Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think a Primary school 2 miles away may as well be in another country ?!

151 replies

Chillicheese123 · 03/02/2020 15:31

Hello wise mumsnetters

Had a heated debate with a friend today over text. She is not on this site so I’m pretty confident posting on here, ha.

She is moving back to the UK from UAE with a Infant school aged child. Schools over there are very different, it seems that you pick which one you like, make sure you’re work will cover the fees or you can cover them yourself, and your child gets in.

She is moving back to the UK to a suburb of Manchester, she will be living half a mile from me. She can’t afford the suburb 2-3 miles over as the houses are extortionately priced IMO and she can’t afford the mortgage on a £700,000 semi detached ! Which is fair enough because neither can I.

The thing is she doesn’t want her kid to go to one of the 3 ‘Outstanding’ schools in the area she’s moving to. She has a few friends in the more desirable suburb and she is applying to the school which their kids go to. Apparently people living 0.3 miles from it can’t get their kids in, so no idea why she thinks she will be different ?!

I’ve told her she needs to change her expectations but she is insistent she wants her dc to go to this school, it has childcare attached and all these wonderful extra curricular things and parent nights out and trips and blah blah !!

My kids school is lovely and I’m really happy with it. I feel a bit offended and I don’t know why.

Also frustrated that she thinks her child will get in because they’re starting in Sept of yr 2. I don’t think it’s fair ?!

AIBU for thinking that a school two miles away from your house in a city setting is A pointless Task ?!

OP posts:
JosefKeller · 03/02/2020 16:19

well, the fact that it was over-subscribed in reception doesn't mean there won't be space in the later years, so she might as well put her kids on the waiting list.

Whatever her preferences are, why do you take them so personally?

It sounds like you are miffed that your chosen "outstanding" school is not somebody else's first choice. So what? What ofsted judges outstanding is not necessarily what a parent considers a priority.

Good luck to your friend. I wouldn't organise myself the way she is, but it's up to her.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 03/02/2020 16:19

Moved to UK last summer with a Yr2 and Yr4. Nearest space for youngest was a school 2 miles away where the normal admissions distance is just over half a mile... 3 pupils had left that summer, only 2 places filled from waiting list... So when we turned up she got the place where she wouldn't normally have got one. Yr4 DD then got place 61 on appeal. There are 4 closer schools.

In year admissions is a lottery where anything can happen.

JosefKeller · 03/02/2020 16:20

The council allot whichever school has a space and usually refuse to budge when a class already has more than 32 pupils.

as they should, but people move. Starting a year with 30+ kids doesn't mean the number stays the same throughout the year or in later years.

PineappleDanish · 03/02/2020 16:20

I thought (because I've read it on MN) that in Scotland you just got a place automatically at your local school?

You do. But parents still have the right to ask for a place elsewhere. Schools will fill up extra spaces with placing requests if they have any. But just because you've been successful in getting an out of catchment primary place, that doesn't give you the right to an out of catchment secondary place. If the placing request is refused, the child will go to their catchment school (albeit without any of the children who they've been in primary school with for the last 7 years).

Wheresthebiffer2 · 03/02/2020 16:21

Pauapau, in Scotland, they definitely don't have elastic walls. A school is deemed "full" or not, at a particular day, once a year, census day, and for the rest of the year, even if a child moves into the catchment area, they will have to go to a different school that has a space, if the catchment school is deemed full. They cannot employ extra teachers after the census day, unless ALL schools in area are full. It is very frustrating for new families, as they arrive and expect to enroll at local school, only to be bussed do next village. (This, even though local school has a completely empty and free and available room. but no teacher).

MummyJasmin · 03/02/2020 16:23

Her problem. Let he do what she wants....even if that means keeping up with the jones' is more important to her than common sense!

FreakStar · 03/02/2020 16:24

Well, she can put her name on the waiting list and if she gets a place it seems fair to me! You can do the same if you want to!

pauapaua · 03/02/2020 16:25

So if the class has, say, 28 children and could have 30 would it be deemed full on census day or would children be able to take those two 'spaces' ?

PooWillyBumBum · 03/02/2020 16:26

YABU to care so much. She may well get her kid in as it’s not reception. If were in catchment for many outstanding schools I wouldn’t be ferrying my kids across town but it’s her life!

KittenVsBox · 03/02/2020 16:30

Having done a very similar move, she will get offered schools with spaces whatever she puts on the form.

Just a note tho: kids get rejected from schools in the UAE too. They fail the entrance test aged 4.....

Roodledoodlenoodle · 03/02/2020 16:31

Actually if you’re applying for a school place after reception then the catchment area doesn’t really matter as much.

We moved house when my DC was in year 2, we couldn’t get a place in our very close schools because they were full- but managed to get a place in a good school a couple of miles away. It just simply comes down to whether or not the class has a space or not. If the class has a space and nobody else has applied for it then your child will get the space regardless of how far you live.

