Distances from school - how measured

[itsahen]

I was wondering if anyone knows exactly how distances are measured for admissions? I know in principle it's on a map in a straight line (in our area), but what if several people have houses around the same distance? I know 5 people who are all the same distance, so some are likely to not get a place?

It depends a
But I think they use computer software which is incredibly accurate and measures to the middle of the property?

Thank you. I wondered how it was done. The distance used for us when we applied for the the school nursery looked a bit odd so I was concerned.

Odd in what way? If it is hugely different from what you were expecting it is possible they were measuring from the wrong address. It shouldn't happen but it isn't entirely unknown.

I'm always told "as the crow flies" - so totally disregarding roads, access, traffic etc.

My mum is the chair of a board of governors for a nursery school - she is responsible for admissions. She has a trundle wheel and literally walks the distance from the front door of the school to the house in question as it would be walked or driven. She has built up quite a database over the years so knows for instance that from the nursery to the end of street A is so many metres and then if the applicant is at no.17 she just has to walk from the end of the street up to no.17. They are always oversubscribed 2-1 and so there have been instances where a child has got in but a neighbour just 2 or 3 doors away hasn't. This is in NI by the way.

In Hertfordshire it's the 'shortest safe walking route' from your front door to the school's main entrance - not as the crow flies.
You can go on the schools admissions website and it will tell you the exact distance to the nearest metre.

It does vary from council to council, and it should state on their website.

Some use a distance via a pedestrian route, so if a school is built next to a motorway with no footbridge, you don't get families on the other side of the motorway getting in who then have a 20 minute circular route by car round the motorway to get there.

Some use front door to front door, as the crow flies

Some use centre of school roof to centre of house roof

and so on.

Friends of ours live in a new build and at their appeal (which they lost) they asked how the distances had been measured. They were told on google map, centre of roof to centre of roof. Their house wasn't get on google, and the council had no answer as to how the distances had ten been calculated!

Steppe mum - did they complain to the LGO?

forty

that's interesting.

yet another post code lottery type thing

Yes it's crow flies here. I had us down as closer than they measured. It looked like they had done it just using postcodes. When I used our raw post code on a map tool it came out at the exact distance they told me we were, to 3 decimal points. Our road is long however and lots of houses with same postcode etc That left me wondering. Massively oversubscribed school, where a few houses make a big difference !

Ours was done on walking distance and they did get it wrong as there was a footpath not used on their tool so we got in on appeal.

chika

that is astonishing!
you must have felt elated to win!
Congrats!

You can call / email your council to get an exact measurement.

It looked like they had done it just using postcodes

It could be that you happen to live at the centre point of your postcode. But if the LA is using postcodes rather than actual addresses that is wrong. Their admissions booklet should state how they measure distances. If it says they use postcodes you should refer that to the Schools Adjudicator as that is not acceptable. If it says they measure from your property to the school and you think they have got it wrong you should do as Tiggy suggests and ask them for a map showing the datum points.

couthy - they didn't complain, but actually it wouldn't have made any difference at all, their whole estate was in a school wasteland, fell between all the schools in terms of distance and they all got offered schools miles away. Even a detailed map wouldn't have helped. The council had failed to plan for the extra kids on the new estate, no extra classes put on to the local schools etc.

Councils comment? We didn't think that families would move into all these 2 bed houses

Cambridgeshire this year did this - you should be able to find the rules your area uses on their website:

Distance within Cambridgeshire is calculated by measuring a straight line
from the reference point of the home, as determined by the National Land and Property Gazetteer (NLPG) or OS AddressBase Premium™ after
October 2014, to the reference point of the school.

For families who live outside of Cambridgeshire, straight line distances are determined using a combination of local maps and on-line resources.
Distances for transport purposes are measured by the shortest available
route.

In the event of (a) two or more children living at the same address point
(e.g. children resident in a block of flats) or (b) two addresses measuring the same distance from the school, the ultimate tiebreaker will be random selection, witnessed by the Council officer, independent of the Admissions
Team.

Some do it in a straight line on a map. This is considered to be one of the fairer methods.

Some boroughs still do a 'safest walking distance', which means they can choose to ignore a walking route they consider unsafe or are unaware of, such as cutting through an alley or a park.

You should be able to go on your council's website and have a look at your area-specific rules. You might also be ale to see the kinds of distances that get into certain schools. For example, we have one that fills up within 200 metres of the door, but others might have taken kids from up to 700m away, even though they're popular - not a lot of children on the nearby streets, for example. It'll give you an idea of schools you have a chance at, and ones you may as well kiss goodbye to (although, who knows, if there's no reception-starting-age kids around you could have a lucky year.)

Thank you everyone. Application is in, I had the data for the last few years etc but was not sure how they got the exact distance if loads of people are similar for the reception intake. I know 4 other families all very slightly further from us, but all around exactly the same distance. April 16 will be interesting !!!

Our school also has big grounds and us big generally so where it is measured from will make a big difference.