Can we choose our daughter's school?

[Butty]

I'm sure that when she reaches school age we'll be advised of our options. However we are wondering what choice we may have in our daughter's primary school education.

At the moment she is in Nursery and we've checked the Ofsted reports of the 6 Primary Schools within a 4 mile radius.  Some are better than others and we wonder how it works.  Do we put her name down for our favourite choice or does she have to go to the nearest one?  If there are 3 within 3 miles can we choose one because it's a) good and b) on our way to work?

We've had her name down for a private primary school since she was 18 months but are considering the state system if we have some sort of parental choice.

[Jules001]

I don't know if it works the same way in all areas, but in ours each school has a catchment area, basically they start at the school and radiate out taking in all the roads until they reach their quota of children, if there are fewer children in the roads, they spread the catchment area wider. You can choose which school to put down as your first choice, but if it outside of the catchment and they get full taking in their catchment then you stand little chance of getting in. Then if you haven't put down the school nearest to you, it will take the children within the catchment area who named it as their first choice so again you stand little chance of getting it. In reality they say you have a choice, but you don't really.

[shehin]

It will depend if the schools are oversubscibed. 

If you apply for a place at a school which doesn't reach its quota your child will automatically get a place.  If the school of your choice has a good reputation it may well be oversubscribed and then the places are allocated according to the admissions criteria.

You can contact your preferred choice as soon as you like to indicate that you are wishing your child to attend. They should be able to indicate what the likelihood is of your application being successful.

[EssJay1]

Whatever you do, don't just go by the Ofsted report.  Phone the school, judge the receptionist.  Ask for a visit, chat to the head teacher.  Check if they're joint schools - primary, or a separate infants and juniors. Separate schools can sometimes have vastly different reputations.  Go see the schools and ask them for advice.

Good luck!

[spudqueen]

EssJay1 is right - you MUST make an appointment and go round the school, you will then get the 'feel' of it, you can ask the Headteacher any questions you want and they will also be able to tell you the chances of you child getting into their school.

We moved 200 miles a few years ago and I checked out all the primary schools over the internet as much as I could, then made appointments at 4 of them. The one I really liked the sound of from the league tables and other information I had gathered I didn't like at all when I went round it!

[Butty]

Many thanks for all your ideas and information - much appreciated.

Is it any advantage to go and see these schools a year before she is due to start?  Certainly in the private sector we were advised to put her down when she was one. 

Does the government send you paperwork asking you which school you want to send your kids to or do we need to be proactive?

I'm sure we shouldn't worry about this but just don't have a clue if we should be doing something now -she is coming up to 3.