Primary admissions criteria

[Thistledew]

I would be grateful for some advice on how school admissions in London work. DS will be joining reception next September.

We are relocating within London and have our eye on a particular property.

It is almost equidistant from the two closest schools. The one that is very slightly further away is the one we would really like to send DS to. I would rather not send him to the closest one as it is a faith school from a faith that we do not share.

How do I work out our chances of getting into the preferred school? It is within the catchment area but is not a popular location on the catchment 'heat maps'.

When you say it's within the catchment area, is that a formally defined catchment or just an area that people describe as 'the catchment area'? First thing I would do is read the admissions policies for both schools (should be on their websites) so that you understand exactly which criterion you fall into for each. Then I would look to see if the local authority publishes a list of the distance of the last placed offered for all the local schools (ours does) - no guarantee, but it might give you an idea. Then I would just phone up both schools and ask (you might have to wait a couple of weeks though, they're probably shut at the moment). Again, they won't be able to give any guarantees, but they should be able to give you an idea of your chances.

Each borough is a different local authority with its own criteria. Most will publish info on how places were allocated in the last 3 years.

I don't know of any borough with actual catchments. In non-faith schools places are usually allocated on need, sibling, distance from school. You'll be able to check if the new house is likely to be close enough to get in.

Desirable faith schools tend to admit from religious families, e.g. CofE or Catholic: parents married in church, children babtised, regular church attendance.

Actual catchments are becoming less common, but some places definitely do still use them.

Good advice above. Remember that you are not selecting a school, you are expressing a preference. Don't fall into the trap of assuming you will automatically get your preferred school even if going by previous intakes you are in with a good chance, you need to plan for what could happen in a heavy sibling /three sets of twins /four looked after children year.

SO

1. by all means put your preferred school first on your application form, it won't actually make a difference, if you meet the criteria you will get a place if you don't you don't, but you will feel better.

2. Please make sure you use ALL the other spaces on your application form, so put your other close school down, and check out other nearby schools that are possibles . Remember that you can apply for schools in neighbouring boroughs as well as your own, and they could be nearer, or easier to get to.

The point is you are not only trying to get the school you want but you are also making sure you avoid the school at the other end of the borough that is impossible to get to and no one wants. Make sure you fill your application list with schools that are possibles.

The point is you are not only trying to get the school you want but you are also making sure you avoid the school at the other end of the borough that is impossible to get to and no one wants. Make sure you fill your application list with schools that are possibles.

That's really important too. If you can't get a good school at least it's better to get a bad one close by than 40mins away... So it is useful to use up all the spaces on the application.

It is likely that the faith school will give preference to those families that practice that faith so it may be that you would end up in a lower admissions category for the faith school than the non-faith school. As others have said, read the admissions criteria very carefully.

Also, make sure you’ve moved into your new house before the application deadline!

You need to look at previous years’ admissions stats - which was the last category admitted, and what was the furthest distance in that category, assuming that distance is used as the tie break where there are more children in the category than spaces - it isn’t always, but the admissions policy will say which it is.

You then need to compare this with which category you would fall in and the distance you live. This isn’t an exact science - numbers etc. can fluctuate, but it will give you an idea of whether you would have been in comfortably in previous years, or more hit and miss.

Make sure whichever school you are most likely to be offered is in there somewhere, even if it’s last place for the reasons viques explains.

As others have said, be absolutely clear on deadlines and admissions criteria etc. And remember, you will get a place somewhere!

Don't go by heatmaps they are inaccurate. The LA should have details of furthest distance offered last year on their website, sometimes you can also get it for previous years. Furthest distance offered can vary a lot from year to year.