Admissions?

[MrsWhirly]

Hello wise mummy’s in my phone,

I wonder if I could get your thoughts on something...

We are currently moving house to the next borough along where we feel the secondary schools are much better than where we currrentky live. We are not fixed on a particulars School and would be happy with a group of about 3/4.

We’ve seen a house we like which is within 1-1.5miles from each of the 4 schools - however when looking at the council website, I noticed that they all went out a max of 0.8miles.

So my question is, would I assume we wouldn’t get any of those schools rarest to the house, and what would we get?

Sorry if this is a stupid question - first DC going to secondary school.

Thanks!

It's very difficult to know unless we know which borough/schools, but do be careful. I am with 1.5 miles of several good, mixed comprehensives and wouldn't get any of them because the catchment is less than a mile on each. This is what we call a "black hole" for admissions.

You'd be better to move into the doorstep of one than to be slightly too far away from all.

Ah yes, sorry. It’s Bromley Borough. The schools would be Langley, Hayes,Ravensbourne and Eden Park.

What did you get then worried Mum?

You would be placed in an undersubscribed school elsewhere in the borough but closest to your house.

An undersubscribed one? Not sure any are! Can I assume they would not allocate out of borough? Thank you.

The council website may only refer to the distances on the first round of offers. The distances may be different (ie. greater) come September

There is a high likelihood if the distances are correct (though they vary from year to year) that you would not get offered a place at any of the 4 preferred schools. The LA has a legal duty to find a place but that can be in any secondary school (even outside their borough) providing that it is within reasonable travelling distance. Reasonable travelling distance as a definition does vary from LA to LA but anything up to 45 minutes travel would normally be considered OK for year 7. If the distance to the school allocated is over 3 miles then you would normally be eligible for travel assistance which in the london area is usually a TfL pass.
If you really want one of the four preferred schools then i would be tempted to decide which one and then move to within 0.6 miles of the school, which would give a good chance of being offered a place at the school. It could be depending on how the preferred schools are positioned in the borough that moving closer to one, might mean you are also closer to one of the others, giving you a second possible school.

Thank you all for the very helpful and useful advice x