Worried about my school choices - help

[ilostmysheep]

I put as my first choice for DS a lovely small village school, where KS1 are all taught together. As such, there are about ten spaces in reception. The school is small but has seen a surge of popularity and I think DS may well not get in.

This is where the problem arises. My second choice is a similar village school where he’s almost guaranteed to get in because they are going the other way to the first school with declining numbers. Current reception class only has five children and the next years cohort will probably be even smaller.

So ideally I’d like him to go to his third choice but how will that work, if he’s offered a space at his second choice school? Help!

It depends if the third choice school is oversubscribed. Accept the place you are offered (or the council can wash their hands of you) and put child’s name on waiting list for any school you prefer. If there are spaces at 3rd choice you get one straight away, if not then you can find out where you are on waiting list, usually allocated with the same criteria as admissions I.e. on distance etc not how long you’ve been on the list.

Thanks @Miloarmadillo2 . I really appreciate your answer.

I think you have to be very, very careful about the financial status of schools that small. Mine are at a one form per year school and that has its own problems and very tight finances and that’s with 200 plus kids. The small infant schools seem to be struggling and are cross-subsiding with nurseries. Small sounds idyllic when you have toddlers but they can quickly outgrow friendships and a smaller pool of friends. That might not be a problem for you but if you’re picking between those two and a third bigger primary then it becomes more of a factor.

This is a bit of a MN myth that just doesn’t take into account the many, many small rural schools in less populated parts of the country. The school has been running for decades and is just fine, to the point where I don’t know if DS will even get into it!