Stupid question - how do I find out catchment area?

[ElizaPancakes]

Or is that not really a thing? Is it just those that are closer are higher up the list than others?

Looks like our top choice school is potentially a couple of miles away, and considering we have three others much closer, now I've found another thing to worry about!

I also wouldn’t worry about special measures... my DSS went into special measures just as he started in year 7, it was outstanding within three years as a new academy trust took over. He got excellent gcse results and it’s way above the national average now for results!

I also think the term 'feeder schools' must be used differently.

Where I live, the Primary school you go don't doesn't have any influence whatsoever on the secondary school admissions, but the secondary schools do sometimes go into the schools they have typically taken children from to do things, and refer to these as their 'feeder schools'.

I'm in Liverpool too. All of mine went to feeder primaries. We are Catholic though.
The school nearest to you doesn't begin with B does it?

I agree with BackforGood that they may be using the term feeder schools differently on the info You are looking at. Certainly on my ds's school website it's clear that feeder schools take priority over distance and what those feeder schools are. I didn't realise how unusual it was. Ds2 got on this year on the basis ds1 was already there but his friend who lives within spitting distance of the school didn't because they don't come from a feeder school - some of the feeder schools are 4 miles away and those kids get priority over him.

Feeder schools can be important.
Going to a feeder school here gives you priority in the admissions criteria. In some years there have been schools where you won't get in, if you didn't go to a feeder school.

But message to OP is to read the admissions criteria relevant to the schools she is interested in, and not worry about what the rest of the country does.

@toffeeghirlinatwirl it does begin with a B and has lots of ridiculous accents in the name which immediately puts me on the back foot.

The school I thought was catholic is actually c of E so although not christened it’s probably not quite so selective.

@RedskyLastNight feeder school doesn’t seem to have any standing in the three or 4 admissions protocol I have read so I’m going to assume it’s just for extra curricular stuff?