To get annoyed at "catchment area" school places

[Daiso]

Not even sure if the title makes sense however.....
I'd like DS to go to a school which is 2.5 miles away - there are 2 in that area, both with amazing OFSTED reports and great reviews from friends whose DC attend. Both of these outside my catchment area even though its really not that far.
The school just down the road is shocking, friends pulled DC out, not so great OFSTED etc etc.
I can't afford to move to the area where the better schools are as the house prices are astronomical. Just no chance whatsoever of being near.
AIBU to think it's unfair that I won't be able to send DS to that school as I can't afford to live in the area?
I think that everyone should be given a chance to send their DC to a school of their choosing -maybe by first come first served putting name down or by pre school attended (DS will be going to the pre school in the grounds of school I'd like but that makes no difference)

Where I live you have a catchment school which you get allocated a place at. If you wish to go to another school you apply out of catchment but it doesn't guarantee you a place at your choice of school. The more popular schools are always in more affluent areas but not always the best ones under HMIe.

We chose to live in this area and therefore send our children to our catchment schools. It does annoy me when parents rant and rave about how they should get a place over a catchment child just because they attended the nursery. Move to the area and you'll get a place.

The body - I am Christian and I agree with you, I wouldn't want to send DS to a church school, I am pleased our closest primary is a community primary.

Over the past twenty years or so I've watched several local primaries rise and fall. This is an affluent rural area, with plenty of parents able and willing to drive around for the best. The village primaries are all in competition with each other for pupils, both for sheer numbers so that the LEA doesn't close them or merge them (which has happened to four that I can think of), and also for the most committed families, whose motivated, well supported offspring are more likely to do nice things to the SATS. The only way to prevent this cherry picking would be to strictly enforce catchment.

OP - if getting in to a school depended on whether a child attended the linked pre-school, all that would happen would be that the competition would shift to pre-school entry, and your DS might well not have got in there anyway...

And if you made it first come first served, a lot of parents who put their child down as a toddler for an outstanding school could find that by the time their child starts, it is no longer outstanding- a lot can change over a few years in schools.

In Scotland the catchment areas seem to be very strict. Basically you have a choice of 2 schools, one faith and one non-denominational. Out of catchment requests are possible, but you are unlikely to be successful. Even though the catchments are fairly strict, there still seems to be a divide between 'good' and 'bad' schools, mostly driven it seems by the property prices.

Those who can afford to live in good catchments or who can pay for private schools do and those who don't just have to take what's left. Not a very attractive prospect for those with no choice.

My child goes to a private nursery rather than a state pre-school, because we rely on both of us to work full time. The private nursery works for us because of the hours. By your proposal of being a pre-school attendee my child would not have a chance of getting in.

More has to be done to challenge under-performing schools, and bring all schools up to the same standard.

Speaking as someone who can't afford to travel half way across the city to take my kids to school (I don't drive and the cost of public transport just keeps going up) we'll be buggered if DS doesn't get into the local school. Why should I, or anyone else for that matter, have to make a 45 minute round trip twice a day because someone else decides their local school isn't as good?

Iloveclinfirth - it is very naive to think that under- performing schools need challenging. I would say some of the better teachers work in them because of the constant scrutiny & effort required to get pupils from low achieving families & with low aspirations/behaviour etc up to the SATS benchmark.

'More has to be done to challenge under-performing schools, and bring all schools up to the same standard.'

I agree, but changing the quality of the raw materials would also help in producing superior sausages.

RedHelenB Eyesunderarock There you go the British Class system is still alive and kicking!

Good teachers would not be making comments about the quality of the raw materials' or 'superior sausages' they teach appropriately and value or at least respect the culture(s) of their intake!

It would hardy be fair if Pre school attendance got you in. You do reallse that those of us that have to work can't take / pick up their kids from Pre school therefore our children don't get the oppurtunity to attend?
Yabu, massively so. Put your child in your local school and spend your energy trying to help improve it, get involved, join the PTA, volunteer to listen to the kids read, bake cakes for the school fete etc.

