Outside of any primary catchment areas

[Devro]

I know it's pretty early but I'm starting to majorly stress out over my child's primary admission in Sept '18.
We live in a catchment 'black hole', meaning we are surrounded by schools but are not in any of their catchment areas, with the exception of 2 Catholic primaries, which are not an option.
I have a preference but wouldn't mind getting into any of the non-faith schools, but I think it's not gonna happen unless we move into a catchment area.
I really do not want to move, and so at the moment the only thing I can think of is to move temporarily.
I know how people feel about that, but I don't think we'll have another choice, given the ridiculousness of our situation.
I suppose otherwise we'd risk being placed in an undersubscribed school miles away, and close distance is the most important thing for us as I'm a single parent, work full time and can't afford a childminder for drop-offs and pick-ups.
My question is now: What kind of repercussions do people face who move into catchment then move back to previous address?

prh47bridge is right. I would not do this in central London, if you start in year 1 you may well start at a school nobody wanted.

@prh47bridge thanks!, that's very helpful!

@paxillin but why would that be? If I accept a place but choose to defer for a few months in case something better comes up, isn't that first accepted place saved then? Why would I end up at a school nobody wanted? So confused.

Schools are not obliged to hold a place when deferring by a year I believe. Ours gives a place to another child after three weeks. It would be really unfair on schools, they'd have all the same costs, but no funding.

Why are you thinking of deferring, is your DD badly behind her peers? You would create a bit of an "outsider", which I'd only do if there are extremely good reasons for it.

Almost all children start with their year group, schools are equipped to deal with 4 year olds, it isn't the same as on the continent where kids are 6 when they start.

Schools don't save places - there are so many kids desperate for a school place.

You can be accepted and then defer and never come back - that's a wasted space for another child

Faith school are very similar to others except prayers in assembly and maybe visiting priests - but every school will have visitors

My kids went to diffeetn churches be temples as part of RE - you can avaiod it

Also - if you move you have gone from rented to rented - so you don't own a property - so don't have a main residence

Would your LL allow it? Were you thinking of sub letting - whichbis breach of your terms etc

Basically, my daughter is a surviving twin and (born extremely premature at 24 weeks), doing overall well, especially cognitively, but has certain health/social issues that could be exacerbated by a stressful start in school (eg starting at one school then switching to another for instance).
No child deals well with disruption but she's rather extreme in that regard. Another concern is class size due to the fact that she is over-sensitive in regard to noise, has nervous breakdowns over it and cannot cope (cannot eat at restaurants at the moment due to noise, for instance), which is why a class as small as possible would be ideal.

If we accepted a place but then another would come up that fit this criteria for instance, I'd most likely switch her, and that's why I thought deferring until Jan '19 wouldn't be too bad perhaps...

Just realised you refer to "catchment areas". Most Lambeth schools don't have one looking at the brochure, I saw only 4 that do in the whole borough?

X post, you might want to post this in SEN, there are lots of people who can advice how to ensure she gets into a suitable school, since she has additional reasons to be in a particular (small? used to kids with sensory issues?) school.

@GreenTulips I see, yes so prayers during assembly for instance would be unacceptable for me.
I know people have said you can withdraw the child from such things but how workable is that really?

I don't think a faith school will work for us at all.

Religious assemblies are part of all schools in the UK. You'll have to go private (I imagine there are humanist private schools).

I mean to say do not use the assembly as a reason, because non-faith schools have them, too. I am an atheist, the kids haven't picked up a religion and in Lambeth (as in my area) the kids are so mixed that there are just as many Hindus, Muslims, atheists and Sikhs as Christians among the parents.

@paxillin re catchment areas, officially most schools in Lambeth dong but inofficially they do, I've been told by the 4 schools that are closest that we'd be too far away due to oversubscription.

Good call in regard to SEN, I've been trying to get more info about this, will post something in different group about that.

Not all paxillin, the non-faith state school I work in has no religious assemblies. We have assemblies but no religious content (well there might be a story shared around the time of a particular festival but no prayers.)

Yes but there is a big difference between a non-faith school having a nativity play and Easter assembly etc, and a faith school starting each day with a Christian prayer and vocabulary I disapprove of etc.

I wouldn't mind my child attending a Christmas assembly or similar, it's important to learn about the different religions ofc, but would not want her to have to listen to prayers on a daily basis.

Oh yes I agree OP, but paxillin said religious assemblies are part of ALL schools so I was just picking up on that point.

i think you are wet too demanding and precious!

