Stupid Question about school admission

[BlueberryPancake]

I feel a bit stupid but I can justify myself by being a foreigner and not understanding the school system well.

Does everyone have a 'catchment area' school?

I can see many people here and that I meet that didn't get a school place for their kid. I don't understand: doesn't every address have a allocated catchment area school?

Please explain...

In our area of London there is no such thing as a 'catchment area' - admissions are done on proximity to the school (after other priority factors have been taken into account), although there is something complicated about admission of people for whom the school is the nearest school even if other people actually live nearer.

It depends on where you live.

Some LAs (Local Authorities) use catchment areas for their schools. If they do, every house in the area covered by the LA will be in the catchment area of one or other of the LA's schools. Catchment areas are not circular so the nearest school to a house is not necessarily the catchment school. Living in the catchment area for a school doesn't guarantee that you will get a place at that school. It gets you higher up the admission priorities but that's all.

Many LAs (including my own) don't operate catchment areas.

There is no such thing as a stupid question when it comes to school admissions as it gets very complicated.

The simplest answer to give you is that the situation is different in different local authorities. Each local authority has for the school under their control (community schools) a set of admission criteria. In quite a few local authorities this will include catchment zones for each school (also called neighbourhood areas and other names). Whilst this give a level of priority for admission to a school it does not mean that you are guaranteed a place at that school.

I would suggest that you look on the website of your local authority under education or childrens services and then admissions and there should be documents there that will explain the admission criteria for that local authority.

Even in LAs that use catchment, the number of children living in a catchment can fluctuate wildly from year to year with changing birthrates, so one year you may end up with more children in a catchment than a particular school will actually physically hold. They cannot guarantee a place at their preferred school to every pupil even within the catchment as numbers are limited: only so many classrooms, only possible to squeeze so many pupils into a classroom etc.

There are also levels within catchment: children within catchment with siblings already at the school will take priority over children with no siblings at the school.

And children in care, or children with very special medical needs, take priority even if they are not in catchment.

Where we are there is a catchment area of the village where the school is. In previous years everyone in this village who applied got a place. There isn't any sibling priority, although they are thinking of bringing in siblings in catchment as higher than ordinary catchment.

This year for the first time people living in the village haven't got places. So the catchment has shrunk.

Some LAs have catchment areas for schools. Ours does.

However some parents don't want to send their child to that school so don't put it down.

They may then not be offered any of the schools they do put down. They should be offered a place somewhere - but it may be miles away as the catchment school may also be full.