Websites 'calculating' admissions areas and getting it seriously wrong!!!

[kyususpecs]

You may have seen that the house-hunting website Rightmove is asking for feedback on its "School Checker" functionality on another thread. They are using data sourced from 192.com which calculates whether houses are within the "successful admissions area" of schools that use pure distance criteria. (Their algorithm doesn't cover other types of criteria).

However, for my Local Authority, they are using cut-off distances from National Offer Day, rather than the final cut-off distances from the start of term on September 1st. I know for a fact that the cut-off distances increase significantly between March/April and September because our LA has a high rate of families going private, meaning that waiting lists move a lot. That means schools' "successful admissions areas" are bigger than the ones shown on their website.

Does it matter? Yes, if people are making house-move and other big life-changing decisions based on this data. And yes, if it's affecting people's house prices (we're selling at the moment and my agent told me they lost a sale recently because a buyer 'discovered' a house was outside of a school's admissions area - in fact it was right on the edge and they would have easily got a place at the school).

I'd be interested to know whether the cut-off distances are meaningful for other areas. I guess in areas where waiting lists don't move much it might be less of a problem. Here is a link so you can check it out: www.192.com/schools/

Unfortunately, Rightmove don't seem to be asking for feedback on whether their data is accurate - they just want to hear from pre-school parents as to whether it would influence their house-buying behaviour.

I find it a useful tool. It makes me use Right Move instead of Zoopla.

Clearly, further research is required before you actually buy, but none of the comments above have persuaded me to disregard it. For example, finding out a property is practically next door to an outstanding non-religious school is preferable to finding out that all the nearby schools are religious, need improvement or may have catchment area issues from year to year. (Not everyone will have the same preferences, but the point still stands).

Every child in our road does get an offer on National offer day, but our road is not shown as in 'catchment'.

Because of the bluntness of the tool.

But Soul isn't that because your school uses a non-circular catchment area? I'll agree that the tool shouldn't show a circle of admissions distance if catchment area boundaries are used but the OP is arguing for a larger number to be used for schools which do use simple straight-line distance as a criterion.

peukpokicuzo in my area I've seen cut off distances double between March and September. I've also seen schools go from heavily oversubscribed in March to a handful of surplus places in September. That is because everyone gets 6 preferences and lots of people give up their first offer to take up a higher offer or go private.

However I'm not saying that the solution is to publish the September cut-off. That information isn't published by the LA. They rely on the annual waiting list stress to clear out anyone who is wavering about going private or moving house, so certainly don't want people to start relying on the movement.

No, the solution is for Rightmive to put a clear "not including waiting list movement" health warning on their data. They should also immediately remove references to individual houses being "out of admissions area" for particular schools because in many cases it is false and eventually they will be sued for it.

PUk: it is because the school uses 'fair banding'.
Rightmove have used the last distance for the shortest band: 20% of the intake. This is the support/inclusion band , which has a distance intake of less than half of any of the other bands because so many kids in that band are offered places under the social/ medical or looked after or statemented places.

See what I mean about a blunt tool?

No, agreed, if you are hell bent on a school you will not rely on Rightmove. But if Rightmove says you would be OUT you might err on the side of caution or not even get as far as using your sub-genius powers of detection to investigate whether you might get a place after all!

Of course clever switched on people will disregard it. But most people aren't that thorough. They may be at a phase of life where school availability is a foggy future issue, rather than an immediate crisis, and just be grateful for any guidance, however blunt. But if the guidance is a clear false statement that the house they are looking at was "outside of admissions area in 2016", and they then choose not to pursue it further on the back of that advice, then that is a problem.

My entire town is considered by rightmove to be out of catchment for dd school. In fact almost 25% of students come from this town. Thats a massive mistake to make with an intake of 220 pupils each year. The catchment is way out on rightmove yet zoopla have got it right. Not a defined catchment but the number of pupils admitted to the school in this area.

Anyone who looks at rightmove with the consideration they would like their children to go to dd school would rule out an entire town of more affordable housing than shown in the current catchment area.