AFTER the emotional blur that is the first few years of a child's life, the time to enrol at a school often arrives more suddenly than expected.

Picking the place they will potentially spend the next six years of their childhood at can be a daunting conundrum, especially if it is a process parents have not experienced before.

Tomorrow is Oxfordshire County Council's deadline for infant and primary school applications, and parents must apply for a place for their child if they were born between September 1, 2014, and August 31, 2015.

Kelly Ahmed knows the process better than most parents, as she works in the county council's school applications team.

The mother-of-two has worked in the job for 11 years, during which time she has had to apply for primary school places for her seven-year-old son and five-year-old daughter.

She said: "The image of school applications is that parents are often unhappy or stressed about the process.

"In Oxfordshire the reality is that, despite ever-increasing numbers of applications, the number of parents who get their preferred school has consistently been at around the 90 per cent mark for many years - ahead of national averages."

Last year 93 per cent of applicants gained first preference offers - a slight dip from 94 per cent in 2017, but higher than in 2016 and 2015.

READ AGAIN: Majority of pupils in Oxfordshire secure first choice primary school

Mrs Ahmed said: "Dealing with parents via the primary school application process differs to secondary applications in one key way – there are more parents who are going through the process for the very first time, and who therefore have more questions and need more guidance.

"Our aim as a council is to give every child a good start in life and working with parents through this process is all part of that.

"My job involves processing individual applications, offering advice to parents and visiting the 13 primary schools in the part of the county that is my responsibility."

The council officer covers schools in Didcot, which has welcomed many new young families in the past few years after rapid growth.

Mrs Ahmed said: "In my area of Didcot we’ve had lots of new housebuilding, so the scene has changed a great deal.

"The toughest part of the job is when we have a new family move to the area with three children, and want to get them all into the same school.

"That’s a very hard thing to achieve for them, and would be in any part of the country."

She said the role has changed during her career, partly due to the rise of academies - schools run by multi-academy trusts rather than the council.

ALSO READ: Fresh controversy as more Oxfordshire schools become academies

Mrs Ahmed added: "Previously when all schools were linked to the county council, the process was easier to oversee.

"Now there’s a lot more discussion required with individual schools.

"There are also lots more applications overall due to the rising birth-rate and housebuilding, yet despite this we still consistently achieve around 90 per cent of parents getting their preferred school at both primary and secondary level."

The mother described the council's school applications team as 'small but very busy'.

She said: "There are key deadlines each year for applications but there’s always secondary and primary processes, in-year transfers and forward planning throughout the year."

Asked what advice she would offer to parents when applying for places, she said: "Always be aware of the deadline and make sure you submit your application before that deadline.

"We offer three preferences and I would advise listing three preferred schools, in the order that you truly want them, with your highest preference listed first.

"I would advise parents to include their catchment school as one of their preferences, not necessarily the first preference."

She advised families not to over-think the process, however.

Mrs Ahmed explained: "There’s a very useful ‘Parents Guide’ available on our website that I’d advise parents to consult, and it is always of great benefit if parents pay a visit to the schools they have in mind."

Allocations will be announced in April and any parents disappointed with their child's can join their preferred school's 'continued interest list'.

She explained: "Every school has a continued interest list that will run for the whole academic year - places often become available and being on the lists can often be fruitful.

"There’s a high turnover, families move home to different areas of the county and country so situations are always fluid and places can and do come up regularly."

For more information and to make an application visit oxfordshire.gov.uk/residents/schools/starting-school.