Primary school conundrum

[SnugSheep]

We’re about to apply for primary schools for our eldest, but thanks to sleep deprivation with our youngest we’re not sure which order of preference to put and need help! DD is a very confident, sociable child who’s doing well developmentally, but we suspect she may be neurodivergent (ADHD likely). Time will tell, but to be on the safe side, it’s a factor in our decision making.

We’re lucky that we live in an area with good schools, but they are all seriously oversubscribed and we seem to fall on the edges of all but one ‘catchment.’ Just as an example, the second closest school to us went out only 215m from the school last year so we wouldn’t have made the cut!

In fact, both the two closest schools are one-form entry, so only 30 kids. The one above is faith-based, so additional criteria. The nearest one just isn’t our favourite for a few reasons but a big one is that it doesn’t have a school nursery for DS, which would be extremely helpful when it comes time. Here are the options we’ve got in order of distance, closest to furthest…

• school 1: 30 places, not our fave, no school nursery
• school 2: 30 places, faith-based but we’re not religious, tiny catchment, preferred it to school 1
• school 3: 60 places, school nursery, prob our fave because it’s both great and very convenient, but again tiny catchment. We’re currently tenth on a waiting list for the school nursery and about to slide further down it… No way are we getting in for reception, first round anyway.
• School 4: 60 places. Faith based. DH actively hated it. I didn’t like it either. We probably won’t put it on the list. We know people who have ended up there and lost appeals. It’s really what we hope to avoid! 🫤
• School 5: 90 places. Felt more like a comp secondary than a primary! We were underwhelmed. Slight concern about SEND being overlooked there. Reminded me of the shit junior school I went to!
• School 6: 90 places. Amazing in so many ways, but it’s further out. We may just be inside the catchment but it would be slightly less convenient. Felt ‘smaller’ than school 5 but still worried DD SEN might get overlooked. Not as socio-economically diverse as the other schools (rich kids galore!) and most of DDs cohort likely to be off to local and central private schools for secondary. Vague worry about playdates and DD being the ‘poor kid’ with a small home etc.

There’s one school left we could visit that’s close-ish but it’s in the wrong direction for our commutes so we’re massively put off by that. All the others are easy (ish).

I know it’s such a personal decision but I’m wondering what order others would put the 6 above?

Have you asked about the SEN support and provision in the schools you are looking at? If I was concerned my child might need it thats what I'd base my choice on. I wouldn't be basing my decision on the nursery provision, as although potentially convenient, there are usually other options. Ultimately, if things are pretty full around you you'll probably just be given the closest anyway from what I've seen recently, but of course that isnt always the case.

Mum of a SEN child. I would ask around locally for experiences of SEN provision and the SENCOs to give you some steer and speak to the SENCOs too. You want to know how your child can be supported and what resources are available. For example, a bigger school may have space for additional rooms for supporting SEN which can be really beneficial if they’re used in the right way.

We went for a small CE school - the SENCO was so supportive and with a good reputation and the school were so pressed for space but they were very creative and made little corners of space for my child.

I’d go:
school 3
School 6
school 2
school 1
school 5
school 4

Please check the admissions policy of each school.
In our area, living in catchment usurps siblings. Every year there are some parents who just assume that because they have 1 DC attending, they will get their younger sibling/s in. Every year, there are parents navigating a 2 school, sometimes 3 school drop off.

Larger schools tend to have a better senco provision, an actual expert and resources rather than a teacher who has done a few senco classes.

TBH it sounds like you have good options. I would consider the ease of journey for drop off / pick up. Some schools may be closer but might be a harder journey.

The last thing to consider is if any of the primary schools have any sway on secondary schools. At our primary school, you are higher up the admissions criteria to attend the very good local senior school, hence any spare spaces tend to fill up in Y5 and Y6. You will have to read the admissions criteria for any secondary schools you are interested in

Always put your favourite first (School 3), no matter how unlikely it seems that you'll get it. It's pointless putting it elsewhere on your list of preferences, as you'll likely be given a choice higher up on your list and then you would miss out in the unlikely event they were under-subscribed. Even though it's unlikely, you never know so it should definitely go first. It won't affect your chances of getting into the other schools as you're considered against the admissions criteria of all of your preference schools, then allocated the one highest on your list that you meet.

