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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be utterly pissed off that having a child already at the school has no bearing on getting a place if you do not live in the catchment area?

295 replies

samram · 28/02/2011 18:32

Ok, This news to me.

Having just rang the school admission line to make sure they had my dd4 application form i was told that already having my elder daughter attending the school has no bearing on my application if i do not live in the catchment area!
Im so worried now - i mean how can i possibly be in two places at once?
Its not even like my elder daughter is old enough to walk home on her own (she's 6 in a few weeks)

Does any know if this is correct or have any advice? Thanks

OP posts:
CameronCook · 01/03/2011 21:22

Ah yes Soupy - 2 new DCs magically appeared in Y6 at DDs primary in order to get into the linked outstanding secondary.

I kinda sit on the fence a bit cos I'd consider playing the system in order to get the best for my DC - thankfully we are fortunate that we bought a house in catchment of good schools, but it is a compromise as we would have got so much more for our money elsewhere

PrincessScrumpy · 01/03/2011 21:27

There's a big thing at the moment that twins are being sent to seperate schools. Outrageous and stupid but usually priorities go like this:

Children in care
Catchment area
siblings

You can appeal but if school is full it may not be successful.

Good luck.

rasputin · 01/03/2011 21:29

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

mumsgotatum · 01/03/2011 21:38

YABU...that's the way it goes

begonyabampot · 01/03/2011 21:59

some people have good reason to appeal -it's not always hissy fits.

fifi25 · 01/03/2011 22:14

i have 2 daughters in a school outside catchment area, my 3rd starts next sept. I knew the policy and it was a gamble i took to get into a better school. You also loose your place at your catchment area school if you put them as 2nd choice and other people have put it as 1st choice. My daughters school had 30 spaces and 62 kids applied last sept, My catchment area school had loads more applications. The other 2 schools are terrible, one got the worst ofstead report in the whole of the district. I am considering putting daughter 3 in catchment area school rather than taking the chance as the catchment area school has improved greatly over the last 5 years and i dont want to end up with the other 2.

ariane5 · 01/03/2011 22:26

i live outside the catchment area for my dds school and have applied for ds to go there too, luckily where iam its siblings before catchment.

exoticfruits · 01/03/2011 22:27

That is sensible fifi25-you have to be realistic and understand the risks.
You are taking a risk and you need to sum it up first and the likelihood of it working in your favour.You can moan all you like afterwards, but if there is no space it won't get you anywhere.

fifi25 · 01/03/2011 22:48

exotic - i also think its disgusting how some primarys give a far better education than others, some people are lucky enough to have a good catchment area school, others have a totally crap one. Theres about 4 kids at my school got siblings who go to another school, Ive been lucky so far amd i aint moving the other 2. I will have 15 min to get from one to the other lol

nancydrewfoundaclue · 01/03/2011 23:13

So all of you who live in the catchment area and have DC1 in the school, how would you feel if the year your DC2 applies the catchment area has shrunk due to sheer weight of numbers and DC2 is now considered out of catchment?

Would you appeal or would you say to yourself well fair play there are 29 other children that are nearer to the school than me so I will send DC2 elsewhere?

People seem to be being deliberately naive about what being in a catchment area at any given time actually means. You can do as much research as you like, talk to the school and the LEA but the fact is year on year you simply cannot control where those boundaries are going to lie. Just because you are in the catchement area this year does not mean you will be so next year.

fifi25 · 01/03/2011 23:21

i live closer to the school outside my catchment than the one in my catchment. The catchment area for my daughters school is so small a lot of the kids are from outside the catchment

Northernlurker · 01/03/2011 23:22

I notice my question hasn't been very popular so I'll repeat it:

Does anybody actually think having siblings at seperate primary schools is a good idea? Is it in any way desirable - or indeed manageable without severe compromise to family life and child's education?

