Catchment areas post 'shakedown'

[LittlePickleHead]

Hi, currently having a bit of a headache over catchment areas and I'm hoping that MN can help put my mind at rest (a little).

We are moving into a rented house, and before signing the agreement I checked the postcode against the catchment areas indicated in the 2012/2013 admissions book (so the 2011 catchments). It seemed we would be OK for our two closest schools, and probably our third (discounting a couple of closer church schools which we would not apply to) which is in another borough.

However I have just found out from a friend whose child is actually starting school in the area this year that the actual catchments of those schools shrunk massively this year and we would actually have been out of catchment. One of them is 2 years on from a bulge (and I think 2008 was the birth rate peak in our area) so I am keeping fingers crossed that has made the situation worse and next year we would be back in catchment.

My question is, do councils every publish a revised catchment area to take into account those that got in off the waiting list before the first day of term? We are less that 400m away from our first two schools, and 650m from the third (a 3 form entry). Surely that is close enough to get in on waiting list even if we do miss out initially?

For those that are interested we are in SE23, close to the SE22 border, so it would be helpful to hear from anyone whose child is starting school in the area this September.

I think about a 1/5 of St Francesca Cabrini's pupils intake have been non-catholic in the last couple of years due to the expansion/bulging of St Anthony's and St William of York. I read somewhere that William of York are bulging again in 2013 which means that there will probably be quite a few places there available to non-Catholics, as unlike the other two schools it isn't linked to a parish. After church goers places are allocated on distance so if you live locally you may get a place there. It has a good Ofsted and results and so worth putting down littlePicklehead.

We are hoping to get our little guy into Stillness school but not until 2014, but am already worried about it. We are 330m away. Would hope that is close enough.

A bit late to this but friends of ours who were within 400m of Stillness all got in and Dalmain. Fairlawn you really do have to be on the doorstep, roads that were fine last year now are number 10+ on the waiting lists. We know people who are on waiting list for St Francesca of Cabrini but number 2 so looking more hopeful.

I realise this is an old thread but feel it's relevant in relation to LAs building more schools to point out that, whatever they could or should have done a few years ago, and everything is in the context of budget restrictions (and other restrictions, such as the availability of a site for a new school), LAs now generally can't. The current government has made it almost impossible to set up a new community school, prioritising bids from groups wanting to set up free schools.

There is also a shortage of available and suitable sites for any type of school.