Nursery and then school place

[MCMP13]

I don’t want my son to go to the school that’s in my ‘catchment area’ I want him to go to one that’s 0.3 miles further away. He is only 2, 3 in September and will start nursery in January. He has a place in the nursery of the school I want him to go to however they have said he is not guaranteed a place in the school to start reception (in 2 years time as he is a September baby)

I really want my son to go to the same nursery then school it is hard enough to settle him in one place. Would you risk sending him to the nursery of the preferred school and then him having to change schools at 5 if he does not get in? Or just send him to the school in my catchment area where I know he will get a space from age 3-10.

does anyone know how places are allocated? I have very limited info

You can look on the websites of both schools for their admissions policies, and then look on your local authority's website to find details of how many children got a place under each category in previous years (or ask the school if they can give you this as some local authorities don't publish for all the schools in their area, only the ones for whom they are the admissions authority).

It's purely catchment area unless you fit into categories of siblings or child in care etc. The catchment area widens or narrows until they have the right amount of children. The year my child was rejected, the catchment area ended four doors down 😫, whereas previously children much much further had a place. So you can find out how many children are accepted into each year but it means very little without knowing how many have applied.

Totally depends on how oversubscribed the school is, you should be able to access admissions data or can share the school name here for people to have a look.

If the school is oversubscribed you may still get lucky in a low birth/siblings year.

Would you be willing to move well into catchment?

does anyone know how places are allocated? I have very limited info

The school’s specific criteria is listed on their website, it’s all public information.

Careful….your child wasn't rejected. ☹️

There were other families that met the admissions criteria for your preferred school(s) ahead of you.

This varies by area and even by schools within different areas. You are referring to the ‘last distance accepted’ which will vary from year to year, but some areas have set ‘catchment areas’ for each school which do not vary, and the admissions criteria will generally be something along the lines of children in local authority care, children with siblings at the school who live in catchment, other children in catchment, children with siblings at the school who live outside of catchment, other children who live out of catchment. Within these categories, children will usually be ordered by the distance they live from the school.

OP, which area are you in? Have a look for your LA’s Primary School admissions page and you will hopefully find a document that will publish the statistics for how far out they were able to accept children from in recent years, which should give you an idea of your chances of acceptance. If you say the area or school on here lots of people will probably be able to help you find the information.

I really want my son to go to the same nursery then school it is hard enough to settle him in one place.

OP, who he is at 2 and who he will be at 5 are so different. Even if the nurseries are both on school sites, the school will be in a different building, different personnel etc. Others will be joining the school who didn’t go to its nursery because they were at day care or childminder. It will be a big change either way. So I wouldn’t worry too much about having to be at the same location

Have a look at the school's admission policy. Admission to my son's school is prioritised as 1) looked after children, 2) children of staff, 3) siblings and 4) all other children based on distance from home address to school. For my son's year the places were filled within 1km but I think previous years were 0.8/0.9km.

What is it that you don't like about the catchment school?

As others have said, go on to the school websites and look at the admissions criteria.

BUT
I really want my son to go to the same nursery then school it is hard enough to settle him in one place.

Don't make decisions on the basis of this.
He is currently 2yrs 7 months. He won't start school until he is 5. He will be in a COMPLETELY different place, developmentally.

Choose the Nursery that works the best for you now, then, in the Autumn before he starts school, go and visit the schools, look at all sorts of things (like if you need wrap around care, as well as the actual school), and make the decision about where to apply to at that point.