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Original poster

Where to live to be in George Abbot's catchment - GUILFORD

29 replies

NotAnotherChinHair · 05/11/2010 21:36

Hi there, I am hoping that somebody living in Guilford might be able to help me with this. We are considering a move to Guilford, this move is school driven. If we wanted to live within the catchment area of George Abbot, where should we be looking to live? Also, what primaries (pref non-faith) should we be considering within George Abbot catchment area? Thanks so much.

OP posts:
RiojaLover75 · 05/11/2010 21:51

Bupham, Merrow are definately in :-) Where are you moving from Not?

popstar123 · 05/11/2010 21:58

Ripley - apparently they have just made it the highest priority area (even over those that live on the doorstep
www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/s/2080797_parents_losing_out_in_school_places_lottery

Original poster
NotAnotherChinHair · 05/11/2010 22:01

From South Wimbledon Rioja.
Popstar, that article concerns me a lot!

OP posts:
popstar123 · 05/11/2010 22:07

To be honest, Ripley isn't huge so I can't imagine that too many places will be taken up by kids from Ripley so I'm sure that if you're in Burpham or Merrow you should still be OK and it's more likely to effect those that were already on the edge of the catchment area. But it's certainly worth bearing in mind.

mummytime · 06/11/2010 07:27

I live further away then Boxgrove and did wonder why they started their campaign. Their kids should be fine, Ripley will be sending 10, at the most 20 out of 300 in take. People like me will be well outside the catchment, but that was happening anyway with the new house building.

Actually I think Surrey needs a new secondary near to Ripley, Send, Oxshot and Cobham.

Go for Burpham, Merrow and you should be fine.

Fiddledee · 06/11/2010 11:05

Just buy or rent somewhere as close to the school as possible in Burpham and you will definitely get in.

Original poster
NotAnotherChinHair · 06/11/2010 15:39

Thank you all. And what primaries feed into George Abbot (again, pref secular)?

OP posts:
Fiddledee · 06/11/2010 18:43

Look up feeders on the local council website. Have you considered Ralegh primaryschool/Howard of Effingham secondary and living in West/East Horsley - can be an easier commute than living in Burpham if you need to get to London by train.

Original poster
NotAnotherChinHair · 06/11/2010 19:07

Oh, why is that Fiddledee? What's the commute like from Burpham?

OP posts:
mummytime · 06/11/2010 19:09

Boxgrove or Burpham as the secular two, or Bushy Hill although Merrow Infants is C of E. Or Sandfield, but to be in catchment for that you would be well away from George Abbot.

GiddyPickle · 08/11/2010 08:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

99redballoons · 09/04/2011 09:06

I appreciate catchments can change year on year, but does anyone know of a link to a recent map of GA's catchment? I can't find anything on their website. (Currently like in London and thinking of a move down to Guildford). TIA :-)

99redballoons · 09/04/2011 09:06

Sorry, currently live in London

Silverstreet · 09/04/2011 21:39

SCC details of 2011 policy and admissions is as follows, however, I heard the 2010 admissions policy has been reinstated for 2012, ie the priority for Ripley has been removed. Worth checking with school.

George Abbot School

Criteria

  1. Looked after children.
  1. Exceptional arrangements.
  2. Siblings.
  3. Children resident in the Parish of Ripley.
  4. Children for whom the school is the nearest to their home.
  5. Any other applicant.
If there is oversubscription within any criteria, priority is given according to the distance from the pupil?s permanent home address to the school. Distance will be measured by a straight line from the address point of the pupil?s house, as set by Ordnance Survey to the nearest school gate for pupils to use.

Allocation
Category 1 =2
Category 2 =1
Category 3 =138
Category 4 =8
Category 5 =146
Category 6 =0
Distance =4.01km
SEN = 5

mummytime · 11/04/2011 07:21

Few things, the only map I've ever seen is held at the school for open days. There are often a lot of siblings, 1/2 the years in take or more. Finally the criteria about the school being the closest to the child's address, this is important in Surrey which has a large area, so all children are in catchment for a school now, as it is measured by comparing the distance from their house to the local schools, rather than drawing a nice circle from the school. This is why most of Send is in George Abbot catchment, but central Guildford is not. I had heard that Ripley has fallen out again (which kind of makes sense, as there could have been a precident against Guildford pupils being able to get into any Guildford schools).

