Completing an Application Form for a State School
If you are about to complete an Application Form for a state school place for your child to start Primary or Secondary school, are moving to the UK or are moving house to a new area, now is the time to seek professional advice. Doing this could save you a great deal of unnecessary stress and anxiety and avoid you having to go to appeal. In my experience many parents going to appeal would not be in this stressful position if they had sought advice on how to complete their child’s Application Form to their best advantage. Nobody wants to have to go to appeal. Presenting an appeal in front of a panel can be a traumatic experience. By filling in your Application Form correctly and choosing your school preferences carefully you could avoid being faced by an appeal. APPLYING FOR A STATE SCHOOL PLACE IN ANOTHER AUTHORITY Parents have to apply for entry to any type of primary or secondary state school using the Common Application Form (CAF) provided by their own Local Authority. If you want your child to attend a school outside your Local Authority you have to apply through your home authority. Your Local Authority has to process the form and send it to the correct authority for the school. This system applies if you are moving to a new area and can lead to delays in communications between authorities. This loss of time can be crucial because vacancies may all be taken by the time the application comes through. My knowledge of how local authorities operate ensures that your application is correctly completed by you, processed swiftly by your Local Authority and dealt with promptly by the authority in the area to which you are moving. Careful planning and timely and professional assistance with the application process will minimise the chances of having to face an appeal. Parents moving to a new county often do not know about the schools in the new area. I give detailed information to parents about the schools in the new area and advice on which schools are best suited to their children. APPLICATION AT A MAIN ENTRY POINT The main points of entry in most areas are Reception, Years 3 or 4 (age 7 or 8) and Years 7 or 8 (age 11 or 12). An application for a place at one of the main points of entry has to be submitted by a certain date. Each Local Authority sets its own dates. Any application received after the closing date is processed after the first round of allocation. Only applications that arrived on time are processed in the first round of allocation. If your application is in on time but you have not moved to the UK or live in another area it will be processed using your home address. If you live abroad you are unlikely to be offered a place. IN YEAR APPLICATION An application for a place in one of the years which is not a main entry point is called an In Year Application. Local Authorities should accept your application for an In Year Application roughly 2 months before you want your child to begin school. If the school has a place for your child it will be reserved for your child for a limited period. This gives you time to find a house in the area. Unfortunately not all Local Authorities work in this way. Local Authorities in the most popular areas will only process your application when you have an address in the area, and some require you to have moved in first. Finding places in state schools can be a tricky business. School Guidance has years of experience dealing with Local Authorities and will guide you through the process
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Penny Bysshe.
School Guidance Consultancy Orchard House, High Road, Cookham, Berkshire SL6 9JT Tel. +44 (0)1628 810696. Email. consult@school-guidance.co.uk |
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