How do i get applications statistics for voluntary aided school?

[krisskross]

We will be applying in Sept 2011 for primary school and like many of you are trying to work out which schools to choose.

I have seen the applications info for local community schools- e.g. no. of applications, catchment distance that year, no. appeals etc.

However, our no.1 choice is likely to be the Catholic school- but according to the local authority, they do not hold this info for voluntary aided schools and you have to contact the school direct.

The school office werent especially helpful- but gave us catchement info for last two years. Last year we would have got in, the year before we wouldnt. How can i find info going back a bit further to help us see an average, to get an idea how likely our chances are?

Two years ago catchment was 0.5 miles, last year it was 1 mile. Doesnt 0.5 mile seem v. small for a religious school?

The school is likely to be the only source of that, unfortunately. Maybe try talking to them again and explaining?

And no, sorry, 0.5m is about right for an over-subscribed primary! I suspect there are a lot of local people who rediscover their Catholicism just in time to get their children into their local Catholic school....

thanks Patricia. Can anyone else advise please?

Perhaps it means the catchment after all Catholics were admitted?

No- it def just includes catholics, as was over subscribed!
i cant really understand why it would get so much bigger this year (from 0.5 to 1 mile) so i would like to see more years to understand the pattern better.

it is very likely that the year with the smaller catchment had a lot of siblings in it, if it is a fairly small school things like that can really effect catchments. talk to the school and ask them how likley you are to get a place and if it is a big year for siblings.

Are siblings above catchment? If so there might be a sibling heavy year, so the catchment for those without siblings is small.

Could they have had a bulge class last year? Our parish school did that the year before last as there were only 12 places left after all the siblings had been allocated. So that year they had 3 classes and the distance was over a mile.

Last year they were back down to two classes and a smaller area.

I found out the data for my school by looking on their website and trawling through the minutes of governors' meetings. This was also how I found out before we were told that we hadn't got in.

However, if it's a catholic school you really want look at neighbouring catholic schools. The one we got into was further away so they had a much bigger distance, but it seems to out perform the one we originally wanted.

thanks changebag- good tip on the governors meeting and it hadnt occured to me that they might have put anoyther class on . thanks.

It does vary from year to year. Our RC primary was heavily over subscribed 2 years ago largely due to siblings and the catchment went down to 0.4 miles with only practising catholics offered places. Just a year later and the catchment went out 2+ miles with places also being offered to non catholics. I don't know if this was partly because of the huge number of applications in the previous year many people were put off applying feeling that there was no chance of getting a place. A good place to start would be talking with parents of children attending the school. IME they are pretty clued up on how many siblings are likely to start in that year and also info on previous years admissions.