GhoulWithADragonTattoo · 03/02/2020 16:31

To be honest her best bet will be call the Council once she's here and check which schools have spaces for her year. She can then accept whichever of the places she prefers. Then she can ask to added on waiting lists for other schools and may be lucky if one comes up it more desirable area. I suspect she might actually more chance of being quite high on waiting list for Y2 which she wouldn't have been for a YR application because fewer kids will be on the waiting list. Anyway certainly don't be offended that she thinks her DD will suit a different schoool to the one you chose.

DuLANGMondeFOREVER · 03/02/2020 16:31

There will still be a waiting list from reception at the start of year two if the school is that popular!

I also love in a suburb of Manchester (an up and coming one close to the established fancier ones) and a friend of one who applied for a (just) out of catchment sibling place finally got her Second kid in at the start of year three.

HmmIsThisAGoodIdea · 03/02/2020 16:32

Honestly those outstanding grades don't mean anything. Go do your research and you'll see it's not a perfect system. Our local 'outstanding' school is far from it and I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole and yet there are so many snobby people around here who think you're mad for even considering anywhere else. Choosing a school is a very personal thing and your friend is quite entitled to apply wherever she likes. Hopefully it'll work out but if it doesn't then don't be an arse about it. She doesn't deserve it just because you disapprove of her choices. Get over it, butt out and concentrate on your own child's education.

fedup21 · 03/02/2020 16:34

Is it just one child moving to Y2? They might stand a chance this year or next when they’re in Y3 and the infant class size cap is removed.

It can be the case that oversubscribed schools are v difficult to get into for reception but not that hard to get into in the juniors.

HmmIsThisAGoodIdea · 03/02/2020 16:36

Just to add if it's year 2 then she'll stand a significantly better chance of getting in. Children are automatically removed from the waiting list each year and you have to request to be put back on for each school year. A friend's little boy was 27th on the waiting list but got a place in year 2 because several people moved away from the area and parents hadn't bothered to re-add their children to the continued interest list. This was for an extremely popular school and other patients who'd forgotten to reapply were very p'ed off about it apparently!!!

LittleBearPad · 03/02/2020 16:36

She’ll see what she gets when she applies. It may work out, it may not but it’s not worth getting cross about

XJerseyGirlX · 03/02/2020 16:37

I put my daughter in a school that was out of catchment because it was where most of her nursery friends were going. As there was room she got accepted, if there want she would have gone to catchment which I was ok about, worth an ask I thought. I don't understand why your so bothered about it tbh op

JosefKeller · 03/02/2020 16:38

even kids on waiting list might decide not to go after all - their parents at least - once they are settled and happy, many parents are reluctant to move them.

ddraigygoch · 03/02/2020 16:40

I just searched. My DC go to a school 4.3 miles away. It was the one we wanted so we applied and got in.

Why are you taking this so personally.

SheChoseDown · 03/02/2020 16:41

So she's wanting didsbury /chorlton school with a withington /Trafford home?
Tbf there are shit schools in affluent areas. Sounds good on paper.
Just let her get on with it

SummerBreeze1980 · 03/02/2020 16:42

Are you offended that she doesn't like your DC's school?

If she is applying outside of the normal start points it will just be a case of if there is a place and what the waiting list is. If she was going for R - she would have no chance. But for Y2 it is a possibility and for Y3 even more chance as classes can increase beyond 30.

CheshireChat · 03/02/2020 16:43

We moved late so we couldn't actually pick DS's school and the only available one 'required improvement'- school is actually lovely and its rating just changed recently to good.

I remember you could check the catchment on actual maps on some websites as a rough guide.

Roodledoodlenoodle · 03/02/2020 16:44

Regarding ofsted, I previously lived in a small market town with 5 primary schools and only one of them was ofsted ‘outstanding’. However it was actually the most undersubscribed one out the lot. The school was situated on the edge of what was regarded the ‘rough bit’ of the fairly otherwise upmarket/middle-class town and had a high percentage of kids regarded as deprived/disadvantaged and v high ratio of free school meals. I knew some people who openly admitted they were avoiding for this reason and I suspect it was probably the reason for the low number of applicants, despite how lovely the school looked and how well praised it was. I’m not saying this is right but it just goes to show ofsted often plays a tiny part in the factors parents look at when choosing a school..

CoffeeRunner · 03/02/2020 16:46

Well she’s unlikely to get in. But she may be lucky as there could be some movement between Year & Year 2.

2 miles is nothing, so I’m not sure I totally understand that point TBH. We live in a village. The village school (where DD goes) is 1 mile away. The secondaries (in the next towns) are between 5 & 12 miles away.

2 miles providing she has transport is nothing.

Swipe left for the next trending thread