It would hardy be fair if Pre school attendance got you in

Our VA school had this policy around 8 years ago. It was stopped because it was unfair for working parents who couldn't drop off and collect for a 2 hour session. It was getting to the stage where a lot of places were being taken by people out of catchment who didn't like the school in their own area, leaving people within catchment with no place. Is that fair?

So you disagree that all children should be well-fed, well-housed, well-clothed and parented with love and understanding of what their needs are, have access to materials that meet their emotional and social needs as well as their physical? That they should arrive at school having had access to excellent preschool education?
Because that's what I was meaning, you daft dame.

Eyes I disagree with the generalisation you actually made, face value, as I quoted.

If I was to read between the lines, well, then I could misconstrue your meaning quite spectacularly! I can do that if you prefer, do a full psychological analysis in fact . But that would just be speculation now, wouldn't it?

WOHM parents can't always use pre-schools. My daughter won't be going to pre-school because it would be a logistical nightmare compared to her current private nursery, and I'm sure we aren't the only ones. So that's not a fair criterion.

School admissions always feel unfair to those who lose out. The only way to have choice is to have a big surplus of places which is is what the Tory/lib coalition is trying to achieve with free schools.

I do feel the OP pain as my daughter is starting a school which is in special measures. However there is plenty you can do at primary school level to help your child. It gets tougher when they get to secondary school and you can't teach them German.

I think that the catchment system works in most of the country. There are issues when you have lots of schools in very close proximety. I would like all school to have to take a fair share of rich and poor kids. Prehaps a proportion (maybe 20%) of places at outstanding schools should be reserved for those on free school meals. (If 20% is the average number of kids on fsm within two miles of the school.)

It stinks that rich parents can buy expensive houses to get their kids into top state schools and then be pieous about using state ed.

Well, there's no way we'd have been described as superior raw materials on the face of things - I am from a very poor area, ex mining community, high unemployment. Yet from our class of about 30 kids we have 5 teachers, 3 others of us have degrees, several are in fairly highly paid jobs, and I know of 4 who are successful in running their own businesses which they started. At least 5 of us were invited to join mensa. we're the children of ex-miners and factory workers. My primary school was the local one, and it was great despite being between Victorian miners' housing and council estate, which it seems some of you think is a disadvantage..

Yet apparently, we're inferior sausages!!

The children of low income families often have a lot of untapped potential. Certainly schools in Newham show that poor children can do very well with the right teaching. I believe that a high quality pre school can give children the resources and space to develop. Many low income families live a in cramped flat with no garden.

Having money does not automatically mean that your offspring is bright, however life is generally easier if you have money. A rich child usually has space to play, toys, their own bedroom, surround with lots of books and with a good desk to work at. Wealthy parents can afford interesting extra curricula activites or tutoring if they feel it is necessary.

The academic gap between rich and poor children widens as kids get older. Ofcourse there are exceptions, but statistically children who live in poverty do worse academically.

It's got to be a catchment system-it's the fairest way, otherwise you'll have people travelling miles, past lots of other perfectly good schools! Bad for the roads, the environment and lots of unnecessary travelling all round.

You can't have the first names on a list either as all the autumn born kids will get their names down straight away at birth and by the time the June babies are born, all the places would be gone!

I completely agree ReallyTired. It's about giving every child the chance to be the best they can be. Giving them a decent environment to even discover things they are good at. Having parents who can afford to let you try things out, a school where there are decent facilities for sport, art, drama makes a massive difference.

One of the most important things imo is a good level of discipline. How on earth will a child learn anything if the classroom is in chaos and their teacher spends valuable teaching time disciplining students?

It takes a very motivated child to push back all their disadvantages and achieve despite them.

I understand what you're saying as in our area if you have money then you can get into a good quality school and if you haven't, you can't!

Check out village schools as they sometimes have places and sign up to the school guru website for £10 a year to search for an idea of your chances of getting g into schools that aren't in your catchment.

sirzy, hope you understand I didn't mean to be disrespectful to religious beliefs of course just that they have, in my opinion, no place in schools except as RS study of all religions.

agree with you ReallyTired and Tailtwister, need good discipline and structure in schools and access to good quality materials.