School and preschool query

[bluecatt]

Should I take my daughter out of nursery and put her in to the pre-school attached to the school we want her to attend when she turns 3? Would it increase her chances of getting into that school?

Also, do you have to choose the "nearest" school to your home? Our nearest school is rubbish, the next nearest is Catholic and the two schools we want our daughter in are 0.7 miles and 1 mile away from us.

I know I'm a bit previous in asking this, but I'd actually be prepared to move house to ensure my daughter gets into the better schools in our area.

Any advice appreciated.

[ethanryan]

hi my son will be starting the school nursery in september but i was told that it does not mean he is guaranteed a place in the school. my mom works in schools and was told that when getting them a place in the school they look at things like, attendance while in the nursery, behaviour etc. you do not have to chose the school nearest to your house but in most schools priority is given to the people that live closest so your daughter will not be first priority.

[redcrx]

My son is having to stay at nursery preschool as in this area you are not guarenteed a placement at an attached preschool until the term before they are due to start full time schooling.

Id say call the school you are interested in and see what they suggest.

[mumof3angels]

Hi
All my 3 children attended the same nursery school and infant school(nursery attached). We lived in the catchment area for the school when my 1st child went there. And so she got into the infant school from nursery and also the feeder junior school from there. My middle child got into nursery, but we moved slightly out of the catchment area when it came to him going to infant school and so we had to use the sibling at school reason to get him in. This year, my youngest has been at the nursery but got rejected from the infant school on the grounds that we weren't in the catchment area and my middle child was leaving the infant school in july and so the sibling link was broken. However when I rang up the education board to complain they didn't realise my middle son was going to the feeder school and so therefore my littl'un was granted a place at the infant school. Sorry for going on, but I just wanted to emphasise that if your child goes to nursery, don't assume that their place at the attached infant school is guaranteed. !4 kids were turned away from our nursery for places into infant school this year. Thing is this year there has been 52 kids(2 sessions daily) in our nursery, and yet this coming Septamber there's only 24(2 sessions). It all depends on numbers.

[sheribeee]

hi bluecat.. i debated the same thing for my 2nd child, i decided to keep her in the nursery and not move her into the school, staffing is much higher in private nursery and they will obviously get more time with staff. Plus my child was settled there, i thought it a shame to movr her, and also the school nursery closes in holidays whereas private nurseries you can pay extra for them to go. Hope this helps! x

[Barmaid]

It's worth having a look at the LEA's pages on the website and the criteria for admissions. I think the admissions criteria changed this year. Our LEA publishes a booklet "Schools in Suffolk" which contains all the rules and admissions policies - I am sure your LEA would do something similar.

You can choose whichever school you like, but if the school is oversubscribed, children will be admitted according to the oversubscription criteria. What is REALLY important is getting an application in on time with a permanant address.