Wigan Council has a duty to provide parents with Independent Advice about choosing a school. The Choice Advice role is externally funded by the government to 2011. In Wigan this service covers all aspect of both Primary and Secondary applications as well as any queries from parents wanting to transfer schools outside of the normal admission periods.
The large majority of parents are able to find out the information they need to make a choice of school without assistance and hand their forms in before the closing date. The service aims to provide extra support to those parents who may struggle to complete forms on time; or have difficulty understanding the information that is available to them that would help them make a decision on which school would be best for their child.
The service would like to develop links with any professional working with families who may find the system difficult to navigate. With parents permission we would like to encourage professionals to refer these families for independent choice advice.
Advice and information is available from the school placement team who will be able to advise on any aspect of school admissions or appeals. Information on individual school performance can be accessed through several websites such as http://www.dfes.gov.uk/ (external link) or http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/ (external link)
There is a lot of information to read through when choosing a school - some of which can be hard to understand. If you as a parent or family member have any questions about applying for a school place or would like information in a different format you can contact your Choice Adviser.
