There have been loads of posts about littles and school places, and in the most part everyone had had the school they wanted. We are still playing the waiting game.
We were delayed in submitting our application for schools at the request of the PreSchool Forum, they are early years help for children who will need extra help transitioning to a more formal school setting. The delay means we are still waiting for the second round of allocations to happen at the beginning of May. I’m not going to lie, I am not the most patient person and this waiting game is excruciating!
I painstakingly filled in the paper application with two extra pages of explanation as to why we were late submitting. About why we chose the schools we have, the difficulty our sweet boy had, and how we would appreciate their help in ensuring he gets into a school that will help not hinder him. I still don’t believe they read a single word of it.
We’ve applied out of county, we live on the border so a school in the next county is actually closer than some of the catchment schools in our own. The bureaucracy involved in applying out of county has been ridiculous, and the LEA seem clueless as to why we would apply out of county anyway. They have allocated him a school in Worcestershire but having already spoken at length with the SENCO we both agreed that the setting would be unsuitable as the school has over 600 pupils, 90 of which are in reception.
A lot of schools in our area decided to take walls out and create a larger space for combined reception classes. Meaning 60-90 children occupy a single space at any one time. Yes there are teachers and TAs but when you’ve a child with sensory processing issues where hand dryers and supermarkets are way too much for him to cope with a class full of 60-90 over excited 4&5 year olds would be his worst nightmare!
And so we continue to wait, not very patiently, for the little village school which is under subscribed, has two separate reception classes and is in a county with ample funding for SEN. Two more weeks and we will know. Two more weeks of tummy knots and prayers that our boy gets in to the school that can help him have a positive start to his journey through education.
After all isn’t that what it’s all about? Getting our kids into schools that start them of on a positive footing and will hopefully last through their education journey.
I hope you got the place you wanted for your small. I’d love to hear your stories of school application, and whether you are still waiting to hear.
Sophie x
