Only one school in catchment area, and it's not very good?

[alittlebitmanic]

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here as my child isn't even born yet, but I'm trying to figure out how the whole school catchment thing works. My partner and I have been living in our house the past 2 years and we love it. It's a lovely cul-de-sac and a nice area, but a few streets behind us it's all a bit less refined!

I've just had a quick look at the school catchments as we really don't want to move. There is an infant and primary right in the middle of those streets. It's ofsted is 'good' but all reviews and info online suggests it's not very good at all, significantly below average on all ratings.

Is it usual to only have one school option in a catchment area? Our address is actually that of the nicer town we are on the border of, but the school sits inside the less desirable part. There are several lovely schools a little further away at 1.8 miles, and in the direction I would travel to work.

They are all oversubscribed and I'm wondering if I have any chance whatsoever of getting my child into one of them? I find it a bit unfair I have only one option of one of the roughest schools. I'm starting to think Private may be our only option which is a shame when there are great schools nearby!

Do you all only have one school in your catchment area? Does your child go to that school or did they manage a place elsewhere if it wasn't your first choice? Typically my mother in law lives in the catchment for the very best school around, only 2.2 miles away from us which makes me understand why people do lie in school applications!

Thanks for any insight, and I really hope this doesn't come across as snobby as I really don't mean to be!

alittlebitmanic it is here
www3.hants.gov.uk/education/admissions/ad-guidance/main-admissions-round.htm

This has the admission data from 2011. Should give you a good idea what the school situation is like currently. But obviously like investments, previous performance is no indication of future :)

manic
in the words of the former PM
chillax
Hampshire is (and will remain) a comp county
you can apply to your local school and to any other two that you fancy
at primary and secondary

I live 1 mile outside the catchment and 4 miles from the school my kids attended

the leadership of HCC are playing hard ball with the Dfe over school places

worry about your house and the next couple of years
and enjoy your child being small

Catchment areas still exist in England, we are in the catchment area for three primary schools out of four locally.

Only in some areas enola. Others areas/ schools don't use them.

You have to look behind the stats to the intake and history of the school.

We are in Hants. DD's primary doesn't have a history of great results, but the relatively new head is fantastic and the school is on the up. The reputation of the school may take some time to catch up with the reality though. Also the headline results are unlikely to ever be as good as some of the other local schools due to catchment / level of intake / level of participation of parents.

(If you felt like PMing your location I will let you know further info if we happen to be in same place).

That's chaotic and daft IMO, catchment areas clear up a lot I think.
I've been trying to find admissions stats per category for our area but the LA don't seem to publish them.