School related - sorry if wrong place

[steben]

This is all a bit premature maybe (?) but would be interested to see what others though/experiences were.

DD is just coming up for two and I have just started thinking about primary schools etc...When we bought our house children were a far away prospect and sadly we did not have the foresight to think ahead and move to the catchment area of a decent school. The one closest to us is ok (3 overall in Ofsted report) and the outstanding one is outside our catchment area, oversubscribed, and it is unlikely we would get a place. There is a CoE school which is very good (but very small) again outside our catchment area. I am a regular church goer at our local church and have been since we got DD christened - I tend to go twice a month as we usually visit family the other weekends and I would like her to have a faith-based education as that is what I had. Is it completely unrealistic that I would have a chance of getting into the CoE school, would I need to go to the church that is attached to the school and plead my case? Any advice would be appreciated.

You need to find out the admissions criteria of the actual school - it may just be that you need to be a regular at any church, or any CofE church, and not the attached one in particular. But only they can tell you what their admissions policy actually is!

The school might also be able to tell you how many people get in from outside catchment in a typical year, which might let you know how likely it is.

Thanks that is helpful - i cannot find that info online so I might give them a call.

if you've not already called them, the admissions information should be published on the LA website (along with all the other schools)

As AMIS says, it really does vary from school to school what the exact criteria are and what priority order they are in, so always best to check.

Also bear in mind that the admissions criteria they give you will be for entry in Sep 12, it is possible that they may change them before you apply. (My DD's church school have changed their's for entry this year, which is why I mention this! Luckily it shouldn't impact on DS getting a place for Sept, fingers crossed.)

Normally if the church school is out of your catchment then you have to get your vicar to sign a form to say that you are a regular attender of your local church, which you shouldn't have a problem with.