Can someone explain the English primary school system to me, please.

[MrsMuddle]

OK, I really don't want to start an argument, but there are some things I don't understand on the thread where someone reported a mum for giving a false address. In Scotland, what happens is that kids usually go to the local primary. Or you can put in a placing request for another one (if it's near a parent's place of work, for example). But if you put in a placing request, you have to get your child there and back. If the local school is more than a mile away, the local authority provides a bus. But what someone in the other thread seemed to be saying was that they had been offered a school 3 miles away, and they had to take their child there. Do you not have catchment areas? If you live in the catchment area for a school here, you automatically get into it. Even if the school has to employ another teacher to comply with class sizes. The only way you wouldn't get in is if you move to a new area and the school is full. Are the placing request you're all doing for schools that aren't your local ones, or do you have to request your local school too? That's what it looks like from the other thread, but surely not... Can someone give me a brief summary of the situation please.

There are catchment areas. If the school is over-subscribed, and say the Local Authority has decided School A is a 2 form entry school and there are more than 60 rising 4s in that catchment (they can't go over 30 per class unless there is a child with a Statement of SEN and individual funded 1 to 1 support) then the school basically makes the catchment smaller until they've got their 60 4 year olds and no more. You do have to request your local school, it's not automatic without the LA forms, and you put 3 choices - so if catchment school is full and you're not right next door, the LA will assign you a place in your second choice school.

MrsMuddle I think admissions policies vary depending on the LEA.

For example, I live in Kent and no, DS does not automatically get a place at our local primary school.

We have to fill in a form during the year before he is due to start school stating three schools we would prefer, in order of preference.

These are then submitted to the schools and dependant on a number of criteria, places are offered.

In reality with a falling roll in this area DS is going to get a place at one or other of our local primaries (2 within walking distance) but one of the criteria is proximity to the school, and the otehr is proximity to any other school.

So, for e.g. child 1 lives 3 miles from their preferred school. Child 2 lives 4 miles from the same school. Child 2 gets offered a place because the school is actually the nearest to where they live, child 1 doesn;t get a place because there is another school 2 miles away.

Does that make any sense?!

Oh, and school buses?

Don;t make me laugh.

School drop off creates more problems than work rush hour round here.

There are no catchment areas in the London Borough where I live as of Sept 2007. You select 3 schools and hope for the best basically. We are a very over populated Borough and 2 new primary schools are being built for Sept 2007 intake. I will hear tomorrow if ds gets our first choice (dd goes there already). This school has a 2 form entry but will possibly increase to 3 as they can build on their sports fields Most of the other primary schools are 3 form entry.

It sort of makes sense, but it seems a really convoluted way of doing things. And the uncertainty must be awful! You're depending on lots of random factors to get your school.I can't believe they can change the catchment areas willy-nilly either. And there would be no guarantee they'd go to the same school as their friends, is that right? It all seems as if it would be very stressful.

MrsMuddle in practice it's not that bad in many areas.

Catchment areas exist, school intakes vary - some take in one class of 30, ours for example takes in uo to 80.

Where I live (midlands) 92% of parens got the first choice school for their child, and children in catchment being refused places at primary level is very rare indeed. In fact it usually only happens when an estate has grown and grown and the school has not been made any bigger - after all, with the best will in the world, a school can't fit in more pupils than it has classroom space for.

Lots of people I know go to their local school, but parental choice means that some people avoid what they see as poor schools and pick a "better" one that is further away. Sometimes they get in, sometimes they don't. Our well-rated middle class school with excellent SAT results (for what that's worth) takes children out of catchment and still will not be full in Sept.