Fredbear Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 Hi interested to hear what others do. We have always taken children in date of birth order, with the next criteria being within a local radius and then siblings etc. It has recently become apparent that some parents for whatever reason maybe financial, or haven't got in their first choice setting etc. What is now happening is children that have been on our list for some considerable time and parents that only want them to come to us are now getting pushed further down the list by the latecomers. Any suggestions or thoughts on this would be gratefully received.
HappyMaz Posted May 2, 2012 Posted May 2, 2012 Can't you amend your policy so that you go by date order, but qualified by the length of time children have been on your waiting list? That way the parents who really want their children to come to you and have put their name down in good time will get priority? That's how I ran my Brownie waiting list. Unfortunately I never had the luxury of a waiting list at pre-school but it did mean that we could accommodate everyone! :1b Depending on the kind of setting you're in, changing your policy might be a complicated undertaking, of course! Good luck - I hope you get it sorted out!
eyfs1966 Posted May 3, 2012 Posted May 3, 2012 (edited) Mine is split into academic years, by date of entry, with siblings going straight to the top of the list. As I have 2 enrty points each academic year, I do not discriminate between sept and Jan joiners, even though this has a financial implication for us. This gives in essence priority to those who apply earliest. Edited May 3, 2012 by eyfs1966
Fredbear Posted May 3, 2012 Author Posted May 3, 2012 Thank you for your replies. Maz your suggestion is exactly the same as myself and the staffs feeling on how it should be, we shall now forward this to our committee for their agreement and hopefully amend the policy.
Guest Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 always a touchy subject for us, we have a long waiting list and it did until a year ago go date order. with those being 3 offered a place over and above everyone else becasue of local funding regs. I have also now looked at siblings. i used to manage to get everyone wanting a place in from sept (we only do one intake becasue thats what our schools do) but now not, have just written 30 letters to parents telling them they have no place. I feel that children centres should advice that if parents want choice then they need to look for a plcae when there child is born. Parents are not understanding (and i see why) that leaving it until their child is almost 2 is far to late
Guest Posted May 10, 2012 Posted May 10, 2012 I only called our local early years advisors on wednesday with the same question. I have had phone calls from parents, who havent been offered places into the preschool/nursery they wanted so now looking for sessions at other nurserys/preschools and because of their childs age, would jump straight to the top of the list. Our waiting list is in birth date order, but also considers siblings and local to the area.... but we will be looking at putting length of time on the waiting list as one of the criteria so the parents who have been waiting will get priority. I will be approaching the committee this month. Good luck Fredbear x
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