Not keen on catchment schools

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Has anyone been in this position?

There are two local schools we could feasibly use but I’m not keen on either.

I could consider private but with the costs involved would rather look out of catchment - is this bad for primary aged children?

Does 'not keen' mean you've heard bad things and the schools, or that you have personal experience of them?

Depends what you mean by "bad". If it means a long journey, I would not want to consider it. It also means your DC is less likely to have local friends, and this becomes a big deal by the time they get older.

Have you checked to see if you have a reasonable chance of getting into any out of catchment schools? Round here your chance would be extremely tiny, so not a realistic option.

Why are you not keen on the local schools? Are they things that you could live with if push came to shove?

Just … not keen, I suppose.

One is tiny which I’m not keen on because I think it can lead to friendship issues, but the other doesn’t have great behaviour and provision for higher achievers isn’t the best.

You can apply for any school, it does depend on how far away the school is and then how big the catchment is for the school you apply for I.e, if every child comes from the same village, could be difficult. Do they feed into the same secondary school, as the catchment school.

How do you know behaviour is an issue, sometimes it can be particular classes, which can happen anywhere with the characters in the class and how do you know you are not going to need good sen support rather than for high achievers, at 3 or 4 difficult to be certain or you may need both.

Tiny I get avoiding. Behaviour..don't know how you would know. Sounds like gossip. Probably wrong.

Following as identical situation here

would rather look out of catchment - is this bad for primary aged children?

It can be fine. But it’s more work on you as parents to facilitate friendships etc. And that’s a big deal at primary age. A school in your community is not to be dismissed easily, IMO.

What would be your secondary options?

Primary is about a love of learning itself, not what you learn, per se. And studies show children from homes with educated, engaged parents do best regardless of the educational establishment.

So your influence is already greater than any school.

Would you actually get a place at the further away schools? What are the admission criteria? Round here it’s difficult to get into any school far away as they all go on distance (or religion ). Unless it’s the school nobody wants.

The first step is probably to be clear about which schools you are likely to be offered places for when you apply.

All schools have a strict admissions criteria so you can apply for a school that's out of catchment but if it's already full with siblings or children that live closer you won't be offered a place.

There is loads of information about primary school admissions on MN from some very knowledgeable people. In many areas there is actually very little choice - so you need to be realistic around your options. Take the opportunity to look around schools and make your own decisions.

What age are DC? When would you be applying?

We do have a religion which is a factor, although not one that is necessarily the be all and end all. The secondary is the same feeder; I’m not really concerned about that but neither primary is great. Lots to think about!

Statistics show the intake is from a low birth year (ONS). I would put 1 catchment school as 3rd choice and then select two others out of area as your 1st and 2nd. We have a local FB community notice board and several parents from next town have applied for places here as they prefer the schools... it is a gamble, but if you really don't like them, then I would do the above.

What do you mean by catchment?
A fixed area where children living inside it get priority, or just the area within you usually get a place?

I just came on to say what @theapplesinthetrees
has said - it depends on the birth rate. My youngest just started at a school out of our catchment and in a usual year we wouldn't have stood a chance, but his is a very low birth year and they had space. I applied for the closest one (we are rural, one school per village basically) then rang the council and secured the non- catchment. It does mean more faff and a 10 mins journey not 5 but I am much happier with this school (my eldest just finished our own village school and it's a bit rubbish tbh)

If you decide you would prefer an out of catchment school OP, then as long as you include at least one school that you can be pretty sure of gaining a place at on your list somewhere, then you aren't taking any risks by listing out of catchment schools as your first few preferences. There is an equal preference system, so you can't lose a place at a catchment school by not listing it first. If you list a catchment school in last position, but meet the admissions criteria better than someone who lists it first, you would get a place above them, assuming that you didn't get into the schools that you listed higher.

As others have said though, a lot depends on the birth rate for a particular year, and you need to look at the admissions statistics for all schools you are considering to work out which are realistic to apply to and if you have a 'banker' school to include that you would have got into every year.

As others have said, do you mean an catchment, as in a defined area on a map within which you get priority over those outside, or just schools you’d typically get into based on the last few years of admissions? Also assuming here that you’re not in Scotland.

For the schools you want, check the data and see how likely or not it might be for you to get in.

Logistically will also depend on where you are - in some areas ‘out of catchment’ is a less than a mile down the road, in others it’s 10 miles cross-country - the impact on friendships and commute and everything else will depend on what you’re looking at.

We are out of catchment, it’s all good. We knew the school was usually slightly undersubscribed & we’d have a good chance of getting in. But to be fair, we have 4 out of catchment schools that are the same time driving wise as our catch school. They are all 5-6 minutes from our house. Our catch school is physically closer but traffic is awful..

We’re out of catchment and all fine. Both DC got in and have friends scattered both in our village and in the village their school is in. Does mean we have to drive to school. We toured the local primary and it was miserable. The head has since changed so I’m sure it’s delightful now but my teacher DH was horrified at the attitude. Depends where you live in the country. My friends in London say it’s the catchment school or nothing where they are.

Put your out of catchment schools first on your list (having weighed up journey times, friendship groups, after school activities, parents evenings etc) but include the closer schools somewhere on your list otherwise you run the risk of not getting your out of catchment preferences and then being offered a place in a school that is also out of catchment but which you don’t like/ is hard to get to. A school you don’t like much but is close is better than a school you don’t like much but is miles away.

Your local authority will show what distance the school you like took pupils from and on any other basis outlined in the admissions policy. They should show admission stats probably from 2020 and further back. So you get a picture of where dc come from and can judge if you might get a place..

It’s not just birth rate that alters application numbers.You may find other parents don’t like your schools and do what you are doing. There might be SEN children, teacher children, children in care and siblings that get ahead of you. There might be new housing that produces children and this could be nearer than you. So do some homework and apply if you have a decent chance.,