Unfortunately due to mass population you have to get in the queue with everyone else - you don't get the choice you seem to demand -

There shouldn't be bad schools or failing schools but they are - they are usually because people push and shove their kids into the best schools by any means so the load isn't spread -

Which is why the criteria existed

@GreenTulips lol, I don't think I'm 'too demanding and precious' for not wanting my child to pray to gods we don't believe in.

I fully reject the notion that the Christian faith is the 'neutral' norm or whatever and won't be bowing down to that.

How would you feel if your child was to be forced to read the Q'ran or Thora at school on a daily basis?

Why do you think should my child go to a bad school when others don't?
You sound like you have unresolved issues in this arena, please don't patronise me over my life choices.

It is actually this mentality I am uncomfortable with, this blind obedience to whatever one is told.
This is not how I was raised, and am not looking to raise my child with the notion that obedience trumps individuality and personal values.

Have you had a look at the last few years at the Lambeth schools and whether they have had a bulge class and when?

I'm in Lewisham (zone 3) and they seem to do bulge classes in the borough on rotation. It can make a massive difference to catchment - ie you might not have got in this year but you could if they had a bulge class next year. Local facebook groups can often tell you in advance of when a bulge class might be on the cards at your preferred school...

@Jackiebrambles Oh how interesting, I've never heard of anything like that!
Thanks, will look into it.

The law states that all schools must have a daily act of worship that is 'wholly or mainly of a Christian character'.

This is a useful summary.

I have taught in faith schools and non-faith schools, and would say that the Christian character of assemblies / collective worship is not closely correlated to whether a school is a faith school or not.

I have taught in standard state schools where local churches come in each week to act out bible stories, where all assemblies end in a prayer and where 'Christianity' is an overt part of pretty much every aspect of school life, including church visits, even grace before lunch.

Equally, I have taught in CofE schools where assemblies are moral, but not overtly religious, and where Christianity has no particular profile within the school except during explicit RE lessons.

However it is worth bearing in mind that having Christianity-based assemblies is actually the law, so unless schools break the law (which some schools do, though it is not remotely predictable whether a school will do so or not - often very dependent on the individual head), they cannot provide the 'non religious' experience that you are looking for.

Application, to see which school you are allocated, followed by deferral to January 2019 and remaining on as many waiting lists as Lambeth allows, looks like a possible way forward.

I never knew either! As an example the two primary schools nearest me (both sought after) - one had a bulge (so went from two form entry to FOUR, so 60 more kids) in 2012 and the other had one in 2014 I think.

For September 2017 intake, Lewisham have a bulge class at 5 schools
www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/education/schools/student-stories/Pages/Providing-more-primary-school-places.aspx

Might even be worth emailing Lambeth schools department to ask them.

Why do you think should my child go to a bad school when others don't?

This one is a really difficult one. Ideally, there should be no bad schools. Often, schools with 'bad reputations' are not actually bad schools - just a more challenging intake that makes some people judge them.

However, while there are less good schools, you can turn your question round the other way - given that some children do have to attend these schools, why does your child have more right to a good school than anyone else who has been allocated to a less good one? Especially at primary, the main influence on whether a child will perform well at school or not is family background (remember that at an international population level, the best predictor of educational success is the mother's level of education). If you are a parent who is very concerned about their child's education, your child actually has more chance of doing well at a 'not good' school than the majority of children allocated to such schools....

I'd also suggest you get onto local FB groups and ask about all the schools to get insight from local parents, or name the schools on here (in their own thread) for local parents to comment. And go visit. I'm also in Lewisham - waves at jackie - and some days I could tell you what the kids had for pudding that day/that the lollipop lady was ill/what the Year 5 tech project is, from the level of discussion that crops up online.

@cantkeepawayforever thanks, that's really helpful, others have mentioned before that a non-faith school can be more religious than a faith school etc, so will have to check individually with the schools in question.

I'm sure rate in an area like Lambeth heads will have plenty of experience with parents wanting to avoid daily Christian teachings at school, am hopeful that something can be arranged.

The most common option is simply to withdraw children from daily worship in whatever school they are assigned, as you can't ask or expect a school to break the law by changing their practice around assembly.

My experience has mainly been around Jehovah's Witnesses and Plymouth Brethren, and such children simply gather elsewhere in the school during assembly for silent reading or similar.

IME periods around e.g. Nativity plays are most difficult for such children, so if you are happy to e.g. have your child be a non-singing, non-speaking sheep in a Nativity play, then it is always worth spelling this out, as otherwise the school will ALWAYS err on the side of caution and omit children withdrawn from assembly entirely from such things.

This was us, we moved