Why do people torment themselves over school places

[Schoolplacechoicemyth]

Im in a local toddler/child social media group.

Every single year there are people on the group who apply wildly optimistically for 2 or 3 oversubscribed schools several miles away from their home, are given the unpopular school they live near and desperately ask how to appeal because they "really love oversubcribed school and absolutely want DC to go there".

They seem completely unprepared for how unlikely it was they'd get a place, baffled that their preference doesn't actually get them the place at the oversubscribed chool, spend weeks/months appealing for schools they have next to no chance of a space at, & complain repeatedly on the group about it. Often the school they live near is fine, its just not the fashionable choice this week.

The local council publish all the info. You can see, easily, how close you need to live to stand a decent chance at a place. All the admission criteria are available.

Why do people do this to themselves!? Do they really think their preference is a factor when applying to a routinely oversubscribed school living miles away? Its like there's some sense of entitlement to a place at the trendy/popular school. I just couldn't torture myself like this. One lady has spent weeks telling her DC they are going to popular school X with their nursery friends. She lives over 5 miles from it & it hasn't taken a non sibling from more than a mile away in over a decade and yet she's bewildered her DC didn't get a space.

So, like teaching oldest of half of Year 1 with youngest half of Year 2 in the same room? That kind of thing?

I'm always surprised how many parents who have spent enough time and effort to rule out their local school and decide on 3 preferred schools miles away don't spend much, if any, time looking at the information for admissions.

It's understandable that some people might not understand the system for preferences, but it's surprising just how often some parents apply for schools they won't stand a chance of getting into, and worse how many think that an appeal along the lines of "my child is far too nice for the local school and they need to be at naice in demand school to mix with the right sort of children" is going to cut it.

I like the choice. I chose the school that is 5th furthest from our house as it is lovely and seems like it will suit our kid best.
We got a place and I'm so glad I didn't listen to people who said "there's no choice anyway, put down your catchment". Our catchment is pretty crap, poor ofsted report, no wraparound care. I didn't even list it in the 4 choices.
No harm in trying I think, as long as you use all your choices and have a couple of more realistic ones in there.

It's about putting the time and effort into understanding the system, which is a bit baffling if its your first child but not impossible to navigate and educate yourself. Nothing wrong with wanting the best school (or what you consider to be the best school) for your child but that needs to come with some realistic expectations rather than an assumption that you will get what you want.

On the other point mentioned up thread, the level of choice depends a lot on where you are - most people in my area will get their first choice - we have three schools within a mile radius, all rated good but with notably different strengths. We'd have got into any of them but chose the one right for us. The system works in some areas where schools are fairly evenly matched in terms of ofsted reports.

In my children's school when they had a bulge year they have split a classroom in two, had two p1 classes share a classroom. They've repurposed computing rooms etc.

This could happen where I live but often it just flexes through the years and works out one way or another. Maybe the current year one has three classes but year two has one class. So the years in certain classrooms adjust.

Same! It's always planned and predictable though, unlike England where you can be safely in catchment one year and then miss out the next year based on siblings/a faith school's bad Ofsted/a new block of flats.

I remember we had one class added once and we were all annoyed as that class got what was the drama room in 'low' years. But then it was fairly rare it happened as schools weren't filled to total capacity at all times.

My sister in law is currently spitting because, after a long consultation, the amazing local high school they were in catchment for has changed their catchment and they just miss out. Luckily their eldest is only three so they have time to adapt!

Because they think the criteria doesn’t apply to their little darlings, or they live in cloud cuckoo land.

We don't have choice where we live other than a bit shit catchment or faith school.

What's batshit and really fucking unfair is that the quality of state schools varies so much.

That and the absolute snobbery of some parents not wanting their cherubs to mix with children from lower economic status.

Absolutely!! It’s mad!
a colleague has B/G twins. She applied for the trendy coed miles away that no one from our area has gotten into in the last five years (EHCP excepted).
Of course they didn’t get in and have each been sent to the the local excellent single sex schools. She horrified they’ll be in different schools. Like absolutely outraged.
I mean…. Did she not read anything about any do the schools? Everyone was really upset on her behalf and I’m just sitting thinking…. But all this information was there for you….
Ditto another friend who confidently told her son he’d be going to x school which he never could have gotten into and then it was all sad face emojis and people
commiserating with her when the places were announced 🤷‍♀️

Plus we couldn't have moved by downsizing given we are already in a too small inner city flat.

Not necessarily the oldest/youngest or anything so stratified. Most composites I've experienced have been more random than that.

Interestingly there is evidence that the approach can improve attainment.

I fully appreciate school isn't childcare but where I live angst over schools is partly because there is such a variation in wrap around care available at each school. This isn't an area where nannies/au pairs would want to work or childminders have spare capacity to do school runs. Getting certain schools make life really difficult for working parents and often mean one parent has to change jobs.

My children’s two primary schools do have empty class rooms. Depending on what year group some are two form and some are four form. They have the space. They are very old but big one level schools that’s where built to basically hold the local populations worth of children by flexing.

Because they're more specialer than everyone else...

This is exactly the issue where we are. Rural area, very small schools (mixed age classes and schools with 50-100 kids, no public transport or childminders).
All the schools are great, there’s nothing below Ofsted Good. But some have zero wraparound and others have extensive. We moved for extensive!

It tends to average out as it’s based on the catchment area. So you might have a light enrollment year followed by a heavy one etc. So Year One might have two classes and Year Two Three but Year Four One. Sometimes a classroom might not be used. Occasionally if an area demographic changes (more / less housing / families / retirees) etc then there will be a consultation and boundary changes. Very occasionally new schools are built or changed.

There is LOTS of angst here, for primaries people rent for a year to be in the right catchment area, if they can’t afford to move into it.

for the secondaries it’s a lottery so you just have to suck it up. Doesn’t stop people getting into a right old twist about something they cannot control.

Plus the favoured secondary schools are massive so there is a always a lot of movement so everyone gets what they want in the end.

shame there isn’t an anxiety turbine like a wind turbine, the school place worry here would power the country! Not even private. And not even grammars !!

Some people are just thick or deluded. Seen it the other way too, parents SO relieved little X got into the local high school. You live next door, Julie, and it’s a shithole. Anyone within the county who selects it gets in! But glad you can now sleep at night because, against all odds, you seemingly just scraped in 😤

It makes no sense to anyone who lives in Scotland!

Yes, really similar! What I do find a bit brutal is that children can have to change schools because of it though - I think they should be grandfathered in, if they’re already there. It’s very occasional thankfully.

Tbf, it is a pretty complicated system. I have every sympathy for people from other countries who miss the application deadline (especially if their child is young for the year and they're three and a half when you actually apply, which sounds batshit to anyone who comes from a country where children don't start school until six or seven years old), don't understand what 'preferences' mean etc.

I can see why people take a punt for a school they probably won't get in to, as long as they put at least one that they will pretty certainly get a place in (disclaimer - I know that doesn't always work out, my dd was born in a high birth rate year and there were loads of bulge classes set up over the summer).

What I truly don't understand is parents who deride some schools, sing the praises of others and haven't actually set foot inside either. The primary school that my children went to was unpopular. I lost count of the number of times people told me what a shit school it was.

It was fine. I didn't like the uber-popular school that people stayed on waiting lists for for years to get into, but it was still pretty weird.

It's because, apparently you have magically expanding schools and can only go to be 1 school in catchment.

In what way?