House size Vs School Catchment area.

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

School catchment area meaning the priority zone for a particular school, not just the area around the school.

House A is in the best school catchment. 3 bed. Means one child will have a smaller bedroom and be a bit cramped.

House B is in ok school catchment. 4 bed. One child will have small bedroom, but priority on space in the 4th bedroom as a study.

Which way would you go? (This is for Secondary school, children are 9&7 and planning on living there until they are adults.

House in catchment of best school - every time

You are looking at a couple of years time. I've worked in school management for many years and a school can drop from excellent to not so good in that time with a change of head or leadership team. I would go for the better house and the reasonable school and hope it improves!

House in catchement. Can you extend it long term?

House - if a secondary school child wants to learn they will learn anywhere

We will be applying for Secondary this time next year. Good School has always been the best in the area (both results and progress) The other school is improving.

Long term, we would be looking at creating more storage in attic. Downstairs there is lots of space.

We are doing this move to for stable schooling for them... With DH in the Army, they have attended three primary schools in three countries so far.

Oldest child has got additional needs. Sort of child that can be easily overlooked.

I would look into the schools more if your oldest has additional needs and see what they have to offer. The school with the best results on paper might not be the best suited to her needs or have the best support systems in place. Schools that very good exam results can be more focused on the academic achievers and the less able can fall by the wayside.

I actually disagree with a pp. Schools don't change that quickly. They may move up and down Ofsted rankings but that's not the be all and end all and certainly not the only basis upon which to assess whether a school is good. Schools are most affected (in my view) by the demographic of the local area and that's not going to change in 2 years.

Oldest child has got additional needs. Sort of child that can be easily overlooked

Is the best school good for special needs? A friend of mine did not send her son with special needs to the 'best' school in the area as they were crap with special needs. She is extremely happy with the 'improving' school her child attends instead.

The 'best' schools can mean that they focus on the most able at the expense of the least able. The best secondary near me does this. Parents of less academically able kids are scathing about the school.

The best school according to the inspection criteria is not always the best school, and not always the best for an individual child.

Are you in England? Has your child got an EHCP? If so, they’ll have priority over other children to go to the most suitable school and it won’t be based on location. For the younger one, there’s probably a sibling priority rule. Have you looked into all of that? It would give you more flexibility on location.

It's 'just' dyslexia, and sensitivity to noise. Not severe enough for any formal plans, just more we have to be aware of potential issues that may cause her stress. There is another school likely to be perfect, but it's lottery entry not distance. The preferred catchment school is on the smaller side for a secondary school (5 classes a year) who will help her, plus the sixth form is a seperate site. We've looked at the online open days for Al the schools.

Are you in the catchment for the best school at the moment? Could you want for your older to start and then move to a bigger house with the younger getting a space based on sibling priority?

If not, then personally, I’d go with a 3-bed in the preferred catchement.

If your DH is in the army don’t you move up the priority list (as it were) in any case?

Catchment area is so important in my opinion

Schools' Ofsted ratings can change very rapidly. We moved DS from a superb school because it was too far away to a theoretically outstanding comprehensive, only to have it downgraded from Outstanding to in Special Measures 4 weeks after he started. I would have driven the extra miles (several hundred miles per week would have been necessary) in retrospect. BUT, DS was very happy there for two years, and made a good group of friends. His GCSE results were shit, because he learned half of b*gger all at the comprehensive.

For full disclosure, DS is dyslexic and needed quite a structured environment. Now aged 21, a fresher, he's very determined to get a first in a subject he wouldn't have been helped towards by his sixth form.

Two years very hard graft as a chef have taught him more about work and earning respect though effort than any school, but he would not have made a good choice of study or been motivated by an academic path at 18. Sometimes, a couple of years at the coal face of low paid semi-skilled work concentrates the mind on what you do want to do as a career.

And, he has a skill (an enjoyable one) that enables him to get work anywhere in the world and earn just enough to get by, not luxuriously. But whatever he does and wherever he goes, he will not starve.

@piglet81 no, only when being posted in from abroad (in my county at least, not sure if it differs across the country).

Op, I would just be careful, how oversubscribed is the school? If it's oversubscribed there is no guarantee you will get that school so I would be reluctant to compromise too much for it, just in case.

The house is quite near the school, so should be reasonably safe. Obviously in school admissions, nothing is guaranteed.
The military priority should help more with the In year Primary admissions than the secondary admissions. There are a few Primary schools nearby.
School has good SEN support.

Thanks for all

We were not prioritised at all for primary spaces as a military family, our move wasn't on assignment, the only advantage they could offer is no proof of address being required so long as you could demonstrate assignment order. We were offered different schools miles apart. On waiting lists now but we hold zero priority.

It doesn't matter how close you are to the school if it is oversubscribed to the point more people live close than they have spaces for if you see what I mean, perhaps speak to some local people and ask how easy it is to get into that school, it might not be that difficult, our secondary is 0.3 miles away and incredibly difficult to get into, I'm not expecting to (but will try). Our school does have a few admission quirks so hopefully it'll be fine for you, but I would just double check before compromising on the house too much.

@movingagain20 the trouble we had with schools last year was the biggest motivator for settling down. It fortunately got sorted at Appeal for us last time (after DD being out of school for nearly 2 months)
Historically, if you live in catchment or attend a feeder Primary you get in. To attend a feeder Primary you have to live in catchment.

@Aroundtheworldin80moves I know what you mean, we've settled down for schools too and it's been a nightmare, but it's just so oversubscribed here we've been unlucky, if you aren't here before reception it's impossible with the local primaries, I'm hoping we will have better luck with secondary. Hope you get into the feeder primaries, you can call and ask what spaces they have currently.