When do I register DS for a Primary School?

[ToddlersRFab]

Morning All

My DS is 19 months and my friends are advising me that I should put his name down at the local schools.

Is this too early, how many schools should I register him with (there are 7 in the local area), and do you have any other advice you think I should have regarding primary schools.

Thanks in advance

The exact procedure will depend on the area that you live in. Where I live the council dont contact you directly, they put an advert in the local paper telling people to register their children (helpful if you dont get the paper every day )
We have to register in the December of the year before the child is to start school.
There is no need to register early, in fact we couldnt, the school dont want you to contact them before December.

Even if you put his name down now, it won't make the slightest bit of difference to where he actually goes when he starts school anyway. State schools/LEAs don't operate 'waiting' lists, they allocate places on a very strict basis according to various criteria.

As Shigella says, you will get a letter from the LEA in the October before he is due to start, you apply by Christmas/early Jan and find out in March/April time. So there is plenty of time.

Bear in mind that OFSTED reports can be up to 3 years out of date and changes such as a new head can radically alter a school's performance and ethos. Visiting and talking to other parents is often the best way of finding a school that you are happy with.

If he's not at nursery and you want him to go to preschool it is probably worth finding out about your local ones and putting his name down as they do fill up quite quickly, especially the good ones and often they are done on 'first come, first served' basis.

Meant to add, if you go the the education part of your local council's website then the exact application procedure and their place allocation criteria should be on there.

You may well not get a letter - our LEA certainly doesn't write to everyone!

If you intend going down the state route you will have to apply the year before he is due to start - many LEAs have an October deadline, some are later. Check the council website.

If you're going private then you may well have to get his name down now. Some very highly sought after schools want a name on a list by the time you are 12 weeks pregnant with said child .

You may well not get a letter - our LEA certainly doesn't write to everyone!

If you intend going down the state route you will have to apply the year before he is due to start - many LEAs have an October deadline, some are later. Check the council website.

If you're going private then you may well have to get his name down now. Some very highly sought after schools want a name on a list by the time you are 12 weeks pregnant with said child .

That's great info.... thank you very much.

I will have a look at the Local authority web site over the weekend.

shigella92 I agree with the ofsted sats comment. I decided on nursery that had ok reports whilsts others had much better ones, but the staff are fab and DS loves going to this one.

We had to register with our LEA when ds was 3.