Somebody to explain catchment area please???

[BeeBeaufort]

Hello. I'm moving from abroad to London in some weeks and I have to decide which school my child is going next year, but I don't really get the catchment area thing and how is the best way to choose the schools I like while having a real opportunity to be admitted, as all of them says on their webs they're over-subscribed.

Do I always have to choose a catchment area school just in case? Can I choose schools from different councils if I am living just in the limit of two different areas/councils? What are the things I must consider for the admissions? And any other important information I should know when choosing schools?

Many thanks for any info, I feel completely lost!

Which school year will your child be in from Sept? For a lot of areas ‘catchment’ is only relevant if you are applying to reception or year 7. Other years it might be much less relevant.

Not all schools, particularly in London, will have a catchment as such. They may have information on the furthest distance a child lived to be admitted under a particular rule.

When do you move and which borough are you moving to?

Try looking up historic data from the council/s on the furthest distance a child was admitted in previous years.

I agree it would be helpful to know what school year your child is going into, and also if possible what area you live in as the rules can vary between councils.

Hope all works out well for you

Not everywhere in England/Wales has catchment areas

A catchment area is a defined priority admissions area (there will be maps or detailed descriptions). In Scotland, where everywhere has catchments, you are guaranteed a place at your catchment school (but can also request a place elsewhere)

In E/W, living in catchment will give you priority, but it may not guarantee you a place if there are more DC in the catchment than there are places available. Then the tiebreaker is by distance, closer the better. So for example, the entrance criteria will read something like "1) in-catchment with sibling at the school, 2) other catchment children, 3) other siblings, 4) all others"

Otthers have no catchment, and it's all just by distance.

As catchment isn't always sufficient, you probably need also to look at websites (council or school) to establish the admissions footprint (ie how far away do the furthest admitted DC live). So you can see which ones you would have qualified for in the last few years.

You apply through your own council, but can put down schools from the neighbouring one (and they cannot prioritise by borough, just by catchment/distance - councils have well established procedures to co-ordinate)

It is always worth including a school that you're as sure as you can be that you'll get in to, even if you're a bit iffy about it. This is because you are stating preferences, not making a choice, and if your preferences cannot be met, then you will be allocated the nearest school with a vacancy. That might be just as iffy, plus further away.

As PPs have said, catchment areas are only relevant if it's a common transfer point so everyone is applying for the school. If you're doing a mid year transfer, you just need to worry about schools with places.

Assuming you're moving to an area that uses defined catchment areas, you may find that you are likely to get into your catchment area school and less likely (or very likely) to get into others. So it's recommended you put your catchment school somewhere on your list as otherwise you may end up with an unsatisfactory school miles away.

look up the local authority and schools admissions websites.

london as a rule doesn’t have “catchments”- as in a defined area where all children in that area get priority for that school.

london tends to work on “home to school distance”. Now some may do it as the crow flies door to door, others may calculate on walking route.

LA’s publish previous years figures so you can see the radius of admissions in recent years.

each school/LA is different so check the admissions policies for each school as well as the general LA admissions procedure.

general rule of thumb is to choose one “aspirational” school as first choice- ie one that you’d be really happy with but probably don’t stand a cat in hells chance. Then one you’re pretty much guaranteed as your bottom choice, what you don’t want is to not have a school place and to be allocated a shit school 3 busses away. Better to choose a slightly less shit school or one with a decent commute.

then your final choices pick a couple of schools you like, and have a reasonable chance at.

London doesn't have catchment areas it is by distance to the school.

Some schools due to their size, location and other reasons accept pupils from miles away.

For example I know CofE schools that accept children of parents who have a small business near the school. The parents do not have to be religious. I also know schools that due to the areas links with military have a large in take so can accept any child in the surrounding boroughs who can't get a place else where.

There as with other schools if you don't live with 2/3 of a mile your child isn't getting in.

There usually aren't catchments in London - it's based on distance.
In the admissions criteria there are always some that take priority - looked after children (children in care), sen, siblings etc but the after that it's down to distance and that will change each year depending on the amount of children applying.
One year children who live in streets A, B, C and D could get places, but the next year if there is a bigger amount of children in streets A-C who meet the criteria then those in street D won't get a place.

Forgot to add of you say live in say Lewisham but your nearest school is in say Greenwich, then if you apply for the Greenwich school your child should get in.

