When do I start looking???

[CowsGoMoo]

Hi, at present my son is in year 3 at our local state primary school which I believe is a fabulous school. However senior schools in our area (at present) are not good and I am already concerned that I do not want my son to go to our local one, he is a very studious, quiet boy and I really believe that upon entering this school he would sink rather than swim.

We do have the option of moving out of the this catchment area into another one which has a super well achieving senior school but house prices are phenomenal there and to be honest we love our home, area etc and dont really wish to move.

Our other choice is for him to move to an independent school and it is this lead that at present I am following up.

I am asking for advise regarding at which point I make contact with the school and arrange to view it, meet the head and discuss his entry? As I said, he is only in year 3 at present, am I doing this too early or is 2 and a half years prior to admission about the right time to start looking into the private sector?

One factor I am concerned about is that it recently came top in East Sussex for its exam passes at GCSE with 100% pass in all the main subjects, even though it is not a selective independent school and I am concerned that if I dont register now (£50 registration fee) that he may be denied a place if I leave it till nearer the time of admission.

If I could be guaranteed a place for him in the super duper senior school near us then I wouldn't consider this but as my friend has just discovered if you dont get your first choice of senior school then often your second and third choices arent interested in you because you didnt choose them as your first, so you end up with the failing school where no one wants to go, this is happening to a friend of mine, who is too late to apply for a private school place, and is going to appeal over the choice of school offered to her by our local county council.

Someone please advise me! Thanks in advance!

Cowsgomoo xx

Surpirsed to read DS is only 3 when I read post.

Sounds abit early to me. Your circumstances may change, you may move, etc.

Also schools can change alot over that time and some may improve and some may get worse!

Year 3, so he's 7 or 8, I think.

I would find out what the admissions policy is for the private school - you can look at the website, get a prospectus or even speak to the secretary. For the (selective) private secondary schools around here it doesn't matter how early you register as long as you do so before the cut-off date in the autumn before admission. Exams / interviews are then in Jan / Feb time. It might be different for a non-selective, in which case getting his name down asap might be the safest option. It's so difficult about state schools - if you did move it sounds like there is no guarantee of him getting into the best one. I don't know if there is much more you can do at this stage, though.

Hi, no my son is 8!! and in year 3 so he has 2 years and bit left at primary school.

CowsGoMoo - doh! sorry, still think its abit early.

"if you dont get your first choice of senior school then often your second and third choices arent interested in you because you didnt choose them as your first"

The rules have changed on this. Following recent changes in the guidelines, state schools are now not supposed to give priority to applicants who put them top of the list. This is to make it easier for parents to make a choice without having to await the outcome of selection tests. However, this rule is not legally binding and a lot of schools still follow this unpopular practice. You should be able to find out whether they do or not by calling either the schools in question or the council.

My dd is in year 3 too. I think it's too early, but I have to admit to looking at secondary school websites .

If I were you, I would certainly make contact with the school, speak to the admissions secretary and find out what the admissions policy is.

I wouldn't go and view the school yet, though. I'm planning on doing that when my dd is in year 5. The schools around here all run open days during the summer and autumn terms.

It wouldnt hurt to go to view the independant school, some of the schools have really long waiting lists, so its worth finding out. I would also be tempted to view your local schools, they should all have thier open evenings coming up at the end of the summer/September time, they may not be as bad as you think, or may be on the way up.

Thank you everyone for your replies. I have contacted the independent school today and spoken to the Heads PA who has given me lots of information. It seems that all the children from the Prep school automatically get a place and from entry for 2008 the school will be introducing school exams consisting of, English, maths, science and VR papers. From Year 7 there are only 20 in the year which then doubles to 40 in Year 9 as they do CE from prep schools. At present there is 1 place in the prep school which George could take, however if that is filled and all children go from the prep to the senior dept, there will be no spaces for George to go.

Hubby and I are leaning towards moving area now, as the independent school seems unlikely to offer him a place until year 9!!!

Many thanks to everyone who took the time to reply.

CGM x

I work in a state comp. We now direct most of our effeorts at attracting parents and children in Year 5. We used to limit open evenings to Y6 and run them in September. Now we run them in June and aim them at year 5.

At this rate we will be trawling the ante natal classes soon!!!!

year 5.

I don't think yr3 is too early to start looking around at the options: the time goes quickly, and you get more of an idea about schools if you are keeping an eye on websites, reports, etc. over a number of years rather than getting a one-off snapshot.

If there are several schools around as options it's easier to spread the open days out. We went to some open days in yr4, then some others in yr5. Ds1 is in yr5 now and in the last couple of months we have visited two schools during their school day to get a feel for the place.

Next year (when he is in yr6) we will take him to the open day/evening so that he knows where he's going.