School places? Advice please

[Dinooooorawsz]

Bit of time before I apply (this September as my son is 4 in november) but im a bit stressed

Basically there is a primary school which we are just outside of catchment for. It has rave reviews everyone says its excellent and we plan to move to that area when the right house comes up - its a 5 min drive so we aren't miles out I've checked their map and we are just outside the line marking the border :(

Currently no houses in rightmove all under offer sold etc

There is one primary school closest to us, but I've heard a few neighbours say "oh its awful" one gossip saying the new headteacher has run it into the ground another said her friends niece went and hated it kids at the age of 6 were locking teachers in cupboards and throwing chairs????

But i thought that could be a bit of an exaggerated story? As its got a good offsted rating. Just bits of gossip and whispers that it isn't that good anymore

I don't want to panic. But I don't think we'll move in time for school applications

I want to send him to the best school possible and I just don't know a way. Do I ring the school and ask do they admit slightly out of catchment or will they give me a response of apply and try type of thing

Any positive stories regarding this situation

Did you know that you can find the stats for previous years published online? They will show how many children were admitted outside of catchment and how far away. Obviously every year is different cos it depends who applies each year and birth rate etc but it was give you a really good idea what your chances are based on where you live. Bear in mind ‘distance’ is ‘as the crow flies’

You may want to post on the Primary Education board, threads tend to get good responses there.

You need to understand the admissions criteria for each of the schools around you, and where they got to in the criteria last year (most will use distance, so what distance did they go out to, and on which criteria. Work out for each which category you will be in - presumably this is your eldest, so no existing sibling priority?

The advice is always to include a ‘banker’ in your preferences somewhere - a school you are very likely to get into (even if you hate it) - it’s better to end up with a crap school nearby than end up with a crap school even further away.

You also need to make sure you understand the timelines and what it means for your application address. Some councils allow address changes up to a certain point, so make sure you know your own council’s guidance.

And absolutely make sure you visit schools and make up your own mind - the experience of a neighbour’s friend’s niece doesn’t seem like the best way to make your mind up!

Firstly Ofsted rating are mainly bullshit.

Bear in mind ‘distance’ is ‘as the crow flies’

It is the most common approach, but some use shortest safe walking route, which is why it’s important to check each school individually.

Have you been for a tour of both schools? And not just reception, all the years? Check what is written on paper tallies with what you see in person.

Don't go off hearsay. Visit the schools.
There is no harm in applying for something you're out of catchment for but there is no point in ringing the school, they don't run admissions

We were out of catchment for the school we got. Was the same as you’ve described - the road across from ours was in catchment so we were just outside. Obviously won’t be the case for everyone, but it can happen.

You know you can apply to the school when you move. Even if it’s not at reception/yr1, you can change schools and it will be ok.

2 parents at the same school can have VERY different opinions of it. It can depend on their child’s experiences, abilities and friendships. Both maybe right or wrong but most likely it’s somewhere in between.
Most schools have good and bad aspects and many things can affect a child’s experience at school.

One school near us in the admissions policy rather than just writing distance as the last criteria they have distance of those within catchment, followed by distance in general.

Then in the stats on who got admitted they show the last place allocated distance for each. Usually the catchment distance is missing because everyone who was in catchment got an offer, but not always.

In the end people further away get in before people closer, I assume it's like that because it's kind of a long thin part of the borough, so they don't want out of borough people near other schools to get in before in borough that are at the end of the area (and probably not really near any other schools)

So looking at the catchment is useful but not the whole story.

Good luck though, it's easy to lose sight and think you're going to ruin you precious child's life by getting them into the wrong school, but in reality there's also a large element of the right school for the right child. Look round them all, and ask questions that are important to you.
Once we did that we were pretty confident.

Based on your reference to a line on a map, I assume the preferred school has a true catchment area (a defined area within which applicants get priority over those outside the area) - you need to find out the past few years’ admissions and how far down the criteria they got. This will tell you whether anyone outside of catchment was admitted, and if so, how far away they lived. It’s not an exact science as it will depend on who applies each year, but if you see that in the past five years they’ve only got as far as catchment kids, then you know it’s a very long shot.