*outdated ?
My youngest DC is off to start school in September and we are in catchment of a relatively new modern school with 5 class intake and also same distance is a church of England school with 2 classes. Both same good ofsted, both in past 2 years.
The church school catchment on the council website is basically the whole wider area, which is slightly confusing. But the church school has been undersubscribed for the last 2 years. Is this a low birth rate thing or the fact the the non- religious school is full more appealing in modern times? Maybe less people are christened, or religious, so find it harder to secure a church school if this is considered part of the application as still goes through the council, but you can add notes as to why you want the school. Plus the church school was saying before the place allocation that they still had spaces for September. A friend has said years ago that the head had said they pick who they want, in terms of family fit so distance isn’t an issue.
A couple of smaller schools (single intake) in the area have become academies so maybe it’s just smaller schools are struggling?