Position in catchment area

[Elllie]

Lokking for properties in a particular catchment area, and both are within the boundary. House A is 0.3 miles away and House B is 0.6miles away, but near to the boundary. Do you think this will matter much? It is a VA school and very popular.

[LIZS]

Have you checked this years' admissions based on distance - LA should publish the data. tbh you can never be sure as they may change criteria after you've moved anyway

[PatriciaHolm]

Yes, it could make a big difference - if it's oversubscribed you can often find admission distances as low as a couple of hundred metres if there are many siblings. As Lizs says, you must check the admission distance this year. If the LA doesn't have it on their website, ring the school.

[mummytime]

Check the admission rules! Are they just distance? Or is Church a factor? Should be on the LA site.

[admission]

Look very carefully at the admission criteria to make sure that you do have a reasonable chance of getting in. Is the admission criteria the standard one of looked after children, siblings and then distance? As a VA school I would suspect it is not but has some kind of faith admission criteria - can you meet that criteria or not? If not then you probably have little chance fo getting a place even if you live next to the school.
Second thing to check is what is the criteria for distance? Is it straight line distance to the school or is it nearest walking distance on council recognised roads or what? This can make a lot of difference.
I have done appeals where 0.3 miles was not near enough because of the number of siblings so I don't think there is ever a safe distance but clearly 0.3 is better than 0.6 miles.

[BetsyBoop]

Yes definitely check the admissions criteria, the VA school my DD will start at in Sept has not got down the the "other children" & pure distance criteria in recent years as all the places go to LAC/SN, siblings & the various church categories before it gets that far & the lowest church category this year was less than 0.3miles (as my friend's DC missed out at 0.3miles away)

The nearer the better to school though, especially as the demand ofr primary places is set to rise generally in the next few years (obviously with local variations) which usually means the "catchment" contracts.

[Elllie]

Thanks for your responses - I'll definitely be checking out with the LA. The school did publish a map of it's catchment area, and it is selective, but I'll check in further detail as I see it is worth it.
I wonder what will happen with regards to Cof E religion when you have been living abroad - no c of E churches in USA. We do attend a christian church, but I wonder how this relates when we are coming 'new' into the UK area.

[BetsyBoop]

this is where you definitely need to check out the exact criteria for the school - it should be in the LA and/or school website.

For example our school gives priority in the following order for those who mean the worship criteria (x times a month for y years)
a)those who worship at the parish (CofE) church
b) those who worship at another Anglican church
c) those whose church is a member of "Churches together in England"
d) those who are members of a faith community which is part of the "UK Inter-Faith Network"
None of which I guess would help you much?

However check how far they go back (this is usually measured backwards from the sept a year before the DC is due to start school), some can be as little as 6 months, others many years.

VA schools do differ though from diocese to diocese & even between schools in the same diocese, so do check & if you aren't sure how you fit with the church criteria then you can check with the school.

[BetsyBoop]

who mean the worship criteria who meet the worship criteria (bit of a freudian slip there )

BTW, in case you are not aware, VA schools handle their own admissions (they are the "admissions authority") not the LA (they handle admissions for community & VC schools)

[ImSoNotTelling]

I think it must vary wildly between places.

You definitely need to check out the criteria - if a school is oversubscribed not everyone in catchment will get in. Our Council has all the information on their website, so I would recommend that as your first port of call.

If there are religious criteria they may be very strict or not. Re the "no CofE churches in US" then IF there is a religious component to the entry criteria which you will not meet because of this (eg if it has to be signed off that you have been going to the "right" church for x years) then you need to speak to the school or the church attached to the school or both and find out what they require in this situation.

RE VA schools and entry criteria - our area is different to betsy's. You need to put all of the schools that you want on the LA form, for schools which have religious entry criteria there are additional forms that the schools handle. BUT you must put them all on the LA form as the Council handle the allocations.

You need to find the info for your area and read it very carefully, basically.

Good luck!

[LouAnnVanHouten]

The Episcopal Church is part of the Anglican communion in the US (and other places). They are seperate from CofE as they don't swear alligance to the Queen but their Bishops do attend the Lambeth Conference etc.

[BetsyBoop]

ISNT - it is the same in our area that the LA co-ordinates the allocations, but LA's don't control the *admissions" for any VA schools in any LA, the schools do.

The VA schools send a ranked list to the LA (the LA do the ranked lists for community & VC schools) & the LAs do the "sums" to give everyone an offer of their highest ranked preference (or AN Other school if they didn't make the cut for any preference)

So if you need to talk specifics about admissions criteria for VA schools you need to talk to the school not the LA.