Not allocated preferred primary school even though we fulfill admission criteria.

[kimpam]

Our house comes in the catchment area as per allocated admission criteria. Max distance where the admission was allocated is 364 m and my house as per the county website is at 332 meters but still we were not offered our first choice school. We were instead offered our second choice school considering its near our house as per straight line measurement.

The first choice school is nearest by walking distance, the secondary choice school though near by straight line distance is across railways tracks and its away walking/driving wise.

We will be awaiting the letter to see the reasoning behind not getting allocated our first choice. Did anyone else had similar situations ? Can you please provide us guidance on what to do know ?

The system that they appear to be using is the standard Ordnance Survey computer system that picks up the datum point (address point) for the address and the datum point on each of the schools. It is very accurate.
Kimpam what you need to do is put in your house post code in the system as posted above and see which school comes as nearest. If it puts your first preference as the nearest school then that would suggest you should have been in category 5 not 6. If it puts your allocated school as nearest then that will be category 5.
If there is a sizable difference between the two school distances and they seem wrong then you could try calling up google maps and put both schools and your house on one screen and get the ruler out. Its crude but it will show whether the Herts figures do have validity or not. I suspect they will be correct.

I used map my run and drew a straight line from our house to the school and it came out pretty much the same as what Herts have on their site so for me, I can't dispute their measurements.

Thanks everyone for your comments, what are my steps going forward ? Should I appeal on grounds that wrong rules were applied ? Is it likely to be successful ?. I am gutted as all my neighbours children go to my first choice school. I am thinking of accepting the place, be considered for continue interest list and also appeal. I was even thinking to go and meet the heard teacher of my preferred school. Any other ideas ?

Definitely accept the second choice school. Get your name on the waiting list - try to find out your place on the list - top one or two there is a good chance you will get a place by sept, much lower and you need to prepare yourself for a longer wait (depending on poopulation mobility). If you are willing to move later on you may eventually get a place. Look into admission criteria further up school. Sometimes if you can get a younger sibling in then the older one is classified as sibling so goes up the list, also some schools will have larger classes in yr3. Appeal if you feel that you can get a case together. I wouldn't speak to the HT. They will have no power to help you, they won't (with all due respect) be wanting an extra child in their reception. Even if your allocated school had knife detectors and police in every classroom, they will say how much they respect the other school, staff, etc.

The big question is whether or not they have correctly identified your nearest school. If they have then no mistake has been made. However, if your first preference is your nearest school on straight line distance it suggests a mistake has been made. You can appeal even if you don't have any evidence that a mistake has been made - you never know what will emerge during the hearing. But unless there has been a mistake your chances of success at appeal are low.

You should certainly accept the place you have been offered and make sure you are on the waiting list for your preferred school. There is no harm in going to see the head teacher but the head cannot admit your child or move them up the waiting list. The head is also not allowed to support your appeal.

By move later on I mean move schools when a place is offered (yr 1, 2 etc), not move house - although that may or may not help bump you up the list. Initial distance for dd school was 300m, child who got place begining of yr 1 was 800m away, I knew people who lived nearer, were offered the place but declined it as their children were now settled in another school.

I would accept the place offered and stay on the list of continuing interest. Even if your first ranked school is your nearest to your address, you still might not get in if there are children who live closer anyway. I know for a fact this happened in Herts last (current reception intake). According to our letter, only 2% of appeals for reception were successful last year too.
My neighbours DD is going to our first place school, despite it not being their nearest school (or ours) and she got in under rule 6.