TheCoalitionNeedsYou · 01/03/2011 23:26

TheYoungVisitor - I think that people who move out of catchment SHOULD have to take their children out of the school if it is oversubscribed.

whiskersonkittens · 01/03/2011 23:26

I fiond it amazng that so many people have said things like 'I deliberately bought a house in a catchment area fr a good school' - lucky you if you have the odd half million to spare because that and more is what a 2 bed house round here (Bristol) in the catchment of a good school costs. Not affordable fpor the vast majority of people, and nly the case becasue of school catchments pushing prices to ridiculous levels

Isn't it equally unfair to give school places to those who can afford to buy a house in the catchment of a good school?

I like the criteria mentioned earlier which was siblings prividing you live at the same address as when older dc gained entrance or have moved within 2 miles of the school. At least that accepts that some people have siblings and have made a commitment to the schhol and have not artificially gained that place by renting etc

Still does not stop the house price lottery tho!!

TheCoalitionNeedsYou · 01/03/2011 23:28

whiskersonkitten - There is nothing fair about our current school admissions system, it is designed to make sure those with more resources can get into the best schools as they can play the system the best.

TheCoalitionNeedsYou · 01/03/2011 23:30

The only people who get a place in an oversubscribed school 'fairly' are people who happen to live near an oversubscribed school but didn't know the school was considered good when they moved in. Everyone else is playing the system, whether by buying houses, renting then moving or whatever.

fifi25 · 01/03/2011 23:32

no i think its wrong and could happen to me, but i also choose a school outside my catchment knowing the policy my school has for admissions. All 3 of them would have more than likely got a place at thee school in my catchment area. All the schools are mixed up in my area with some giving a far better standard of education. Theres 4 and a Catholic school which i could walk between in 30 minutes. The 2 poor schools have 2 classes for each year and cant even fill one class. two years ago the worst school had 60 places and ended up with 11 kids.

nancydrewfoundaclue · 01/03/2011 23:37

Northern I'll answer your question Grin

No. Having siblings at different primary schools is not just undesirable it is inappropriate and totally contrary to any real concept of "fairness".

Now I wonder if anyone would care to answer mine?

TheCoalitionNeedsYou · 01/03/2011 23:43

I disagree, having children at different primary schools is undesirable, but not necessarily unfair. Fair is a crap measure anyway, as it means whatever you want it to mean. Sibling preference may well mean that someone else, maybe opposite the school doesn't get in. It could be that all the places have been taken by other siblings.

thereisalightanditnevergoesout · 01/03/2011 23:53

It's the same here. I have DD1 at a school which, although is a local school to our town, is not our catchment school. There are 13 places for reception. I'm not sure that DD2 will get one of them - and out of the 8 criteria for a place, having a sibling and being out of catchment is number 6. But I knew that when I applied.

Not sure what I'll do - maybe appeal, ask to be kept on a list incase a place becomes available, homeschool for as long as it takes for a place to become available. I won't be taking DD1 out and sending her to the catchment school, though.

But I knew that and it was the choice we made.

swallowedAfly · 02/03/2011 00:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

fifi25 · 02/03/2011 00:18

Non of my schools are village schools but something definately has to be done where i live to pull the other schools into line. If some schools offered a decent education then people wouldnt try for a different school.I went to the worst school in my area and its the same now, its even got the same headmaster. Every year it gets a shocking ofstead report but nothing is done about it. I have read the reports and know people whos kids go and believe me its a bad school. My catchment area school was poor when my eldest started school, 5 yrs later its on par with the one they go to due to a change in head teacher.

AllDirections · 02/03/2011 00:48

Northern; I don't think it's always undesirable to have children at different primary schools. Different schools suit different children. It would be a nightmare to manage though!

expatinscotland · 02/03/2011 00:54

Fucking amazing. What a two-tiered, fucked-up, fuck you society this is. What a bunch of fucking doormats.

TheCoalitionNeedsYou · 02/03/2011 06:53

Who is and for doing what?

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