Is there a shortage of school places in Highgate, Archway, Crouch End area?

[nlondondad]

I was wondering if anyone was experiencing difficulty in getting a place for their child in this area of N. London? Postal codes N19, N8, N6 are relevant?

I don't have primary age children anymore, nlondondad, but I do live on the borders of the areas you ask of, so will ask my friends and neighbours of their recent experiences, and get back to you

All the 'middle class' schools in LB Haringey on the west side of the borough are very oversubscribed.

Just looking quickly at the school admissions letter I received this week -
Campsbourne 222 apps for 60 places
Coleridge 549 for 120
Highgate 270 for 56
with a third to a half of places going to siblings and distance from school no more than 0.7 mile (with 0.3 for Coleridge)

You would have to live within shouting distance of a school to be certain (as far as you could be) of a place - house prices reflect this.

For others reading this, I think the figures for apps to places given out by the LEA show the TOTAL number of apps to a school irrespective of what preference they are. In other words there may well be people who have applied for Coleridge and Highgate and they will show up for both schools....

Did you get the place you wanted nongangning?

And thanks for asking around crazynanna.

NLondonDad - When I asked the council about this very point they told me the number of apps listed on these charts reflected first preferences only. I asked twice. Perhaps they told me wrong - who can say?

Fact remains - you will only get into the sought after schools on the west side of the borough if you live very close. House prices reflect this.

Yes I did get my first choice.

It's the total number of application, not first preference.

There have frequently been threads on MN from people with no allocated school in Muswell Hill and Crouch End in other years, but not this one as far as I can see?

I agree with Christinarossetti, I do think nongnagning that you were misinformed. If Coleridge had 549 first preferences this year that would be a large increase on last year, (from memory) and in fact the admission radius has actually gone up this year - not much about 20 metres - which is quite counter intuitive... as that would normally mean a slight reduction in pressure, tho' of course it does depend where people live.

Like Christina I am struck by the apparent lack of concern regarding people not getting places........

I wonder if ashmount moving has impacted coleridges last accepted distance. Anyone know what ashmount, coleridges or highgate primary's last accepted distances were this year? We are applying to reception next year and are probably just out of all 3 catchments...I am putting off worrying about exactly where we will be allocated till after the summer.

Coleridge's last accepted distance, in this, the first round of offers, is given earlier in this thread. Would be interested to hear the other information. I would not have expected Ashmount's move to have much impact as the school has not moved that far and it was already the case that a lot of people had a choice between the two schools. As they were both full that would suggest that in this particular bit of London parents had a true choice with some choosing one, some the other (Which is good for both schools as they end up with parents who want their children to be at that particular school.) However, it IS now in a different place, and in a very fine new building, in a lovely location in a park, and there may be people who lived closer to Coleridge than Ashmount who went for their closest school, who would now find Ashmount broadly the same distance, or closer.

Coleridges last years distance was .35...so if its gone down to .3 as mentioned up thread doesn't look like the radius has increased or what am I missing ?

The figure I had for Coleridge last year was 0.29 miles. Which is why I thought there was, a (very small) increase.

I have just had a look at the Haringey website to check, but the "schools' propectus" document which I would expect to have the figure is not available. My figure comes from the unofficial "findaschool" website so there could be a mistake.

Does anyone else know?

according to this, Coleridge last offered distance was .3521

Yes, that is the definitive document which was not available when I last looked for it. So if the info in this thread is correct and Coleridge is exactly 0.3 this year that would suggest a significant reduction in radius.

Be that as it may we are still not hearing of people without places in the area. Very quiet this year in fact, with no local councillors saying anything or anything on the local bulletin Boards. Interesting to see if there is anything in the Ham and High tomorrow.

Nothing in the Ham and High, or the Islington Gazette...

There was a bit about an "increase in primary place demand" in the IG.

I gave my friend a call about her dd and granddaughter applying for a local place, but she didn't answer the 'phone. Will report back when I get some feedback

:) thanks all. Have tried calling islington council to see what ashmount's last accepted distance was this year...phone has been permanently engaged!

Aha! School Admissions people in Islington answered phone...Ashmount last accepted distance this year was .356 ...which is a massively smaller distance than last year's .666 (according to this).

I'm screwed.

Just to update anyone interested, Coleridge last accepted distance for 2013 is .3251 and Highgate Primary is .74

I am now fully unambiguously screwed

Before you decide how big your admissions problem is going to be next year you need two additional bits of information.

First of all how many of the places went to siblings in each school. If this year was a "high sibling" year then next year may have less.

Secondly (and this will not be known until the first week of autumn term), how much movement was there on the waiting list.

It does remain the case that so far no one on mumsnet has come forward to say they did not get a place this year, which I know is not the same as getting the place you wanted...

Catchments are bound to shrink given that everyone is moving to the area for the schools.

Does anyone happen to know the largest distance accepted for Eden primary by any chance?

I imagine smaller than last year, as it was then an unknown quantity recruiting its first class; in fact it had a vacant place at the start of the firs autumn term which got filled by a child whose (grateful) parents lived nearby in Muswell Hill, had not previously heard of the school (were not, for that matter Jewish), and had not been allocated any place......

Funny how things work out sometimes.

I would say, by the way, that the reduction in the Ashmount catchment that seems to have taken place is considerable. I can only think that the new building, and the publicity associated with that has had an impact. It may have made more people aware of the school who live in Haringey.

Islington admissions say that there are fewer late applications this year so far, so they think a large part of the increase in in time applications was due to people getting their applications in on time. This means that the "real" increase is lower, and the admissions system is working more effectively, without late applications appearing.

sanam 2010 - I've heard Eden is 0.7km this year. About half the places this year are accounted for by siblings.

TheInvisibleHand - thx for the info! Just what I expected! And in a couple of years time it will probably be 0.3 like other good schools!