Parents and carers of children who will be starting Year 6 in September are being given extra support to prepare for their child’s application to secondary school in the autumn.
Warwickshire County Council have produced a short animation video giving lots of helpful tips on choosing a shortlist of secondary schools to include on their application form. They hope that by sharing this, parents and carers will make realistic choices of schools to increase their chances of an offer at one of their preferences on national offer day. The video can be found at https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/applying-secondary-school-place.
Every year, there are a handful of parents or carers who are disappointed when they are offered a school that doesn’t reflect their preferences at all. This is often because they only apply to one school, instead of using more of their six possible choices on their application form. This might be because they believe it’s the only one that could meet their child’s needs, or they wrongly think that this will guarantee their place at that school.
To stop this from happening to other families, Warwickshire County Council are recommending that parents and carers include at least three schools on their application form. The summer holiday is a great time to start to find out which schools might be right for their child and there are plenty of useful resources on the Council’s website, including a priority area map and a list of all local schools. The Council is encouraging parents and carers to look at school admissions arrangements, visit school websites, read inspection reports and talk to parents who already have children at those schools. Then families will be ready to visit those schools for open evenings once the autumn term has started.
Cllr Jeff Morgan, Warwickshire County Council’s portfolio holder for Children, Familes and Education, said “We know that for the majority of families, applying to secondary school is fairly straightforward and their children will end up with a place at one of their preferred schools. However, we want to make sure that every single Warwickshire child has the same opportunity, so we’re offering additional help to those that might need it. I’d encourage them to watch our video to get some hints and tips, and then they can request extra help or support by filling out a short online form at www.warwickshire.gov.uk/schoolplacehelp. Once they’ve done that, one of the team will contact them to get them the help they need”.
Secondary school applications can be made online from the start of September and must be submitted by 31 October 2022.
Parents and carers wanting more information on how to apply to secondary school should visit https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/applying-secondary-school-place