shall i put on the list a catholic primary school 4 miles away because we want catholic secondary school

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we are both working and dropping off would be tricky - would have to find childminder near school and drop off very early or public transport by my mum. school is 4 miles away catholic, it would be big effort. but if we want the child to be in catholic secondary school, the secondary school accepts only after catholic primary schools. so primary catholic school is a step into catholic secondary... it is a long term planning. is it worth the effort? on the other hand we have a lovely CE school 5 min away from house - but after this primary school we would not be able to get child into secondary catholic school which is 15 min walk away from house. please share your thoughts. I am thinking that primary catholic would be a stage of difficlut life, but then when is at a secondaryu stage- he owuld go to secondary which is 15 min walk from us...so this would recompensate all years of primary traveling....?

Are you catholic?

Are you catholic?

Catholic secondary CAN'T only accept after Catholic primary.

Is it worth planning for a deliberately difficult time for primary when all kinds of things could change between now and starting secondary? You could find that you move, that the school you want changes.

No because it will complicate your lives for seven years, more if you have younger children.

What are the actual admissions criteria for the catholic secondary?

KenDoddsDadsDog Sun 13-Jan-13 09:03:22

Catholic secondary CAN'T only accept after Catholic primary.

^ while the above is technically true, our local catholic comp is so oversubscribed that in the last decade it has only admitted children who fulfill the criteria of being baptised catholics at a designated catholic feeder primary, which has lead to a bunfight for places at one fairly ropey distinctly average catholic primary.

OP therefore needs to have a good look not just at the admissions criteria, but who is acutally getting in.

Exactly - the OP was misleading though.

Personally, I wouldn't subject by young child to a difficult/early schoolrun on the assumption that that would ensure access to a certain secondary school. A school day is long enough for 4/5 year olds without deliberately adding to it with travel. And how about friends? Will they all live further away as well.

I am saying all this on the background of having choses our boys' school for how close it is to our house : walk to school, short school run, lots of local friends.

What are your reasons to being so keen on this particular secondary school?

Go local and wait list them from year 4 for an in year place at the catholic primary if the secondary is still an issue.

I honestly don't think it is worth it. You don't know what will change. You may move to a different area or the Catholic secondary might change it's admissions criteria. Although it is your prefered school, there must be other schools that would be OK. Also, if you fulfil all the other admissions criteria for the Catholic secondary, might you get in anyway on distance, even if you don't have the Catholic primary. This is something that you should be able to find out - but, in your position, I would still go for the local primary.

yes, we are catholic. here is admission criteria from the Catholic Secondary Website:
Oversubscription Criteria
Places will be offered first in descending order as outlined below.

1. Catholic7 looked after Children1 and Catholic children who have been

adopted (or made subject to residence orders or special guardianship orders) immediately following having been looked after.

1. Siblings2. Fully practising (weekly attendance at Sunday Mass / Saturday vigil

Mass) baptised (with baptismal certificate3) Catholics7, with an endorsement from the local Parish Priest.

1. Fully practising4 (weekly attendance at Sunday Mass / Saturday vigil Mass)

baptised (with baptismal certificate) Catholics7, with an endorsement from your local Parish Priest, from the following Primary Schools:‐ ? Mount Carmel, Ealing ? Our Lady of The Visitation, Greenford ? St Anselm?s Southall ? St George?s, Sudbury ? St Gregory?s, Ealing ? St John Fisher, Perivale ? St Joseph?s Hanwell ? St Raphael?s, Northolt ? St Vincent?s, Acton

1. Other fully practising 4(weekly attendance at Sunday Mass / Saturday vigil

Mass) baptised (with baptismal certificate) Catholics7, with an endorsement from the local Parish Priest. Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School Oversubscription Criteria Sept 2013 Page 2 of 4

1. Other baptised Catholic7 siblings (those unable to supply an endorsement

from the local Parish Priest).

Are you talking about Cardinal Wiseman then ? A few of my uni friends went there

I would say that living 4 miles away from the primary school is too far away for a 4/5 year old. A distance of under 2 miles is usually recommended. as a reasonable distance to travel to school. You need to remember that in primary schools there may also be other events that parents can be invited too during the day so it's not just about drop off and pick ups! Also any friends your child makes could live a long way from you as well so there could be difficulties with play dates etc.
There is no guarantee that the Catholic secondary school will have the same admissions policy in 7 years time. Operating a feeder schools type policy is being phased out in may areas and Catholic secondary schools in my area (if over-subscribed) specify dcs living in certain parishes or attending specific churches rather than primary schools.

Unless it serves an unusually large parish you are unlikely to get a place at a Catholic (or any other) primary school that is four miles away. What are its admissions criteria? What was the farthest distance at which it awarded a place last year (this should be on the LEA's website)?

yes, I was taling about Cardinal Wiseman. The catholic primary school was undersubscribed last year as they only had a nursery class last year - they are building a new school

Purely in terms of admission process, there is no reason why you could not put the school as first preference, on an assumption that the likelyhood is that you will not get the offer of a place and then out the local CE school as second preference. Putting it as second preference will make no difference in terms of your chances of getting an offer of a place for the school than if it was first preference. The only time it will be different is if a place could be offered at the catholic school, when as first preference that would be given priority.

Having said that, it is 4 miles away and your mother will actually have all the hassle of getting them there. You need to think quite carefully about those facts as they are important.

Looking at the data for Cardinal Wiseman the admission number is 300 pupils and last year the last accepted pupil was in category 4 at a distance of 0.9 miles. From that I would suspect that you are correct, unless your child goes to one of the named primary schools you are unlikely to get a place, especially as the level of pupils going into primary schools now is considerably higher than into secondary school at present.

My DC's go to one of those schools. The whole area is so oversubscribed I would be wary about why this school is undersubscribed. Is it a good school?

it is a new called Holy Family school in West Acton

Yes it is worth it.
Four miles is not far by car, we travel it daily.
Put down catholic primary and then look to chenge jobs or work patterns so that one of you can drop off and collect each day.
Better for child and much less hassel than having a CM.

RosemaryandThyme, so do you take your kids to school 4 miles away or do you leave them with CM?

RosemaryandThyme, so do you take your kids to school 4 miles away or do you leave them with CM?

Holy Family is a new school with only 2 classes of reception this year and it was undersubscribed but is now full in the two reception classes. My daughter goes here and it was undersubscribed because alot of people did not even know that the school was being built or open for September 2012. We are not Catholic and it was a 6th choice school. There are many Muslim children and children from out of borough going there as there are so few primary places in Ealing they filled it with a mixture of children that did not get spots elsewhere.

There is a good chance that if you apply you will get in, particularly if you put it as your top choice.