Hi im new

[Linda2111]

hi im new to net mums and have a question about primary admissions. the only school in our catchment (6mins walk away) is a failing school so dont want my daughter to go there as she already has learning delays due to being premature. If i dont put that school on the preference list but she doesnt get in to any of the schools i put down can they force her to go to the failing school? (The school we want her to attend is a 16 min walk away and the 3rd best in Essex)
Linda

Yes in theory. Best tactic is to name at least one you are safer of getting a place at. Check the LA booklet for offers made under which criteria in 2014. btw this mumsnet not netmums !

If you only put down more distant, popular schools then it is possible you will not qualify for an offer at any of them.

If you cannot be offered a school for which you have expressed a preference, then you will be offered the nearest school for which you do qualify, so yes it could be the one you really don't want.

But if that happens, you can stay on the waiting lists for the schools you do want, and hope a place comes up.

Essex Admissions may be useful. Technically they can't force you to send your child to a school, but if a school you don't want is the only one with a space available it is a case of take it or leave it (and go private or HE until a space becomes available at a school that is acceptable to you).

Actually the worst that can happen is not that you get the local school you don't want. But that you get a school as bad/worse but which is either 1.99 miles away (so no free transport) or 1/2 hour+ on a minibus.

Btw this in mumsnet not netmums.

Agree with mummytime. You can put down where ever you like but I would guess that you have zero chance of getting into a school 16 min walk away which is so rated. There will be tons of siblings and people closer ahead of you. If you don't put down your nearest school and it fills up with people who do it down ( even as their 3rd or 6th preference etc) You may end up with a failing school miles away.

Is she statemented? You must also visit all those you have a chance of a place at to see which would suit you etc Be realistic otherwise you could end up in a real mess

sorry for the netmums mumsnet mix up. i didnt realise. thanks for the advice so far.
im not just putting far away schools on the list. my first choice school is only the 3rd furthest from our front door the 2nd closest school i am putting as 4th choice as it is still not a brilliant school. I just dont want my daughter in a failing school id rather keep her home than that.

doodle dot what is statemented?

You need to look, not at what is closest to you, but at the admissions criteria of the school and the "greatest distance offered" for the last few years.

A school might be your 3rd closest, but if that's 1.4km away and in the last few years the furthest pupil offered was 0.8km, you are very, very unlikely to get an offer. Now, it's Ok to put down a long shot school on the off-chance, but it's really unwise to fill all your preferences with long shot schools.

And even though you don't like your local school much, if it's not on your form at all and you do not qualify for any of the others, then you will be allocated the nearest school you do qualify for. And if that school is filled by those who did out it on their form, they cannot offer it to you even if it is your closest school; instead you might get an even more undesired one that is further away.

Has she a statement of special educational needs? You really fk need to look closely at the criteria and who got in historically. Near us more than 0.4 mile is dodgy. Over 1/2 mile no chance

meditrina is right you need to look at how far down their criteria each school has admitted to in the last few years. Just because it is second or third closest to your house doesn't mean you have a good chance of getting in. Particularly if those schools have a good/outstanding ofsted rating or are VA church schools.

Here I would have no chance at the nearest despite it being only 0.2miles away, a slim chance at the 2nd depending on siblings/catchment children, almost guaranteed place at 3rd nearest due to church criteria. Most children near me ended up in 5th nearest this year which is 1.2 miles away despite schools 1-3 all being within 0.5 miles.

Not sure where in Essex you are but in my area (Southend council), it is not about distance from your door, there are fixed school catchment areas (details on the council website). I live on the borough boundary & my catchment school is about a mike away, the first one in tien. The house next door to the school is not in catchment, that's in catchment for the next school along.

So in other words, I recommend you check your actual catchment school first. You can put whatever order you like on the form but in catchment children will get priority and you'll only get the place if it is under-subscribed or if you have a special reason to go there (per th school's admission criteria which varies from school to school)

Hope that helps a little!

Hmm, mike= mile and tien= town. Dodgy typing tonight.

Have you actually visited the school? You could be writing off a school that might actually suit your child. Visit the school, talk to the staff, then make your decisions, but try and keep an open mind.

I agree. I ran a mile from one outstanding school that was very formal and loved one RI school

please look at the school, don't write it off over some dusty old document on a website.

My daughters school in special measures and it's a good school, honestly. issues with management is what gets a school into category and its much easier to get into trouble than it used to be - go and find out what has happened since ofsted visited. For one thing you may find the class sizes will be smaller which may well be to your advantage.

Be careful of putting too much weight onto the Ofsted reports. Some so-called "outstanding" schools are pretty rubbish with special needs and not at all inclusive. Visit the schools, talk to the SENCO and ask each how they would support your daughters specific difficulties e.g. might she need extra help socially or academically.

the other thing is that a 'good' or 'outstanding' school is only such until ofsted next visit. These days getting 'requires improvement' is pretty easy if the ht is not on top of everything (which you cannot possibly know in a visit)

Toby great point about class size. Our local RI school has new head and lots new teachers but only 25 in a class as under subscribed