Deadline for choosing a primary school - how to make the right choice

Parents had until the 16th of January to select a primary school for their child. For many parents this date has been looming ominously for months - and they may well have spent much of the previous year researching the results and reputations of schools in their area. Such is the importance of finding the right place that many parents will have even selected their home based on the catchment area of the local schools.

There has been a precipitous increase in pupil numbers over the last few years, which of course makes getting a place for your child in your chosen school even harder. The catchphrase `postcode lottery` has come to be associated with the mad rush to secure a primary school place, with parents sometimes having to accept whatever school in their area will accept them.

Having a sibling already at a school certainly enhances your chances for getting another child in, but it is by no means a guarantee. Back in 2015 the School`s Minister Nick Gibbs said that he was going to initiate reforms that would ensure siblings are always able to attend the same school, saying:

`I think it should be a requirement when, as long as you live within the catchment area and one of your children is at the school already, there should be a right for your next child to go to that school.`

If schools are oversubscribed however, it is possible for admission authorities to use `siblings at the school` as an oversubscription criterion - though the school minister attempted to make a guarantee on this issue, you are not definitely guaranteed a place even if you already have one child at a certain school.

While many secondly schools have well established reputations, many parents may find it difficult to discern the relative academic merits of primary schools. A helpful resource for parents struggling to choose the right primary school for their child are the league tables, published every December. These enable statistical comparisons to be clearly seen.

There are some though who caution against the use of these league tables when choosing a primary school. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, has stressed that these tables are not the final word on how good a school is.

`At face value, all the numbers tell you are how a relatively small group of pupils in a school performed in a set of narrow tests, focused on a small segment of the curriculum. `Tests and exams are only part of the picture.`

Ultimately you want to choose a school that you believe your child will be happy attending. There can be no better way to get a feel for a school than visiting it yourself. All schools should have open days, where groups of prospective parents will be shown around - visiting the school`s website will inform you when these take place. ; The NAHT president and head of St John Fisher Catholic Primary school Anne Lyons expressed the importance of parents visiting schools in the process of choosing the right one:

`Try and find out whether the school is creating the sort of learning environment that would suit your child - Get a feel for the school to see if it offers the environment for your child in terms of the quality of education and the relationships between children and staff.`

However academically impressive a school seems on paper, it may not be the right place for your child to learn. Anne Lyons was keen to point out that a child must be comfortable at a school if they are to reach their full potential there:

`Try and find out whether the school is creating the sort of learning environment that would suit your child - think about your child`s personality and the sort of school you want for them.`

Parents will have to endure the long wait until the middle of April before they are told if their applications are successful.

Tutor hunt has a useful database that lists important information for almost every school in the United Kingdom - information that will be helpful to parents when choosing a school for their child. The latest Ofsted results, along with empirical data collated from various other sources, are clearly presented for each school in our School`s section.