Applying for non catchment area high school.

[kirstblxo]

Hi,

I applied for my child to go to a non catchment area school (lasswade) his catchment high school is newbattle and I’m looking to see if anyone has successfully got their children into their preferred school? I’m stressing about it. The wait to find out is stressful and just need some hope ☺️

it really depends on demand for places where you live. I know of lots of people who have been successful with placing requests in the past, but now it’s much harder because of building of new houses.

fingers crossed for you Op.

Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about. I’m in gorebridge and always have been. Me and my brother successfully got into lasswade instead of newbattle so fingers crossed my lad will be the same! But that was obviously years ago now so the areas have only got bigger and more populated!
Thanks very much x

My dad used to be a teacher at Greenhall!

@KnittingNeedles oh wow!

my mum and stepdad both went to greenhall for high school! I used to go their for a after school club as a child too :)

Both are super over subscribed, lots of friends children got their rejection letters today😥

@Hobbitlover im so relieved to update and say my lad got into lasswade high school x

That's amazing, happy for you❤️
Sadly we didn't 😢

We re the same. Applied for 3 other schools. Got rejected for the first 2 and now waiting to see about the third one. I have heard that schools do choose students, ie my asd adhd son would never be picked by the better schools, unless we were in the catchment area.

That's not true - at least in my area.

There should be a list published on your local Council website explaining the admissions criteria for placing requests - here it's something like

1. looked after children / children in care
2. siblings of children already in the school
3. distance to school within the same local authority
4. distance to school outwith the local authority

So in my area, a child who is 10 miles away in Kirkintilloch has a higher priority than one 3 miles away in Duntocher because that is a different local authority. Demand on places in schools in some area is huge and there are just no places for placing requests in many cases.

Yes, I know and agree with the strict admissions criteria. However, it seems that in oversubscribed / highly desirable schools, placing requests are a bit more flexible, ie a child who wants to go to the best school in his area but is not performing well academically and has behavioural issues is highly likely to be refused unless he lives in that catchment area.

Have a look at JordanHill school for example (the following is copied and pasted!)

'The Times notes no pupils from the most deprived areas attended Jordanhill School in 2021 according to the Scottish index of multiple deprivation. This is a marked contrast from 2016 when 66% of Jordanhill pupils were from areas deemed very affluent. A further 15% were from the second most affluent cohort, 7% were middle-class while 13% were deemed deprived or very deprived'

How did that happen? How is it that no children in low SIMD were attending (/taking exams in) this school in 2022?

Jordanhill is a totally separate system though. It’s the only direct funded school in the country.

@Aberdeen123 I’m sorry I have to disagree with that too. I’m so sorry 2 schools have turned your son down it’s awful… my sons currently undergoing assessments with cahms for adhd and he’s a right handful and he got accepted into a non catchment school and personally I rate lasswade as one of the best in Midlothian. So I don’t think they discriminate against asd and behavioural issues. It’s the council that allocate the schools too here in Midlothian anyways xxx

@Hobbitlover oh no!!!! I’m so sorry to hear that. Which school did you apply for may I ask? Is there any way of appealing at all?

Yes, we could appeal. But our first choice is oversubscribed and has been for some time. But it is the school that is easiest to get to for my son. However, that particular school has not got enough space for their own local young people so we have little chance to get in, being a category 4.

More and more parents in deprived areas are not keen to send their children to their catchment schools (that's us!) where the behaviour is appalling.

Very pleased that you got a place at your preferred school. One less worry to think about! What category were you?

@Aberdeen123 what do you mean by category sorry?x

I get why parents might not want to send their children to the local school and go through the placing request system.

But the system is working as is was designed to work - catchment children take priority, then placing systems according to a published and defined list. This is the way the system has worked since Noah was a lad and one of the main advantages the system has over what happens in England when catchment areas change all the time, parents apply for multiple schools and don't know what they will get. In Scotland, if you are in catchment, you get a place - end of story. (In most cases, issues with moving during a school year and so on). This is why parents pay £££ for houses in the catchment of specific schools.

I understand you're disappointed OP but you must have known this was a gamble with no guarantees of success. If you mean by "category 4" that you are in a different local authority and with no older siblings in the school already, even more of a gamble.

Our catchment school was rebuilt about 10 years ago and is smaller than the prone as they predicted fewer pupils in catchment
But there has been a lot of new housing developments
This will make it harder for placing requests to succeed

I think there is an illusion of choice which isn’t really there

it is relatively easy to get kids into out of catchment primary schools,and while it is made clear that does not guarantee access to the linked secondary every year there are upsets because children are being separated from their friends

This is exactly what has happened in my area @Motheranddaughter (Milngavie and Bearsden). All three secondary schools in the area (Boclair, Douglas, Bearsden Academy) rebuilt in the last decade. All a lot smaller than those they replaced. Friends with older children now in their 20s remember that a decade ago children from all over west Glasgow, Duntocher or Clydebank (west Dunbartonshire), places like Strathblane and Carbeth (Stirlingshire) could easily get places in East Dunbartonshire schools.

But a combination of smaller schools and the building of hundreds of new family-sized houses means that even with a sibling already in the school, a place is not guaranteed. Primary schools haven't been rebuilt at the same rate and are larger, parents are told repeatedly that a placing request into a Milngavie primary is not a guarantee of a place in Douglas Academy but they do not listen and just think it'll be OK, or that the fact their child is at a feeder school will give them loads of priority points (it doesn't). Lots of very upset P7 children who are facing transfer to somewhere like Balfron or Clevedon - nothing wrong with those schools, but all their friends are going elsewhere.

@KnittingNeedles hi… I’m the OP I don’t think your messages were meant for me? I’m not disappointed as my child was very lucky enough to get into the non catchment school we wanted. I think you maybe meant your message for someone else?x