Managing School Offers and Navigating Your Child’s Next Steps
Co-author – Heather Nash
Waiting to find out your child’s school offers can be a worrying and anxious time for both you and your child. Cherubs Nurseries are here to help and guide you through these next steps to make your child’s transition as smooth as possible.
Over the last few months, parents all over the country have worked their socks off to reach deadlines and give their child the best opportunity to get into their preferred school. From reading lots of information, to sending out applications, we understand the stress and pressure you may have been put under. The next step is the offers being communicated to parents up and down the UK, for Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Nottingham City that day is today, Monday 17th April 2023. Here’s what follows next…
Next Steps
If you submitted your application online you will receive an email, however if you applied on the phone, a letter will be sent to you via first class. Once you have received your offer, you must accept the offer by the deadline given, otherwise it may be withdrawn and the place will be allocated to someone else.
If you would like to accept the offer, then you can simply click accept on the email or follow the instructions given on the letter. Once you have accepted your offer, the school you have chosen will be in contact and send over any relevant information you will need before your little one starts school.
If your offer is declined and your child did not receive a place at your preferred school, the local council must provide you with another place at an alternative school, which is normally the closest school to you with spaces available.
You also have the option to add your child to a waiting list for another school, even if you have accepted your offer. If you receive a place at the school you were on the waiting list for, you can accept that place and decline the previous offer.
The Appeal Process
Your offer email/letter will contain information on how to appeal the decision, if you are unhappy. You will have 20 school days once you receive the offer to submit your appeal and then appeals will be heard between Thursday 8th June 2023 and Tuesday 18th July 2023.
Below is what to expect during the hearing process…
- There will be a panel of 3 or more people at the appeal hearing
- The panel will then explain the reasons why your application was turned down
- You will then give your reasons why your child should be admitted to the school where their place was declined
- The panel must decide if the schools admissions criteria was followed by yourself, during the application process
- If the schools admissions criteria was not properly followed, your appeal will be upheld
- If the reasons for your child to be admitted outweigh the schools reasons for not admitting more children, then your appeal will be upheld
- The final decision is usually sent out within 5 school days
Other Useful Information
Once you’ve accepted your offer, please let your nursery know which school your child will be transferring to. Once we have this information we can send over any transition documents regarding your child that the new school will need.
If we are claiming Early Years Inclusion Funding for your child, we can look at claiming transition funding to support their move from nursery to school. This funding could allow your child’s key person to go to school with them during their first visit. We also invite the relevant staff at the new school to come to the nursery to visit your child and get to know them. We feel this is very beneficial for the child, as it gets them used to a new face that they will soon be seeing every day!
Another option for your child is to defer their transition to school for another year. If your child is summer born (born between April 1st and August 31st), you can defer their offer and they won’t start school until the following September. This is great if you feel your child is not ready for school just yet, however you will have to consider that they will always be in a class with children a year younger than them. Legally your child will have to be enrolled in school by the term after their 5th birthday.
Resources
GOV.co.uk: https://www.gov.uk/schools-admissions
Nottinghamshire County Council: https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/education/school-admissions/hub
Derbyshire County Council: https://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/education/schools/school-places/apply-for-a-school-place.aspx
Nottingham City: https://www.nottinghamcity.gov.uk/schooladmissions
The Good Schools Guide: https://www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/choosing-a-school/state-schools/primary-school-admissions
Child Law Advice: https://childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/school-admissions/
