Tips for applying for primary school

After my considerable mess up with getting Squiggle into a primary school, I thought I would share my experience and give other parents tips to help them stand a better chance of getting into a school of their choice.

By law, children must be in school from the first term after their fifth birthday, but the majority of schools take children who turn five in the school year to start in September when they are still four.
Different counties may open their applications on different days, so check your local council website for information, but for all primary school applications the closing date is 15 th January.

The admission criteria for each school is different but some schools give preference to those;

• who have a brother or sister at the school already
• who live close to the school
• from a particular religion (for faith schools)
• who do well in an entrance exam (for selective schools, eg grammar schools or stage schools)
• in care or being looked after (all schools must have this as a top priority)

So my words of wisdom are:

Apply on time, I cannot stress the importance of this. Many schools will not consider late applications at all. So check your local county government website for application dates. Some councils advertise in the local press or at libraries,  and good nurseries may give you the information, I missed the deadline because I was in hospital at the time, and even this couldn't be taken into consideration.

If you wish for your child to attend a faith school, such as Church of England or Roman Catholic, you must make sure you attend church on a regular basis, most will accept a minimum attendance of once a month. It is the parents who have to attend, not the child. Also Roman Catholic schools give preference to Catholic baptised children over Church of England christened children.

Put your child's name down on the waiting list, this doesn't mean they will be given any preference over any other child, but it shows that you are interested in your child attending that school. If any children decline their places then the schools will use the waiting list to offer out spare places. This is what finally got my son a place at the school we wanted.

If you don't get the place you initially wanted then you can always appeal. An independent panel will hear your case and decide if there are grounds for appeal such as a incorrect procedure being followed and make a decision for you.

Try not to despair, remember there are 20 weeks between receiving your place offer and the first day of school. Things can change during that time and even for a short time afterwards. The schools waiting lists don't tend to get disbanded until the Christmas holidays so there is always a chance that pupils will leave school and move around as their parents do.

I am happy to report that despite my cock up, Squiggle did eventually get into a different school of choice, and is currently loving every minute of it.

End of an era A.K.A last day at nursery

So today was Squiggle's last day at nursery.

It doesn't seem like a year ago we were both getting excited at the thought of starting nursery and here we are now getting excited at the thought of starting school.

It was an emotional day and I tried my best not to cry - I really did. I dropped him off this morning, and already the nursery felt different, the walls were bare as the pictures had been taken down overnight ready to give to the children to take home, the number of children was fewer than on other days as parents decided not to bother with the last day and the mass of toys had been packed away leaving only a few out to entertain the few small people who were there.
I gave Squiggle his usual kiss and cuddle and left for the day. I was fine.

Upon my return at 3 o'clock the nursery was stark, an empty shell instead of the happy playroom it had been over the last 11 months, there were just a few token children left waiting for their parents to pick them up before the doors closed for the Summer holidays.
I was still fine. I signed Squiggle out for the last time, collected his bags and made sure we had everything, I told him to say goodbye to his friends as sadly nobody was going to the same school as he was, told him to say goodbye to his nursery workers as he probably wouldn't see them again, and then that's when it hit me, not just a couple of emotional tears but the whole waterfall of never ending ones! I just couldn't stop. Squiggle just looked at me bemused, he just wanted to go home. I quickly dashed to get some tissues before saying a tearful goodbye to everyone.

But it took a good 3 hours for my tears to stop, a song in the car, an advert on TV and a simple cuddle off Squiggle all set me off again!
For those who know me it doesn't really come as a much of a surprise really, I've always been emotional and at high school I was voted The Girl Most Likely To Cry!