Anyone have a situation where it's really difficult to get child into any of the schools nearby

[perceptionreality]

Because they are all full, also would you send your child to a 'failing' school? We are in the catchment for a failing school. All the others fill right up and even those in catchment with sibling have difficulty getting a place.

Why is it so difficult to get a place these days? My mum is stressing me to move to another house in the catchment of a 'better' school. But we love our current house.

WWYD?

Sorry, meant to say that it's for dc3 due to begin school in Sept 2013.

So you CAN actually get your child into a nearby school - you just don't want that particular school!

I would go and see it and keep an open mind...

Otherwise you won't have much choice, the LEA will most likely offer you your catchment school anyway...

I'm not sure snooper - I think that school fills up quickly as well. I will go and look at it. I would like her to go to a school nearby - I do think that's quite important. It's just that everyone I know avoids it like the plague for some reason! And I know it is classified as being under special measures.

But that's what I'm trying to find out - would you actually move to have a better chance of a place at a scholl that isn't 'failing'?

I would look at the school first.

My DC go to a so called outstanding school. I really have doubts about it though and would move them if I could. But the school that I like is full and has a waiting list.

Yes, ofsted can be misleading it seems. I will go and look at it. I read in the ofsted report that many of the children in the school only stay there for a short time and then move away. I worry that if this happens a lot then dd will 'lose' friends and will never be able to establish a group of friends.

My other children are in different schools - one has complex SEN and the other has a scholarship to a private school. So this is the first time I've had this situation.

Being honest, yes I probably would move to get my child into a school I really wanted. A good friend did just that. Though I would say, this was because they lived in a catchment black-hole and would have been sent a few miles away, they just wanted a local school.

My DD goes to an outstanding school - honestly, I feel quite fobbed off by the school at the moment. Their general response tends to be that the parents are so lucky to have children at the school they don't have a right to any opinion or complaint.

There may be something to be said about a school which is trying to get better. I just see our school as getting worse gradually and I'm not so sure it will get outstanding next time...

Thanks snooper. I suppose even if we move we may not even get the school then.

The only other option is to HE I suppose, which I would consider.

Deffo have a look though- once a school is in special measures expertise and money become available and quite often IME a good school emerges.

Yes. I put down four schools. Two I knew would be fine, the third I would consider, the fourth I'd decided to turn down and homeschool until a place came up in 1 or 2. I did consider moving and looked at houses closer to the catchment area of a good school, but in the end I felt as if I would be spending a vast amount of money for not that much better an education (the houses go up in value near the better schools - so it was a price increase equivalent to three years at a private school!). I also considered renting for a year near a school that I wanted. I know people who have done this, and it is a good compromise - you stay in the house for two years, and if you rent smaller can both pay the mortgage and the new rent. Ultimately I didn't as my plan is to go private after year 2 if the school we got doesn't feel right.