How do you find out what the catchment area is?

[SocialButterfly]

Thinking ahead for dd and wanting to look at secondary schools. We don't have a great choice here and dd struggles academically.

Where can I find out what the catchment area is for a school? The only one I have found is the good school guide but to see the maps of the catchment areas you have to subscribe for £39!

Our LA has a map showing exactly where the catchment boundaries are for all schools. You should be able to see it at the offices even if they won't send you one FOC.

Our LEA has an online tool where you can put in your postcode and find out which schools fall in your catchment area.

Have a look online; also many school's websites will have catchment maps.

Plenty of schools don't have catchment areas. You will need to read all the individual admissions criteria. And they change from year to year. It's a minefield.

Thanks all, it's all so hidden, like it's secret! I'll keep searchin

You can ask the education authority to give you your exact distance to each school you are interested in. You can also ask - either the school direct or the LEA - to give you details on the furthest distance offer they made for a non-sibling in the offers stage. And then ask the school perhaps what the furtherst distance for non-sibling who actually started in year 7 is.

My local schools have been great providing this info. There is quite a bit of difference between the first round offer and the final result as some children were probably offered but moved/went to private school.

Is there a catchment? Because here there are no catchments, just the distance which is the furthest they admitted last year. DCs school has a map they show at open days which show those lines for 10 or more years, quite interesting; for instance this year will have been the furthest out for at least 6 years, so not best to bank on next year).

I went into the education office and they showed me a map.

If there are formal catchment areas the LA will have a map. Most schools do not have a formal catchment area, in which case you need to ask the LA to tell you the distance for the last child admitted last year.