Applying for out of catchment school

[Ponche]

Not applying until 2025, but just had a couple of questions. I’m not in the catchment area for my preferred mainstream primary school, but will be putting it down as first choice anyway. I’m hoping my DD will get a place either because she will have an EHCP by then or because we are in the process for that.

The one school I am in the catchment area for - do I have to include this as 2nd or 3rd choice or can I just leave it off? It’s a church school so I would rather not include it.

I will also be looking at special schools. To start reception in a special school in September 2025, will she have to have an EHCP in place by then? If we are still waiting for the EHCP, will she have to start reception in a mainstream school?

I am also in discussion with the nursery SENCO about this but was just after some personal experiences.

For children with EHCP’s, you don’t go through the general admissions system. Your school is allocated by your caseworker and named on the plan so if your child has a plan by then, you need to be discussing your options with the caseworker in around September 2024

Can you confirm you are meaning England?

In England...
You can chose not to apy to your closest or "catchment" school. However if there are no spaces at your preferred schools, you won't be offered a place at the local school if they have hd enough applications... is the closest school with a place. Which could be another Church school, but a lot further away and not necessarily very good.

More experienced posters will tell you ECHP process.

(Don't just dismiss Church schools... it could be that school is brilliant for your child particular needs)

Thank you, I’m just worried that she may not have an EHCP in place by then and so am wondering about alternatives. Not yet applied for EHCP as only started nursery in October.

Yes, applying in England. Looks like I will have to include the catchment school then rather than risk getting no school. Just felt the religious element is off-putting but perhaps I need to visit with an open mind. Thanks.

Definitely make sure you include a local school that you feel confident your dc will gain a place at. If you don't, you could end up being allocated a failing school several miles away. Hopefully everything will go to plan with your ehcp, but you need to ensure you have a safe backup in place.

If you don’t put your nearest school down as 2nd or 3rd and none of the ones you so put down have spaces you may end up in a school miles away. This happened to a few children that came to my nursery and they ended up at any school that had spaces left.

I would find a school you are pretty certain to get a place at, however much you dislike it, and put it last choice.
Fill the options above that with schools that would suit you better.

And push to get the EHCP signed off at the earliest opportunity.

Thank you all so much. I’m glad I asked the question. We are only in the catchment area for one school (the church one) so will definitely make sure I include that as either a second or third choice.

May apply for the EHCP myself to try and speed things up.

What do you mean by catchment area?
Is it just the area from which you usually get a place, or is it a defined priority area?

Most councils publish admissions criteria and data from previous years. In a lot of areas, there aren't fixed catchments but places allocated against criteria and with church schools, meeting the religious criteria typically takes precedence over distance.

You should check whether or not the church school has been over subscribed.

In your shoes I would put

1. Preferred mainstream (which you may not get due to distance
2. Church school (which you may not get if places all go on religious grounds)
3. Another school which is your nearest non church school or at least close by which you have a chance of getting into.

Don't leave it to chance of getting allocated something totally random which could be anywhere in your council area.

(Caveat, I live in a densely populated area with lots of oversubscribed schools, I know not everywhere is like this)

Ideally list your local school of that is preferential to a random more distant one. Otherwiseyou run the risk of not being allocated even your nearest one.

I think it’s a defined priority admission area and when I put my postcode in, only one school comes up (the Church of England one). Within 1.5 miles of where I live, they’re around 6/7 schools. The closest is the church one- I’ll be putting this as 2nd or 3rd choice. My 1st choice school is not too far away.

I’ve attached a screenshot from the Council website.

We are currently applying. We have a choice for a religious school and a previously poor school which is an Extra Resources school. I has a class room for children with SENs but they are able to move into the mainstream classes depending on the activities they are doing in that lesson

For us this church school is beyond our comfort level. We witnessed a teacher offering to pray for a child who said she was feeling unwell. I would absolutely arrange a tour during school hours. We saw this school during an evening open day and it came across quite religious outside of my comfort zone but within my partners. Seeing what it meant to the children was important. I went to a religious non-religious primary school and my partner went to a non-religious religious school for background

We saw some schools that were out of catchment and both said they do their best to accept people who put it first but there are limits on numbers. I spoke to someone who didn't get in out of catchment and appealed. The la opened with "the class is oversubscribed there is no more spaces" he said so there's nothing I can say to change that. No but he still had to sit and outline why it was inappropriate. It did turn out to be worthwhile as a kid moved school before the start of term so he got the last spot. We have made the decision to go to a local school as it's important to us to be able to reach the school on foot

Thanks, when I had a quick look at the admission data from previous years, I don’t believe the school is oversubscribed.

I just had a look at the school’s admissions policy and it seems like it follows the same criteria as the other non-religious local schools, as set out by the council. It didn’t mention religion.

As DD is 3 and non-verbal and most likely autistic, I don’t feel that starting in a mainstream school will be the best choice for her, so I’m leaning towards starting in a special school.

The only problem is is how likely is she to get a place in a special school, even with an EHCP and even though she has significant needs. As I’m sure local special schools are oversubscribed and she will be ‘competing’ for a place against children who also have physical disabilities and/or complex medical needs.

I worry that she will just end up in a mainstream school and so am looking through my options.

Not all religious schools have religion as a admissions criteria. Some areas (especially where it is lots of villages), the primary school in a village is the c of e school and so everyone goes there because there is no other option, and they don't have religious criteria for admissions. If it is a situation like that you may find the religion is not too heavy handed - certainly there will be an expectation from the church authorities that they are integrating religion throughout the school and lessons, but it will be balanced out by the fact there will be other people there who are not religious but have no other options!

I understand, I had a family friend who was in a similar situation except they managed to get a diagnosis at 2. He was nonverbal at the time at starting but actually was on the mild end of the children in the SEN school and within a few weeks started speaking only a very small amount the benefits from the school was noticeable very quickly!

Given the concerns, I would look for an ER school or one that has a very strong SEN record. If you don't get a plan in place at the point of starting in the Sept they are likely to be able to make the process to get things put in place to facilitate that move into a special school.
My secondary school had a disproportionate number of children with SEN and in a different school they probably would have ended up in a special school as they were on that balance point between not getting (or family not wanting) special school place and being able to cope in mainstream schools.
I would be really focusing on what the schools have to offer from a SEN pov.

OP on the EHCP application, definitely apply yourself. You have more input and control over the process. The nursery can submit reports as evidence.