To say that the English system of school allocations seems bonkers?

[Edinburghgirlie]

I have been reading with interest the threads about school placements and potential appeals and find it bonkers. Here in Scotland you live in a catchment area and you automatically get a space at that school...no question. If you want to go to another school then you put in a placing request and if they have spaces unfillled by catchment children then they consider siblings already there and proximity to the school.
It’s very clear cut here, although it does lead to house prices being pushed up if they are in the catchment of a ‘desirable’ school. I really don’t envy people down south not knowing which school they will get in to.
AIBU in thinking the English system seems bonkers?

Thats not always the case in Scotland as in the larger cities then you are likely in catchment for several schools and have no actual guarantee

What area is this in please ? I thought that every house in Scotland was in the catchment area of either one non denominational school or one non denominational school and one denominational school.

And of course there is never a guarantee that your child will get a place in your catchment school. But if you live in the area and apply by the application date ( and meet any religious criteria for denominational schools ) then you have top priority.

And if you can’t get into your catchment school, most authorities will transport your child to another school until a place becomes available.

You never end up with no place as happens in England .

You never end up with no place as happens in England
You never end up with no place in England either.

in the larger cities then you are likely in catchment for several schools

No, that's not true. You have ONE non-denomination catchment school and that's it. And perhaps a RC option depending on where you live. There may be other schools within close proximity that you could put in a placing request to, but you're not in catchment for more than one.

I was lucky that they dropped the catchment for my daughter's school, I live 2 minutes walk away from the school but the previous catchment area for it was level with the school and something distance behind it. Since I'm directly opposite, I wouldn't have been in catchment.

Live in Scotland. Yes if there is space in your local catchment area school you are offered a place. However with streamlining, closing old schools not quite so simple nowadays. Also just as in England there are schools folk would rather not send their children to putting pressure on other schools with better achievement levels. A lot of folk want schools near where they work but don't Live, to be able to drop off and collect. It's not quite as clear cut and being more so even with secondarys.

I wish we had the catchment system. My two were born in a busy year and didn't get one of our 'choices'. The sibling link meant that children who lived a car drive away got in because their siblings had been given the school in a quiet year, so displacing all the local children. It caused chaos when the school allocations came out and I'm dreading the same shite when we go to secondary schools next year!

The catchment thing in Scotland is not always that simple. I’m in Fife and have lived in the same house for 7 years and the catchments have already changed twice!
DD1 didn’t get into the catchment school as it was full. She got into one just over a mile away. By the time dd2 was starting school the catchments has changed to a third school (which is further away than the original catchment school and the one dd1 ended up going to) so we had to do a placement request to get her into the same school as her sister!
They are now in the process of rezoning high school catchments too!

polices as rare as rocking horse droppings

which part of the earth does that phrase come from?

The catchment thing in Scotland is not always that simple

And a catchment school doesn't always have a place either.
Some relatives of ours with school aged DCs are in the middle of moving to Scotland. DC1 was very unhappy at her current school so she and the DF moved up and their new place is opposite a school which they had looked round. But the new school had no places and they had to wait till either a) someone left or b) they had enough waiting to open a new classroom? hire a new teacher? something!
They were told they could either enrol in another school (which would be miles away/hard for friendship groups), or home ed while waiting, as the former would take the DC off the waiting list. So they did home ed (but not for very long).

So as DC2 was happy in their school they waited in the old place with DM so they could continue at the old school. However although their new life is in Scotland this meant that the new school's LEA got very antsy about who was living in the new house and came for a home visit (discovering the DF and the DC1 sitting at home of a weekday morning doing home ed work quite happily, and not "really living elsewhere" as we think they were suspecting!).
Fortunately they have now said that DC2 can have a place in August which will be their first year of secondary, so DC2 can finish up primary in their old school (also fortunately, DC2's birthday is at the point in the year when switching is clean and no repeating a year one place or skipping one in the other).

drspouse that's obviously an unusual situation with children moving into an area during the school year - in the main children going into p1 will get into their catchment school.

And of course the LA would investigate such an unusual situation if only for things such as claiming single persons council tax discount fraudulently which is more likely the reason for the home visit.

They weren't claiming single person's discount and it was definitely an educational visit.
It can't be THAT unusual to move in the middle of a school career surely?
And city schools (this was one) must have space problems?

Around here the guarantee of a catchment space applies at the start of p1 if you register by and are living in the catchment by a certain date - I think its early March but i would need to check. If you move during the school year then there's no guarantee of a place.

Many schools try to hold 1 or 2 places for people moving in to the area - they can refuse placing requests from out of catchment to keep a small number free.

My sister moved house in April , after the application date for P1 which is at the end of January ( she was moving back to Scotland from abroad ).

She was told there was no space for her DD in the catchment school but the council would provide transport to another local school ( about 2 miles away ) and as soon as there was a space she could move.

In the end a space came up before August.

I’m amazed that people assume that they can move house mid year and that the council will just magic up a place for them at an over subscribed school. Surely this is one of the factors people take into account when deciding to move ? ( unless they are fleeing domestic violence or are refugees and I’m guessing that’s not the case here ).

To PP, it IS possible to be in catchment for more than one secondary school. I am in catchment for 3.
Academies are a law unto themselves (- except for no academic selection). Two academies which were formerly under our neighbouring LEA have redrawn their catchments. They are actively expanding and coming after our nice middle class suburbs' kids... Quite an aggressive policy. I am in both their catchments AND in my LEAs catchment. My children actually attend none of these schools... but go to a Catholic secondary!

The issue with Fife HiKyle and in particular Dunfermline Eastern Expansion was that Fife Council kept allowing developers to add more houses with no increase in capacity - the writing was on the wall back in 2000 for anyone moving in to that area.