are you usually really anxious ?

Definitely seems like an error on someone's part. Some school you have to also submit forms direct to them. Usually religious school's. Is it that? But to be honest if you have confirmed it with the council etc I wouldn't worry as even if for some stupid reason to decline the place you would have grounds for appeal showing the paper trail

I'm very confused as schools don't know who has applied until places have been allocated. Nor will they ever know if they were first, second, third etc choice for their allocated pupils unless parents decide to declare it. No priority is given to those who apply early in the application window over those who apply on the day of the deadline either so there's no benefits to applying early in terms of securing a place.

I wouldn't stress though. You have your email confirmation and have contacted admissions to confirm receipt. IF there was a massive error which means your child isn't allocated anywhere on offer day (highly unlikely, in fact practically impossible), there's your evidence to support appeal. If you have evidence of application and she would have got in under their admission criteria, she'd have to offended a place even if the school was full as it would have been a massive balls up on admission's part. Seriously, don't worry about it.

The situation with school apparently being told who has or hasn't applied yet is the part that sounds dodgy to me.

@KateLawsonDidIt Yes, I’d definitely consider myself anxious, and it’s getting worse as I’m getting older! The rational
side of me definitely knows I’m overreacting, I just need to listen to it!

I think it's normal for there to be a nudge sent around now. I had the same when mine was at nursery as we didn't apply through the usual primary admissions route.

@Soberfutures @BoleynMemories13 Thanks both, no, it’s not a religious school. You’re both right, I’ve got a paper trail so even in the worse case scenario, I’m sure it would end up ok-I think I just needed someone else to confirm it for me.

@StopLickingTheDog oh right. It did seem strange to me as I assumed schools wouldn’t find out until offer day, but maybe in certain areas councils do contact nurseries

I'm sure you did, but... you did 'resubmit', I hope?

Re the contacting the school thing, I wonder whether the council is contacting the nurseries of DC they know are due to start school in the next academic year, but in your case, the nursery is under the same 'management' as the main school?

As for whether or not you have applied for a place at the school where your DC is attending the nursery, no, the school would not have been informed by the counci. I assume you mean by 'not yet made an application for a reception place', the admissions department at the council meant, 'not submitted your CAF', not, 'not applied for a place at this specific school'.

I used to work for a London authority in the Admissions department for 10 years, and so have lots of experience with this!

In the Eadmissions system, it will ask your child's current nursery. Sometimes parents don't select this, and manually type this. It then doesn't match up in the council's database if it has been manually typed.

The council obtain lists from all nurseries - both school nurseries and private ones. They then run these lists against the list of applicants who applied, by matching it against the current nursery field (which can only match if it was selected by the parents when they applied, not if they manually typed, or if they left the nursery field blank). Then they tell all the nurseries "X Y & Z kids haven't made an application yet, can you chase them". This doesn't mean that the school knows who has applied FOR THEM, as some of the kids attending their nursery may have made an application but not named their linked school as a preference.

This means that when you gave your child's name/DOB, the council can see you have applied. It just wasn't linked to the nursery list because of something in the online system at the time of applying - it's common for this to happen. Other times parents leave the current nursery field blank, and they would also get a message from their current nursery saying they haven't applied, even though they have.

Nothing to stress about - your application is done and will be considered alongside all others just fine!

Sorry, I don’t know what you mean by resubmit? There isn’t an option to edit or resubmit on the application with my council from what I can see but i phoned the council after I’d went back into the application to check (after I received the email from the school) and they confirmed they had my application so I’m hoping it’s ok as i can’t seem to edit the admissions portal at all.

Yes, it’s definitely the council contacting the nurseries, and you’re right, it’s a school based nursery.

The exact phrasing in the email I received from the school was ‘I have been informed by Council that you have not made an application for your child to start with us in Reception next September’ so it does read like they were told I hadn’t applied there, but perhaps they’ve phrased it wrong and the council had maybe just informed them (mistakenly) that I hadn’t yet made an application.