To only apply to schools out of catchment?

[drpepperwhatstheworstthatcouldhappen]

The school in our catchment area is a requires improvement school and I'd rather not send my son there. We had a look round and I just really hated it. Am I being crazy only putting down out of catchment schools? One 0.8 miles away, one 1, one 2.5. Our catchment school is always under subscribed so he's likely to get a place even if we don't get any of our 3 choices. It's just such a huge decision to make and I can't imagine sending him to a school I'm not happy with. Moving house not an option sadly.

@RedToothBrush Not just Trafford bursting at the seams. Manchester Oldham and Stockport are all really struggling for places at secondary level from Year 7 through to Year 11. Almost a decade in Admissions and never known anything like it. Hundreds of kids being placed via Fair Access.
And then as you say at Reception the numbers drop right down with schools significantly under PAN.

My point was about entry into primary.

Secondary school is a completely different matter. Definitely a baby boom.

But the baby bust is going to have a massive impact going forward in terms of funding. Every space in a class makes it harder to get support staff but there aren't few enough kids to make that work either without combining classes.