Catchment area - Rightmove school checked

[FirstTimeMummy25]

Can someone help me with what may be such a stupid question but I need to answer to... so on rightmove on the school checker- if a school is number 9 for example on the list but says inside admissions area in 2016 does that mean that if we moved there for example that specific school would be in the catchment area? I understand each year they can change but you catch my drift, would be really helpful if anyone could help me?

Thanks @TalkinPeece that's really interesting to see! I'll have a look through

FirstTimeMummy25, also remember that the "last distance offered" data published by your council is for National Offer Day (March for Secondary, April for primary) rather than September. If you're in an area where waiting lists move a lot then the distances can often increase significantly before the start of term, especially for Secondary schools.

In my area some of the distances have more than doubled! That's because a lot go private. People put down 6 preferences and progressively move up the waiting lists when others drop out.

If you want the last distance offered data for September 2016 you will need to ask your council admissions department. (If they say they don't publish that information you can put in a Freedom of Information request).

Something else about Rightmove. If a school is ninth on the list that means there are 8 closer, but only "as the crow flies" because that is what Rightmove use.

However, many areas use walking distance rather than crow-flies distance for admissions purposes.

By the way, anyone with evidence that Rightmove is misrepresenting a property by saying it is inside/outside an admission area when it isn't should be reporting them to the Advertising Standards Authority - www.asa.org.uk/make-a-complaint.html. It's the only thing that will get through to them.

Rightmove is just bollocks for where I live. Includes faith schools that don't go on distance, excludes a popular school round the corner because they have taken it on the primary school with the same name, doesn't reflect 'fair banding' etc etc.

It is a stupid meaningless (or worse misleading) stunt.

Take your info from the council's schools admissions website (the distances for each school might be in a table in the Admissions booklet published online) not from house salesmen and Estate Agents.