Don't just assume a larger school will overlook SEN needs. It's totally school dependent, not size dependent. The SEN support at School 6 definitely needs investigating, as it sounds like your second favourite. Ask to speak to the SENCO (or read their Ofsted report, which will mention SEN support). I wouldn't worry about friends being 'more well off'. Some may be, but plenty will be like your own family too. Children need to get use to mixing with a range of people.

School 2 sounds promising too. It doesn't matter that you're not religious (other than it may affect her getting a place in the first place, if it's part of the admissions criteria). If she got a place, she wouldn't be the only one from a non-religious family.

How many preferences do you get? (It's 3 here, but I know other areas allow 5 or even 6.

I would go with the following:-

1st - School 3
2nd/3rd - School 6 and 2 in whichever order you prefer.

4th/5th - School 1 and 5 in whichever order you prefer.

I wouldn't even put School 4 as a preference. If you get 6 preferences, I'd be tempted to visit the other school in the other direction and put it as your outside choice if you quite like it (or at least prefer it to School 4), despite it not being very convenient. I'm sure you'll get one of the other choices anyway, so it won't be an issue, but definitely don't put a school you hate in your preferences no matter how low down as you risk ending up with it and, technically, you would have 'chosen it'. Admissions would see it that they found you a place at a preference school. If you hate it, it doesn't make the list. Then you really will only get it they can't get you a space at any of your preference schools and it's the nearest school with spaces.

Thanks all. I should’ve said that siblings trump living in catchment in our borough and the neighbouring borough. One reason we know it’s unlikely we’ll get school 3 is that it’s a big sibling year for that school. We know a lot of kids who will be going, including DD’s best friend.

I’ve asked lots of questions about SEN support at the open days and the only fully satisfactory response was at school 3 (of course!), but I saw evidence of excellent provision at both school 3 and school 6, whose Head is a trained SENCO. The larger schools all referred to SEN ‘teams,’ which makes sense.

There’s no drop off/pick up option we couldn’t manage (all on foot), so we are definitely lucky in that respect.

@Pipsquiggle, thanks! I will check the secondary situation but I don’t think it will affect anything. I haven’t heard of that happening round by us.

Thanks @BasilandTom and @BoleynMemories13. That’s pretty much the order we’re thinking. Only slightly worried that if we don’t put school 1 first, because of its small size and relative popularity, and the fact it’s tight catchment wise for other preferences, we’ll end up getting dumped somewhere we really don’t want, I.e school 4, or perhaps worse, somewhere the other side of the borough. 😐

Always put your favourite first (School 3), no matter how unlikely it seems that you'll get it

This!

Put the schools in order of preference, ignoring how likely your child is to get in. Putting your favourite top won't reduce your chance of getting your second choice.

Don't worry, it doesn't work like that. People who put it 1st won't get priority over you if you put it 2nd or 3rd.

Everyone who lists it as a preference, in any order, will be considered against the admissions criteria and ranked in order of priority. They'll then cross off anyone who also meets the criteria of schools they ranked higher, until everyone is given a place at their highest preference school whose criteria they meet.

So if you live closer to School 1 than someone who ranks it in first place, your child will get the place ahead of them if you don't get a place at Schools 3 and 6. If you put School 3 as 2nd choice, you won't be offered it if you meet the criteria of your school in 1st place. You'll get that instead. Then, because they're likely to be oversubscribed, other people will be offered the places even if you would have outranked them, as your name will be chalked off because they've already found you a space at your 1st choice school (opening the door for other people). Always always go for your favourite first. You might not get it, but you'll never know unless you try.

I hope that makes sense? It is a confusing system but it's the fairest way.

slightly worried that if we don’t put school 1 first, because of its small size and relative popularity, and the fact it’s tight catchment wise for other preferences, we’ll end up getting dumped somewhere we really don’t want

Don't worry, that's not how it works. The admissions system will look at all schools you have applied for (blind of preference) and calculate which have space, then note your highest preference out of those that have space and discount the ones below it on your list. Then it will run a further iteration, taking into account the other people who have been knocked off the list for schools because they have a place at a higher preference. So that might mean there is now a space at one of your higher preference schools (but you won't be bumped down). It will keep running iterations until no one can be moved up further.

That was a really bad explanation, but the point is: rank the schools in order of preference!

Oh my goodness that’s such a relief! We were scratching our heads over allocation but that makes total sense! 🤦‍♀️ Thank you.

I guess one way of looking at it for us is deciding which waiting lists we’d really like to be on?