168 applicants last year for school I want my child to attend- is this normal?

[soopermum1]

My first choice had 168 aplicants for 30 places last year, 2nd choice had 150 for 30 places, 3rd choice I don't think is massively oversubscribed but not that keen, but it's best of a bad bunch.

Is it normal to have so many applications? Apparently, some kids with siblings at the school ddin't even get a place.

Am I doomed? First choice is Catholic School (we are Catholics) and 2nd choice is C of E

I think that the answer is that it is normal in some places, especially if people are avoiding their catchment school.

It depends on the area. Those numbers will not necessarily be just 1st place applicants - ti will include 2nd and 3 rd places too. The school secretary may be able to give you an idea of how many 1st choice applicants there were. Youc an also go and get loads of information from the council if you are so inclined. When i was looking I saw the maps that had been doen for each school with all aplicants colourcoded acording to status (eg sibling, 1st choice, 2nd choice etc).

In an area near me there are 3 schools, one with 30 intake and 1 with 60 intake and 1 with 90 intake. If you look at the application statisitics all schools had arounf 180 applicants, but actually what that measn is that everyone applied for all 3 schools (in some order or other), which would indicate that eeryone got into one of those three schools. what it doesn't tell you is how many people had each school as their first choice, and whether they got that.

Does that make sense? It is likely that there is some overlap in the 150 and 160, and they will also be applying for other schools as well.

That said as a first time applicant you need to be wise in your choices and not put as first and second choices schools that you would not ever get. Check the admission criteria, and I have always found the school secretaries to be very knowledgable and accurate about your chances of getting in - they often know how many siblings that they are expecting etc.

Which Diocese are you in ?

And with spell-checking...

It depends on the area. Those numbers will not necessarily be just 1st place applicants - it will include 2nd and 3 rd places too. The school secretary may be able to give you an idea of how many 1st choice applicants there were. You can also go and get loads of information from the council if you are so inclined. When i was looking I saw the maps that had been done for each school with all applicants colour-coded according to status (eg sibling, 1st choice, 2nd choice etc).

In an area near me there are 3 schools, one with 30 intake and 1 with 60 intake and 1 with 90 intake. If you look at the application statistics all schools had around 180 applicants, but actually what that means is that everyone applied for all 3 schools (in some order or other), which would indicate that everyone got into one of those three schools. what it doesn't tell you is how many people had each school as their first choice, and whether they got that.

Does that make sense? It is likely that there is some overlap in the 150 and 160, and they will also be applying for other schools as well.

That said as a first time applicant you need to be wise in your choices and not put as first and second choices schools that you would not ever get. Check the admission criteria, and I have always found the school secretaries to be very knowledgeable and accurate about your chances of getting in - they often know how many siblings that they are expecting etc.

To say that you are 'doomed' may be putting too fine a point on it ... BUT I am not that surprised as church schools usually set their admission criteria. You would do well to look them up for both schools yuo've mentioned.

You have said that you are catholic, but are you 'practising' and do you attend the church attached to the school?

The priority for the CofE school I have applied to is for applicants who have been attending the church attached to the school at least twice a month for 2 years. The sibling rule is the fourth priority.

that was normal for my DDs school - although our coucil counted 1st, 2nd an88d 3rd choice into the total figure so the numbers weren't 168 4yr olds aplying for that school only.

erm...Lady Muck got there before me and put it much more eloquently!

yes, we are practicing catholics at the attached church, but probably most other 1st choice applicants are as well. am getting all my documents together for the catholic and c of e school, am sure all that will check out, but i suspect everyone else's will check out too, with the weekly mass attendance box ticked. the church is always packed with lots of small children and the HM of the catholic school commented today that lots of catholic families were moving specifically into the area. apparently, the school is in top 5% in SAT results in the country. we're about half a mile away from the school and church so easily walking distance, same with the other schools i've applied for. 3rd school choice is even nearer.

my council couldn't give me too much info.

will be disappointed if DS doesn't get in as there are no other catholic schools nearby, but i suppose there's lots of folks in my position.

Yes as someone has already said those figures will include 2nd and 3rd choice applicants so this sounds normal and is in line with our local school figures.

to answer some other questions, we're in westmister Diocese. have checked out criteria for the schools and the only thing that would count against me are sibling rule and distance, though i'm still pretty near, we live in london, highly populated area

Sounds like your chances are good if you only live 1/2 mile away. There are 30 places - do you think that there are 29 regular families attending mass with 2008 entry children that live closer to the school? Seems doubtful to me. Hope it works out for you - I know how you feel - our first choice, and closest school choice for dd is massively oversubscribed too.

Soopermum1 - I am in Westminster too and at the moment all I think about schools, schools and more schools! I am also applying for catholic schools and C of E schools.....we are most probably applying for the same schools! My preference keeps changing order! I am going to a couple of open days in Feb...so no doubt the order will change again!
Are you going to fill out all six preferences?

Hi Tia's mum. We're in the westminster diocese, which i think is pretty big, i actually live in hounslow borough. there were 3 choices at hounslow and i did pick 3, but i also applied out of catchment, to richmond. i live pretty near the border. prob don't have a hope in hell of getting DS in, but worth a shot.

am pinning my hopes on the RC school. sods law as usual kickedi n wheni went to view the school, and i absolutely loved it

Oh I thought you lived in Westminster itself....was looking forward to have somebody to talk to about schools around here! haha!