Expert Comment: Primary school admissions
16 April 2020
Today (Thursday 16 April) thousands of families across the country will receive confirmation of which primary school their child has been allocated to attend this September.
This can be a very anxious time for many parents, not least of all during the current worrying situation of the Covid-19 outbreak and subsequent social distancing measures.
Professor Helen Bilton, professor of outdoor learning at the University of Reading's Institute of Education, said:
"We are all experiencing the same issue so try and be reassured that schools, as we are at University, are starting to have plan A and plan B for September.
"Plan B, as this situation is at the moment, isn't the preferred option but we will make it the best experience we can if this happens.
"Schools make sure that children transition to school anyway and this will be the same in this current situation. What that transition will look like, schools will be starting to plan for now and as a plan A and plan B.
"For many children the time at home may have been of great benefit as many of us in education strongly believe, and the research is there to support this, that we start formal schooling to early in a child’s life at 48 months.
"For some children the time at home will have been difficult and schools will be acutely aware of the need to support them.
"Parents will be given information about appealing the school their child is allocated to, in the normal way."