This is just an example but happens across London and Surrey. That children can live in one borough but go to school in another as that's where their nearest school is to where they live.

However if your child isn't going into reception (so is 4 on 31 August 2024) then you should contact each nearby school you are interested in when you arrive and have an address to see if they have a space for your child. Also be aware OFSTED ratings aren't worth a lot. You need to ask local people.

Each school will have an admissions policy which defines the order in which children are admitted. Some schools have 'catchment areas' so their priority list may give priority to 'in catchment children'. However, within each category there will be a 'tie breaker' which decides which children will be admitted if too many children in that category want places.

For example:
(1-3 statutory LAC, EHCP, etc.)
4.In catchment siblings

1. In catchment children
2. Out of catchment siblings
3. All other out of catchment children

Tie breaker: straight line distance as measured by Ordinance survey.

That means that if they have 20 places that could go to 'in catchment children', the 20 in catchment children who are closest to the school will get a place.

Normally LAs provide a breakdown of how their places were allocated in the previous years and what the greatest distance was for a successfully admitted child. But this can fluctuate significantly year to year, depending on how many children are siblings, etc. Some schools don't give sibling priority, also.

@Lougle London schools don't have catchments.

Some schools are faith schools which prioritise those baptised, practising the faith regularly and/or living in particular parishes but most are community schools and use Looked After, SEND, Siblings and distance, rather than fixed catchments.

Thank you all so much for all the information!

Yes it's going to be for Reception, and we're going to be is SW London, between Chiswick and Hammersmith (I'll be working in Fulham), so the boroughs are Hounslow and Hammersmith & Fulham. Not sure about the schools though, still checking them.

Be aware that people will often use ‘catchment’ when what the actually mean is ‘the area within the distance that normally gets into a school’.

So it seems that London doesn’t have actual catchments (i.e. a defined area on the map within which you get priority), but you’ll probably still hear people talk about being in or out of catchment.

London does not do catchment areas. All London boroughs work on last distance offered, so each year there is effectively a circle drawn around the school those within that distance get admitted, however it changes every year. As others have said if your children are older than 5 it will be an in year admission, there is a bit more an element of pot luck as to which schools happen to have places, there are a lot of good primary schools in London though.

Not directly relevant to the OP who lives in SW London, but it's not true that none of the London boroughs use catchment areas. Tower Hamlets do - it's possible to live close to a school but in a neighbouring borough and the catchment map may be drawn in such a way that excludes your property even if you live closer than properties parts of the catchment within TH. Annoying especially since the surrounding boroughs work purely on distance so TH residents have the choice of schools in their own borough and yours!

https://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/lgnl/education_and_learning/schools/school_admissions/Community-nursery-and-primary-schools-admissions.aspx

Some parts of SW London have introduced catchments for specific primary schools (to counter the issue of people who get their eldest in, then move far away but still get siblings in, both adding to congestion on the school run and depriving children living closer of places)

So OP needs to check the criteria of all the nearby schools and try to work out the likelihood of getting an offer

If you already know the address you'll be living at, you can look up the nearest primary schools online - something like this (School distance calculator - check how far a property is from nearby schools | AdmissionsDay.co.uk)

You can then see whether the previous year's admission data suggests which schools you'd get into. This used to be quite straightforward as you could look on the local authority website for the info but now so many schools are academies it can be harder to find that out.

This booklet produced by Hammersmith and Fulham is quite helpful - Hounslow probably has something similar - Hints and tips. Applying to a primary school for entry in September 2024 (lbhf.gov.uk)

Unfortunately though it does boil down to doing quite a bit of research a lot of the time! If there are any local FB groups they tend to be full of useful info about school admissions like which roads got offers for where the year before etc.

I really wouldn't use the third party aggregator sites.

The borough where you will be living will have an online booklet (which will tell you about their applications procedure, plus give info on all the schools in the borough) and so will neighbouring boroughs (info on schools near your home borough). You will easily be able to work out which schools are within distances you are prepared to travel, and then you can start looking at how well you fit the entry criteria.

Remember that not all schools use "as the crow flies" - those eg near the Thames prefer "safe walking route" because needing to get to a bridge really changes the school run

Thank you so much for all the information. It's very clear now and I just need to take a deeper look on the schools to decide which ones are the ones. Thanks! 😄

Yes, they're only helpful for getting an idea of what your nearest schools are. Beyond that you need to check the individual admissions details/LA site. I should have been clear.