Admissions and waiting lists

[Fredbear]

Hi forum friends I am interested to discover how other settings apply this. We are currently exploring all our policy documents with, parents, committee and staff.

At the moment we apply a D.O.B waiting list, this has always enabled families moving into the area access to our facility and of course trying to be fully inclusive for all.

We are very fortunate presently in having a very healthy interest in coming to us, which of course is fab.

However our dilemma now is: we have parents that were never going to send them anywhere else and have had their child's name down almost since birth( often third or even fourth child). We have parents just arriving on our door requiring a place, but wanting a place immediately but are older, some have openly told us that we were not their first choice, sometimes due to geographically not being as close to their homes, but they cannot get into their nearest one. With the one school intake this is now becoming extremely difficult. How do we make it as fair as possible.

Any thoughts please.

[Guest]

Our waiting list is operated on a first come basis - this now means parents have to sign their children up almost as soon as they are born (we have 3 spaces left for children born in 2013), but there are other preschools in the area with spaces. Parents tend to have us as first choice and we regularly have to turn people away if their child is going to be quite far down the waiting list. When a child is signed up, we assume they will be starting the term before free entitlement starts, so the waiting list is based on termly admissions, and who signed up first.

If any spaces come up each term, we work our way down the waiting list. We also have a few emergency admissions each year, and depending on the circumstances it's at the managers discretion to admit them or not.

There is a shortage of preschools in our immediate area, so recently we've had to turn away more than in previous years. I can't think of a fairer way to do it. While it is unfair to turn away parents who have just moved to the area, it would also be unfair to squeeze their child in at the cost of someone who has been on a waiting list for 2 or more years.

[Andreamay]

Hi

we have the same admission policy as school. We are seperate but are on their grounds pay a peppercorn rent and the majority of our children move over there.We use the hall most mornings and have very strong links sharing resources and a fantastic woodland garden.

It is hard I agree as we have to turn people away but in our case we are in the middle of a market town and other preschools are on the outskirts so my reasoning is it makes sense to serve our community. One of the preschools on the outskirts operate a first come first serve basis and are situated in the middle of a large housing estate. I cant get my head round the fact someone can travel 3,4,5 miles in but the family accross the road cant get in cos they didnt have the frame of mind to put their child down on a list! (It certainly wasnt my priority after child birth either!!) However I understand people have different rationale and it works for them

We are also only a small 30 class preschool and demand is high so we have to give priority to our children in their last year before school then see how many places we have left for our rising 3's.

we also do not make decisions and offer a definate place until the term before they are due to start.We are lucky we can operate this way as demand is high! We do take children from out of catchment (catchment is rather bizarre with children on the same street but different sides of the road different!!) if we have space when all allocated.

We do get irate parents they want their child to come and thats that!! We attach a copy of our admis policy with the requested Enquiry form (to go on our waiting list) and remind them of this if they ask again.

I would take everyone and hate turning any child away but we would need a building twice as big and so alas que serra serra (not sure if that is right lols) but you know what I mean!

[diesel10]

I'm not sure if first come first served is really fair if based on one intake a year. The autumn born babies are going to get all the places. My daughter was born in late august and some of her class mates where born before I even thought about having her!

[SueJ]

Our waiting list is done in age order. We are currently experiencing a massive baby boom in our area at the moment. We are at capacity this year, are currently fully booked for September 2014 to July 2015 and are just over half full for September 2015 to July 2016. It won't be long before I start building the September 2016 to July 2017 register as the waiting list for this year is already building up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a rule of thumb about two thirds of our total register of children leave us in July for Reception classes in school. We then start releasing the newly released spaces in age order for a September start (for the younger children this means on a fee paying basis unless they qualify for the Two's Too funding) - parents waiting for their children to qualify for the free entitlement can put names down for a start later in the school year but if all spaces have gone by say January they have to wait until the following September. We make sure that parents putting their children's names down with us are fully aware that this is the case.

I know that this is "not fair" but we cannot afford to turn away paying clients for the autumn term - it is a case of putting on our business hats and remembering that we are a service industry business not a public service.

Just to muddy the waters; if the Labour party get in after the next election and give each child 25 hours funding per week the situation will only get worse as this will have the net effect of reducing the total number of register spaces that we will be able to offer out - interesting times ahead methinks.

[Guest]

Our waiting list is done in age order. We are currently experiencing a massive baby boom in our area at the moment. We are at capacity this year, are currently fully booked for September 2014 to July 2015 and are just over half full for September 2015 to July 2016. It won't be long before I start building the September 2016 to July 2017 register as the waiting list for this year is already building up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a rule of thumb about two thirds of our total register of children leave us in July for Reception classes in school. We then start releasing the newly released spaces in age order for a September start (for the younger children this means on a fee paying basis unless they qualify for the Two's Too funding) - parents waiting for their children to qualify for the free entitlement can put names down for a start later in the school year but if all spaces have gone by say January they have to wait until the following September. We make sure that parents putting their children's names down with us are fully aware that this is the case.

I know that this is "not fair" but we cannot afford to turn away paying clients for the autumn term - it is a case of putting on our business hats and remembering that we are a service industry business not a public service.

Just to muddy the waters; if the Labour party get in after the next election and give each child 25 hours funding per week the situation will only get worse as this will have the net effect of reducing the total number of register spaces that we will be able to offer out - interesting times ahead methinks.

This is what we do, just described far better!

Half our kids leave in July, and it takes us until the following Summer term to reach full hours capacity again - we've not found we have more autumn born children as a result of our policy. At the end of each school year we have between 55-58 children enrolled, all of their birthdays spaced quite evenly throughout the year.

[mollypiper]

Similarly to Sue J, we have found that as a business we cannot reserve spaces unless it is for a September start. If we have children wanting to start the following Easter for example (usually because that is when their free entitlement starts) we can't financially keep that space empty until then. Therefore for anything after September we operate a first come, first served policy and work our way down the list for each funding period.

There is no ideal way of doing it and some parents will always get upset - you just have to do your best and make it clear from the start. I have had to be blunt in the past for example 'if I keep 4 mornings a week open until Easter this will mean a deficit of xxxx and then I can't pay my staff' usually makes parents more sympathetic if they know you well and they will understand that!

[Guest]

We offer places strictly on a waiting list order. This for us is the fairest way as it wouldnt seem right for us that a parent could just phone up and expect a place just because they live a few doors down.

We are very aware that in our area, in a place where there are oversubscribed schools, parents do not have as much choice with primary places and the location of their house clearly affects theirs school offer.

This is another reason that we offer a waiting list only option - so parents who are organised (!) and know they want a place with us, even though its irrelevant where they live, can have a choice of nursery setting.

We have full waiting lists as people do their homework and luckily they want to come to us, but we have a diverse range of families from a wide area which is benefit to our setting.

You have to do whats best for your setting/environment - not all options will suit everyone.

[Wildflowers]

Everyone applying for a place is put on a list. Places are allocated and confirmed three months prior to a child's start in the following order of priority:

• existing children increasing their number of days per week

• earliest starting date

• siblings attending at the same time

• children attending the most number of sessions per week

• earliest date of application

[Fredbear]

Thank you for all your replies.