“Last distance offered” admissions query

[Dahliasings91]

Is last distance offered a helpful tool to know if I am in the catchment for a school?

V popular school near me. Always thought we were out of the catchment but last distance offered this year was 0.9m and we live 0.7m?

It can change every year so it's just a guide

Exactly this.

In case it's helpful...

Assuming your school admissions work the same as most other places, you should put your genuine 1st choice first, even if you don't think you have a chance of getting in as you never know. It won't work against you if you don't get in, your second choice school will effectively become your first choice then. You won't be penalised in any way for not putting it down as first choice.

To add to the previous post, admissions work the same everywhere in England by law. You should always put your genuine first choice as your first preference.

The word catchment is often used vaguely. Some areas have set catchments - a line drawn around the school and you’re either in it or outside it. But other areas (a majority, I think) go by distance which can go up or down each year depending on how popular the school is. People refer to close distances as being ‘in catchment’ but really for these areas there’s no such thing - one year it could be 0.5 of a mile, once year 1.5 miles, and you just can’t know until it happens.

This. We live somewhere with set catchments so your catchment school sometimes is not your nearest school. But I assume you just mean ‘within getting in distance’ here! If not though, distance may not matter anyway.

We do still have “last distance offered’ stats as you can apply for out of catchment schools and in that case distance becomes an issue.

Is it a junior or senior school? Look at demographic data for your child's birth-year and for the yeargroup a couple of years older. When birth-year numbers drop the last-distance-offered increases and you have more chance of getting in. However the cohort a couple of years ahead is also relevant as a lot of parents aim for a 2-year age gap and a lot of schools give priority to siblings.

However it's best not to obsess about this too much. Remember that you are expressing a preference not making a choice. Put your genuine first choice first on the form even if you think chances are low. Put a school that is 100% certain to have a place for your child in last place, even if you think it's terrible, because a place at a terrible school nearby is better than a place at a terrible school far away, or no place at all. Fill in between from the category of schools that would be better than thr last.

Thank you all
this secondary school is our local and closest school. We live in London as you know the catchments are a bit crazy and this school is super popular. If we didn’t get this one we would only get one further away which is insane

Check the last few years. Sometimes there’s an anomaly because of reasons like bulge classes, houses being built etc