Where to start with finding a primary school

[STripleM]

Hi - I'm new to MN so hope I'm posting this in the right place. I have an almost 2 year old (turns 2 in October). Two questions:

1. Am I right that he will start school in September 2023 when he is 4 and 11 months - so he may be one of the eldest in class?

2. I've had a quick google but can't seem to find a comprehensive site giving information with Ofsted ratings, school reviews, and a list of catchment areas and locations. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Know it's ages away but we're considering moving house around then so will need to plan according to catchment areas.

Thanks in advance

1 - Yes that sounds right
2- Don't know sorry
With regards moving house, applications for school will be around October 2022, so the address you are at then is the one which will be used to determine school place allocation

I think it will be Sept 2024, mine has just turned 2 and that is when he will start.

Sept 2021 - turns 2
Sept 2022 - turns 3
Sept 2023 - turns 4
Sept 2024 - turns 5 (and starts in reception.)

For the second part I think you might need to search by school. So my local council website has information by school for their admission policy and catchment area with a map. Then if you search the schools individually you should be able to find the most recent ofsted report. Sometimes local websites will compare local school achievements. When I was looking for my older child I did find it tricky to find all this out. Personally I found following all their social media was really informative. It's also worth looking at the admission data from previous years as that can give you an indication of if you have a good chance of getting in or not. For example some schools have different priorities for admission depending on where you are, siblings in school, distance, religion etc.

You’re a year out, he will start school Sept 2024 when is he almost 5.

You should move before October 2023 as that’s when you will be applying.

I find Rightmove is useful for working out schools. On each house listing it shows all the nearest schools and what the ofsted ratings are.

You will need to apply by Jan 2024 to start in Sept 2024. Remember in a lot of the country, schools don't have fixed catchment areas. Where we are in Greater London, it is mainly done on distance, so varies each year. If you look at the local council website of areas you are considering, you should get information about which schools you might have historically got a place at. My husband also looked at the website Locrating when we moved, although you may now have to pay.

www.locrating.com/ The link for the website I mentioned above.

@BendingSpoons I didn't know some schools don't operate on catchment areas. Isn't that how spaces are allocated? If it's not based on catchment areas, how do schools decide which students get places?

@SecretKeeper1 Thanks, you're right, I had calculated wrong. So 3 more years of nursery fees. Yikes!!

@akandjakh thank you, will check out the council website.

I have probably over complicated something that doesn't hugely matter.

Some schools have a fixed catchment area. If you live in this area, you usually get priority. So it might go something like:

1. EHCP and adopted children (very few children)
2. Siblings in catchment
3. Others in catchment
4. Siblings out of catchment
5. Others out of catchment Catchment won't (in England) guarantee you a place but will help.

Other schools just base it mainly on distance, so it will be (after EHCPs etc) siblings then based on distance. This doesn't make a huge difference most of the time. It's more just you need to be aware that things can vary year to year. It's easy when house buying to think 'oh great the nearest school is excellent and we would have got a place last year' and then realise that other years you would have been too far away and have been allocated a much further school. I have heard Estate Agents say 'oh you are in the catchment for X school' when that's not strictly the case.

Obviously some schools have other criteria e.g. Church attendance for faith schools.

Distance.

I mean, there are other things like looked-after children, sibling priority, maybe religious affiliation; but after all that, the criterion is

How far away from the school does the child live?

(and there'll probably be a statement clarifying that it's from gate to gate and along lit footpaths or something).

Which in practice means that there's an area people think of as "the catchment area" - which may be ten miles across or may be a few hundred yards depending on how populous the area or how popular the school - but it's not set in stone.

As for where to start: my county has a list of schools on its website. A quick google brings up the site schoolswebdirectory.co.uk which appears to be a comprehensive listing which you can search by area. Find out the schools near where you want to be and look at their websites.

House prices may give you some idea as to the standing of the local schools (I live in a Nice little northern city which way back in the 90s had one area which was significantly more expensive than the rest) though it's not always entirely accurate. League tables will tell you their raw results. Mumsnet might give you some opinions.

www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk

This will allow you to see the performance of all schools within a certain area.

I would also look on your local council website as they will have a booklet with all the local schools, their admission criteria and how many applications they received last year/the criteria of the last pupil to be admitted last year which is helpful to see at which you can realistically expect to get a place.