To expect my son to get into a school less than 50m from me

[Rumpleteezer]

When I know all the places will go to siblings in September 2018 :(

Stay on the waiting list. You will be almost certain to be at, or very near to the top and people do move or take other school places. DB was in the same situation with two excellent local primaries. His dc was, eventually offered places at both but very near to the start of term.

Even if dc doesn’t get in for reception stay on the list and be prepared to move school. It’s worth it if you really want the school.

Fresta there could easily be 30 siblings. All you need is a few sets of twins as well and the places fill very quickly. In our case the school was oversubscribed even for in catchment siblings so parents were forced to send one kid to school A and the rest to school B.

Fresta, presumably the OP is in an area where there is a shortage of school places. If this happens the local authority can ask schools that have the physical space to take a 'bulge class'. So instead of admitting one class of children to reception, it admits 2.

unforunately, admitting a bulge class often has an effect on the number of available places for non- siblings a couple of years later.

Although if they've taken a bulge class for 5 years in a row, there may be an argument to be made for permenantly increasing the planned admissions number.

Yanbu

I think we will stay on waiting list though in our row of houses there are 3 of us in same boat and 2 on the other side of the school (so lots of annoyed people less than 100m away).

We were in this position. The school I can see from our house was full so we had to travel 3. 46 miles to the next nearest one with space on an hourly bus service. So we used to have to get to school 30 minutes early and wait what ever the weather and then I had to wait an hour for a bus back.

As we used to get to the bus station we used to pass parents doing this in reverse to the school on our street. I would get back home at 10am. On days our school was off and the other wasn't our car park was full of parents who no longer lived in the village but were driving in.

Used to REALLY wind me up as poor dc really struggled to make friends locally and Play dates with kids in the school they were in were a nightmare with a village bus service.

Our school does
catchment kids with sibling
catchment kids
Out of catchment kids with sibling

Which seems fair to me, I sent mine to the out of catchment school as I knew I would be moving into catchment but Dc2 was the last one in as out of catchment with sibling. I didnt expect to get in if kids in catchment were closer but had I not it would have been a nightmare for a year. Kids have gone to the school for 15 years and in that time it's been outstanding, good, satisfactory and good again.

What did happen though is my catchment school at the time got a brilliant offstead at the same time ours was satisfactory so loads of people moved schools again

My local area had catchment area as priority over siblings for a few years- it was a nightmare. I knew several families having to get their children to two different schools. One child always arrives late, one child having to leave school early every day. I know of a family who had to pay for one child to go to a childminder before and after school because they didn't drive and it's a 30 minute walk between the two schools.

Thankfully they changed it when my daughter started and she got in to the same school as her brother (21 siblings in her class!)

Totally sympathise, OP. I had to walk 40 mins every morning to take my then-small DS to a primary school in another borough, because the state primary literally next door to me was a faith school that wouldn't take anyone not of that faith.

And don't get me started on the sibling thing. Yes, I totally understand that it makes life easier for parents, but it still rankles that my son - and other lone children - are being effectively punished for not having older siblings.

Used to REALLY wind me up as poor dc really struggled to make friends locally and Play dates with kids in the school they were in were a nightmare with a village bus service.

Monty exactly this. It's really hard on the kids, going to a primary so far from their home.

You are not unreasonable to want your dc to attend a school 50m away. I suppose it's also not unreasonable to expect younger siblings to get a place in the older siblings school, but if you've only moved there short term to get a place in the school I don't have any sympathy.

I assume it must be a sought after school where parents have gamed the system where they've rented in the catchment then moved out?

My opinion is that if you move out of the catchment area of the school younger siblings should no longer get preference. This would reduce the system gaming, reduce road congestion and keep families invested on the local community.

In this case though even if nobody had moved, the school would have the same problem. It's the reduction of the number of children they admit that is causing the issue.

Our school does
catchment kids with sibling
catchment kids
Out of catchment kids with sibling

Same here - it's the local authority policy. I'm surprised that more don't do the same?

Our school usually has 50-75% siblings each year. And yes, we have loads of siblings that live no where near school any more. Or families that get a place in year 4/5/6 when some pupils move to go private and others have given up waiting. They then get places for all the younger siblings. All our 4 local schools are the same and traffic is a nightmare. First borns who don't live very close just don't get in

Difficult situation with no fair answer.

I imagine if you lived 150m away and got your first dc in when it was 60 children, so larger catchment, you'd be even more stuck than the op if your dc 2 had to go to a school 2 miles away and you didn't drive.

I think it's fair like that newmum as if your going to an out of catchment school you know it's a risk and you may not get a sibling in over someone who lives right next to the schòol, I always knew it was a risk I wouldn't get Dc2 in.

For those in London/S.E. - just wait till you get to secondary and it becomes an absolute joke. Many schools select on religion thanks to the invention of free schools, then there are a few selective schools. Everyone else scrambles for the small number of good comps which have tiny catchments.

Independent schools are over subscribed as a result.

Can you ask them about admittance policy of siblings in/out of catchment and write to the LA? Worth asking!

This is why I really like the fixed catchment rules that we have here in the US. My DC will all go to the same school and it's one school within the town where we live. Move out of town and all siblings must leave the school, attending a school in their new district.

There is no fairer way to do it IMO. Totally nuts that you live so close to the school yet can't attend and it will make play dates/birthday parties so much harder to attend.

The trouble with that is - how do you define catchment area?
Maybe when their Year 5 child got accepted years ago, they lived 700m from the school but that would now be far too far away for a non-sibling place. The family haven't moved but they are well outside current 'catchment' for their youngest child.

That's not a catchment then - it is an admissions area which varies from year to year according to the furthest distance at which a child was admitted in a given year.

True catchments are defined by the local authority and school and published in advance. They do not change from year to year except through proper consultation.

People very often say 'catchment' when they mean 'admissions area'.

To those people that are having to travel to schools, that are a distance away because you can't get into your nearest, please check to see if you are entitled to a taxi.

Our local schools have a catchment which is pretty much the largest expected intake footprint - ie larger than the normal non-sibling intake, but not ludicrously large.

Catchment siblings get priority
Then all others in catchment
Then non-catchment siblings
Then non-catchment others

It very rarely goes to non-catchment others (usually stops at all others in catchment), because of the way the catchment is drawn. It works pretty well, because to not be in catchment for a sibling you would almost certainly have had to move away from the school after your first child was admitted.