school admission straight line policy

[jbl2312]

hi im not sure if anyone can help me regarding the straight line policy, is it supposed to be the shortest walking distance?

if it is we have a 100 foot wide river in front of us and the straight line goes across this river which obviously we cannot not walk across unless we go 2 miles out of our way to cross it making the distance traveled 4 miles to the school, they are saying this is our closest school yet there are 3 schools on our side of the river which are 2 miles away....totally confused here

I think that straight line would mean as the crow flies, so going over the river rather than round it. Hopefully someone with more knowledge can say whether or not that is right.

Straight line means exactly what it says. They will measure from your house to the school in a straight line ignoring obstacles such as the river. It is unusual for the difference between straight line distance and shortest walking route to be as much as it seems to be in your case but it can certainly be the case that your nearest school measured by straight line distance is not the nearest school to walk to.

Many LAs use straight line distance in school admissions as it is less prone to error than shortest walking route. Those using shortest walking route are likely to get appeals from parents claiming there is a shorter route than the one used by the LA.

If it is really 4 miles to this school by the shortest walking route and the LA end up allocating you a place there your child will be entitled to free transport.

What does it say in the Admissions Policy? This will be the method of measurement - even if it does not reflect the actual route you may have to take. For example in rural areas it will cross lots of private land whilst you will have to travel by public roads/paths making the actual journey longer.

thanks everyone didnt want to make a huge fuss with the admissions authority if thats the way they do it yes JWIM we are in a rural area and the line goes across the river through a wood and over several farms, so i guess we have no choice but to accept this :)

i totally agree with the same as sensible bit, as we have 3 school on our side of the river which are a mile closer to drive to but longer on the "as the crow flies" system, oh well at least we are not the only ones, was starting to feel like we were being neglected due to living in a rural area