The safest is to buy in Merrow/Burpham area.

99redballoons · 11/04/2011 21:54

Thanks for this extra info. We were also looking at some schools in Woking and they seem to have catchment maps... why can't everyone be the same?? Either use the catchments or just always use distance.... argh! :-)

mummytime · 11/04/2011 22:24

They may have maps but except for Howard of Effingham, they don't have catchments as such. (I'm not 100% sure on East Surrey, so there could be an exception there.)

barneysashamum · 20/04/2011 12:46

Just a warning, but be careful if buying in Burpham as Christ's College is very near there, and if you are even .1 mile nearer to CC than GA (which we are!) then you won't get into GA. This is even more frustrating as CC is a faith school so you won't get in there anyway (assuming you are non-faith). Like us, you may well end up being allocated a school several miles away, and then face the horrendous appeal process. This is the nightmare that we currently face.

laststepstotake · 25/06/2011 16:01

How far away were you allocated a school? We are relocating to Guildford at the end of this year and we had earmarked George Abott, as well as Guildford County School as possible high schools for our eldest, we hoped to rent in Burpham / Merrow to begin with, having said that we also quite like Queen Elizabeth Park Development but that is very close to Christs College, so I am assuming from what you have said that if we were to rent in QEP then GA would definately be out of the question for us? What about Shalford/ Chilworth are they also within GA catchment area or is there another secondary school for them?

mummytime · 26/06/2011 21:25

QEP is out of catchment, and I dont think there are any buses, but you might get in on appeal. Shalford etc. get into County of they are lucky, but some have been offered Broadwater in Godalming recently.
The Burpham not getting into GA doesn't sound likely, however Christ's College doesn't as far as I know turn people away yet, all places are certainly not taken on religious grounds (in fact lots of C of E don't even apply).

To guarantee GA you need to be Burpham Merrow, or Send.

barneysashamum · 27/06/2011 21:37

Last step, our allocated school was 6 miles away. We were turned down by GA because CC was nearer, and turned down by CC because there were not enough spaces left after allocating most of the spaces to Practising Christians. However, we appealed to both - and won both, it can be done, but it's not something I would wish on anyone. As someone else here said, we need another secondary school in the area, and a shake up of the allocation system, which I believe is now about to happen.

mummytime · 27/06/2011 22:07

There is a desperate need for a school in the Ockham, Cobham, Ripley Send area; and even trying to send all those pupils to Bishop David Brown is not going to work long term. There are also more houses being built in Guildford, especially in the GA catchment. There is a possibility that the stopping of the subsidy for buses on a faith basis, might open a few places at St Peter's.
Barneys I assume you applied after the main admissions round, because otherwise you would have been offered a place somewhere.

barneysashamum · 28/06/2011 12:43

We applied when everyone else did - and we were offered somewhere BDB, which is our 7th nearest school, and 6 miles away. Our first nearest is catholic which we are not, our second is CC which we didn't get into, our third is GA which we didn't get into because CC is nearer, we are not in the catchment area for our fourth or fifth, our 6th is catholic, therefore we were offered our 7th nearest. This is not acceptable to us and so we fought it and won both appeals - lots of stress, misery and fear later, as well as hours and hours of research, we have got what we should have got, it was worth the effort and we are v happy that our son is going to GA in September. I hope they do simplify the system for future appellants.

mummytime · 28/06/2011 19:10

Sorry to hear that Barney, it sounds as if this year has been much worse than usual. Admittedly they did have the confusion over Ripley this year. Only a few years ago non-Catholics got into the Catholic school, but now there is no chance. Didn't you get offered KC either? Actually I'm surprised you didn't get offered Broadwater, as I would have thought that was closer than BDB.

barneysashamum · 28/06/2011 20:23

KC is the same distance away but BDB was what we were offered. In our eyes GA was always our nearest, as the two nearer are faith schools. CC has grown in popularity and is a fairly good school now, 21 of us appealed and we all won at stage 1, but they will have less room next year, and it will gradually grow in popularity so more problems to come... Good luck to anyone that has to go up the appeal route :-)