Harpenden primary school help please

[ivylady]

Hello, new to this but we are strongly considering a move to Harpenden and have found a house we like. DD is due to start reception in 2012 so primary schools very important. However, this particular house seems to be exactly 0.4 of a mile from three different primaries. Keep hearing that Harpenden schools are heavily oversubscribed: so how close do you have to be to be sure to get a place at a preferred school?

I know this changes every year depending on who applies but if we had at least a general feeling about the kind of distance it would make me a lot more comfortable,

Thanks for any advice!

You could try the schoolguru website? Or I think you can actually ring the LA and ask them the furthest distance away that would have got you a place in previous years.

Whatever you do, don't rely on what an estate agent says. They lie blatantly when it comes to catchment areas.

Thanks pawsnclaws, the school guru website is currently being updated to reflect the change in the way Herts country council view distance: it changed from paths to as the crow flies for this coming year intake.

Ringing the LA probably a good plan,

How many forms of entry are there? We live almost equidistant between two primaries. One is single form entry, always very oversubscribed. The other is two form entry and much easier to get into. Both are v good academically but the smaller one is more sought after amongst the yummy mummy brigade (the larger one has more of a "mixed" catchment).

Many of the single-form entry primaries are virtually impossible to get into, even if you live on the same street... but Herts website should have some data from previous years, showing number of applications, etc

Thanks Decorhate - thats a good point, I think two of them may be two form entry and one of them is one form entry.

Interesting point about single form entries having to practically live on the street: that's what I was really wondering is exactly how close you have to be,

Harpenden primaries are not oversubscribed. We have a lot of LOs here, but there are places for them all (and some from WHampsted I understand). All the schools are great so I wouldn't stress too much. From (bitter) experience, I would also not set your hearts on one particular house as they fly off the shelves and there are lots of renters ready to pounce! (Last year we lost 3 having had offers accepted as cash buyers offered more than asking...) It's a great place to live tho & worth the heartache...

I have no idea of the stats but the secondaries can't be oversubscribed either as there are tons and tons of kids who pile off the trains from Luton & St Albs in the mornings. I presume they live in the outlying villages.

Harpenden primaries are massively oversubscribed. There has been carnage here this week with tons of people not getting one of their three choices. Lots of mothers crying in the supermarkets.

OP - If you look at the Herts LEA primary outturn report for 2011:

www.hertsdirect.org/statweb/admissions/OutturnReport-PrimaryAllocations2011-R-FINAL.pdf

you'll be able to see how places were allocated and under which rule. They apply each rule in order SEN - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 and only move onto the next rule if the school isn't full up. And if your first choice yields no place, they move onto your second, then third choice, working through the rules as explained. The most desirable schools do NOT allocate places to those applying under rule 6 as they are full at rule 5.

If you're equidistant between 3 schools you need a determination from the LEA as to which is your NEAREST school (not including faith schools), as you can only have one. You would be unlikely to get into the most desirable schools unless you're applying under rule 5 (nearest community school) as you'll see from the outturn report.

And don't forget distances are now in a straight line from your front door to the main entrance of the school.

I'm really impressed with Herts LEA's information on their website. And their allocations process is incredibly straightforward once you understand it.

Good luck!

PS Agree with NigellaTufnel re women crying in Waitrose.

It also changes every year depending on how many siblings there are - in ds's year I think 20 out of 45 places were taken up by siblings. The LEA is expanding one of the primaries, I think, but can't remember which one. (Siblings come before children in catchment, so people get no. 1 into the school, then move further away where they can get more house for their money.)

However, all the Harpenden primaries are good. Even the least popular one (The Lea) would be sought-after if it was in another town - it's just that the standard in Harpenden is so high a perfectly good school suffers by comparison with the rest. Or maybe it's snobbery, I dunno.

Btw, if you are churchgoers, you'll get preference for St Nicks (CofE) or St Dominics (RC). Non-churchgoing families very rarely get in to either from what I hear.