school places allocation

[samarcanda]

Hi All, I wonder if somebody that has already gone through the hellish primary admission process can help us.

we will be applying for a reception place starting next year and I am trying to figure out what system is used by councils.
we need a bigger flat because we had baby no2 and space is running out, so we will obviously look to move close to the school we like for DS no 1.
After visiting all the local schools, we believe we like one in particular, it is obviously oversubscribed (as all the area schools are!) and we would need to move very close (within 0.3 miles radius).
My question is, if we move within that tight catchment (supposed it stays the same as it has been for the last 5 years), are there reasons we should not be allocated a place?
there are 2 other schools that we would also be in the catchment for (albeit a little farer thanks PerfectSchool). Do you know if there is the risk that we get a place in one of those instead?

In general, if you are in the catchment of various schools, how does the allocation work? will it be done by preference and by an automatic distance calculation or there is the risk that you are allocated to a different school?

thanks for your help !!!

Generally, school places are allocated in the following order;

1 - children with a statement of special educational needs, or 'looked after children' (children in care)
2 - children living in the catchment area with a sibling at the school
3 - children living in the catchment area
4 children living outside the catchment area with a sibling at the school
5 children living outside the catchment area

If there are more children than places, the LA will work down the list, and may not get to no 3, 4 or 5, before all the places are filled.

If there are too many children in any category, they will allocate on the basis of distance to the school, e.g. There may be 40 children living in the catchment area but only 30 places, the places will be allocated to the 30 children living closest to the school, so even in catchment you may still not get in.

It really depends on how many applications are received for the places, and where those children live. You'd hope that living within 0.3 of a mile would mean you are ok, but there may be a year with loads of siblings who would get in above you, even if they live further from the school, but still in catchment.

How long is a piece of string really!

HTH

thanks Hallamoo - understood.

I guess i am trying to understand what discretion they have on the admission process. Of course if siblings or special needs children fill all the spaces then there would be no other space to allocate.

However if the school has space to pick up kids that are neither siblings or have some medical / special needs issue (and it seems this school does have places), then the allocation is purely automatic by distance or there are other criteria?

Do you know that the catchment map that the council gives you includes siblings or only the allocations based on distance?

i am already getting the headache and i haven't even started applying... x

It varies from area to area. Would you be willing to say where you are?

Some places have formal catchments. In that case, the criteria will be something like "children living within the catchment" and the catchment will be shown in a map which should be available to you.

Most places don't have formal catchments. Within each category (siblings, church goers etc) they rank people on distance from the school (where "distance" and "from the school" need careful definition - walking route/crow flies and where in the school?).

To answer your questions: no, there is no discretion once the admission criteria are published.

The map might be anything. My LEA publishes the number / letter of the category in which the last admitted child was, and the distance they lived from the school. So you can tell whether anyone in your category was admitted and if so how close to the school they lived. That's no guarantee of a place, but it gives you an indication if you have a hope or not.

You will rank the schools in order of preference and then will be offered a place at your highest preference school that your child qualifies for a place at, so if for example your first and third choices would have a place for our child you will get offered your first choice.

Don't forget many authorities require you to apply relatively soon for Reception places; eg where I am the applications close in January. Given that you are thinking about moving you may want to get the ball rolling sooner rather than later.

Your current address may influence your application priority.

You would need to check the specific admissions criteria for each school. My DS's school gives priority to siblings both in and out of catchment over children living in catchment with no sibling at the school.

A lot of it is a lottery. We got in from just outside the catchment area but it turns out there are only 4 siblings in his year group (single form entry school) whereas in the past they have had 22 out of 30 spaces go to siblings. If my DS had a younger sibling they would then get a place in the future over a child in catchment with no sibling.

Hiccup is right. It will depend on the wording of the specific LA and school as there are differences. Some go Looked after , SEN catchment siblings , catchment non siblings, non catchment siblings etc . Loads of LAs have no catchments at all and it's all distance to 3 decimal points

And schools have no discretion. The system assesses each application v set criteria. If you qualify for more than one school you would get the one you put first. If not, then you get the next one on your list that you qualify for. If do not qualify for any of them, you get the nearest available with a space

One thing that could be an issue though is if you haven't moved by the time your application needs to be in. If you are still at your old address, but apply for the school nearest to where you hope to move, the distance will be worked out based on where you are currently.

With a distance of 0.3 (km? miles?) I would say there is unlikely to be a formal catchment unless the school is in the middle of high rises or something. It's more likely to be based on furthest allocated distance.

So within each category (for arguments sake assume it's 1 - looked after & SEN, 2 - siblings, 3 - distance). Looked after and SEN will always get a place (even if the school has to go over its official numbers to allocate them). Say there are 60 places, and 2 go to category 1.

Then siblings - these are ranked by distance from the school at the time of application. If there are more than 58 siblings applying, the closest 58 get a place. If there are less than 58, we move on to category 3.

Again, all of those who fall within category 3 are ranked by distance. Those who live closest to the school are allocated places until the school is full.

To make it slightly more complicated, this is done for all the schools you list on your application. From the sounds of it, you may be eligible for more than one school based on distance (assuming you move close enough to PreferredSchool before January 15th next year). In this case, the council can't offer you places in all three schools, so they then look at your preferences, allocate you your first choice, and free up the places you would have otherwise been allocated at your 2nd and 3rd choices to offer to the next person on their list.

As a previous poster said, it's vital that you move before whatever the deadline for applications is (likely to be soon). If you don't move then your place will be allocated on the basis of your current address. Your address is deemed to be wherever child benefit is paid so make sure that your address is officially registered asap if you can move.

If you can't move before the deadline but succeed in moving to somewhere right next-door to the school, you can resubmit an application which will be treated as "late" which means they will allocate all the places without you but let you join the waiting list under your new address - if you move close enough you can get to the top of the waiting list this way, and just need one family to choose to go private for you to get a place.

However, whatever happens don't ever reject whatever place you get offered at first, even if it's not ideal. Having accepted or rejected an unwanted place has no effect on your likelihood of succeeding in getting a better place. However, if you reject a place the LA have fulfilled their obligations and don't have to help you if you reach next September with no place.

You need to move by applications deadline and poss provide proof

While the principles used are the same throughout England, there are nuances depending on where you are.

For example in London, there is the pan London admissions system. Are you willing, OP to identify which local authority area you will be applying from?