Moving out of catchment area and getting a sibling place

[missmillimentscardigan]

We need to move house and are struggling to find a house within the catchment area of the school where my dc7 goes and dc4 has a reception place at for September. We also have dc1 who we would like to go to the same school in a couple of years. We are in the catchment area at the moment and it is our closest school.
Should we consider moving further away where there would be a bigger choice of houses on the market or is it too risky? I wouldn't want to jeopardise the chance of my youngest dc getting a place at our chosen school where dc1 and 2 will be. I also understand that it could easily be argued that it wouldn't be fair for dc3 to be given a place at a school that we don't live in the catchment area for. It would be my preference to find a house in the catchment area anyway, but there's so few options and we are under a significant amount of time pressure to find somewhere. Has anyone been in a similar position or know the likelihood of getting a school place for a sibling if out of catchment area? Any advice appreciated. Thanks!

I’m just going to watch this thread here as we have a similar dilemma x

What are the admissions criteria for the school? If catchment is ahead of siblings in the priority list, then, yes it's a risk.

You could also look at recent year's information - how far out was the last place offered (of course this is no guarantee what might happen in the future, but it gives you an idea whether you have no hope at all, or it's a reasonable possibility.

It depends on the birth cohort for dc3's year, number of places and over subscription- we had a situation recently in our local 1 form entry school where several siblings out of area were not given a place due to the high number of requests for a place

The criteria (in order) in our council is:

1. children in care/vulnerable children
2. siblings
3. distance

So siblings will always get a place. I didn't realise other areas had a different priority order.

Thanks *redsky - do you know where I can find this info? I feel a bit clueless!

You need to look at the admissions criteria as some schools will take catchment siblings, then catchment children, then non-catchment siblings.

If it hasn’t become an academy then might it in the future? In which case the criteria may change.

Nottinghamshire abolished the sibling rule about five years ago and then brought it back.

Look on the school website, the admissions policy should be on there.

Siblings are priority over distance here, not sure if it varies though

In our area catchment children are priority over siblings, so it depends. The popularity of the school will also make a big difference

I would definitely recommend looking at the schools admission policy. Ours is as follows

1)Care/Foster/Adopted
2)Siblings in catchment
3)Catchment
4)Siblings out of catchment.

My youngest got a place last year but 17 of those in catchment didn’t get a place and 3 siblings out of catchment didn’t get a place.

Quite a few people have done this that have children at my sons school. They now have children at different schools...it all depends on the criteria for the school and if that changes, the birth rate and how many children apply. All things you dont have control over. You could do it and be fine or it could lead to different school runs only you can make that decision.

Also to consider if you're in an area with lots of new builds for example catchment areas can change.

Catchment rules can and do change, and frequently in response to this situation where out of catchment siblings are taking places of in catchment eldest children. Local demographics are everything but it isn’t risk free.

Thanks all. I've checked the admissions criteria for the school and we'd be moving from 2nd place (siblings of children in school in catchment) to 7th place (siblings of children in school outside catchment) and in the event of over subscription they measure who is closest and allocate places that way. It feels like quite a big risk to take...

On your council website you should be able to see how places were allocated at least for this year and possibly previous ones (and you could contact the council for previous ones).

This will give you a clue
For example if this year there were no places given to out of catchment children, then that doesn't look so hopeful for your chances if you move out of catchment (particularly if this is the usual pattern in recent years). Or, if all children who wanted a place were given one and there were spare places to allocate, your chances would be much more hopeful!

Then there is local knowledge. You'll have an idea how many children there are locally in your DC's age group (is it unusually large or small or about normal). You'll also gauge which the current "popular" schools are e.g. is your current school the one everyone wants to get into, or is everyone leaving in droves for the Free School that's just opened? It's all guesswork, but at least informed guesswork!

Moving from 2nd to 7th priority does sound like quite a risk in terms of DC3 not getting into the same primary school as the older two. If the need to move house is unavoidable (rather than merely desirable) then that will have to go ahead regardless of future school places.

Have you looked at the schools near the out of catchment houses? Lots of children change primary school at some point and unless it's frequent, or connected to traumatic events, it's unusual for it to have long-lasting repercussions. If you find the perfect home and DC3 doesn't get into the current primary, you will find a solution of some sort. Spending the next three years worrying about being 7th priority for the current school sounds like it will be incredibly stressful for all of you so either move house and be at peace with the likelihood of DC3 not getting into the current primary, move house and move DC1 and DC2 ASAP after the move, or don't move (obviously not an option if your landlord has given you notice or your house is being knocked down).