East Sussex secondary admissions

[carbhunter]

We are looking to move to East Sussex this year, ideally to a village near Crowborough/Uckfield. We have primary school aged children that we would like to attend either Beacon Academy or Uckfield College as tha'ts where we will be commuting from, but i have no idea how it works in terms of catchment areas or 'community maps'?

Looking at the council info online it seems the village we like is on the outer reaches of the community map for Uckfield College but i don't know what this means in practice or how likely it is we would get a place? The distance is approx 5 miles.

Help - does anyone know how this works, or live in the specific area and can give a realistic idea of our chances? Thank you!

www.eastsussex.gov.uk/media/16254/part-3-secondary-schools.pdf

Shows how places were allocated last year. It shows that UC went to criteria 5 - which is siblings out of catchment- which means that everyone who applied under Criteria 4 (residing in the catchment) got it.

That's just one year though, it might be worth asking the LA if they have that PDF for other years.

Thank you PatriciaHolm that's really useful!

Would love advice on Beacon & Uckfield secondary schools.
The bullying rating doesn’t seem great on Locrating. Not sure how accurate these sites are. Is there a bullying issue at the school? Is Beacon much better all round? My daughter currently goes to an all girls. I have a son in primary year 4. Thanks

The outer reaches of the catchment tend to be a bit hit and miss. Generally if you are in catchment you will get in, but not always. Outside of catchment is more of a lottery. None of them are bad schools. They all have a different feel to them and in the 20 years I have known the area they have all cycled through being the 'better' school... Ringmer is often undersubscribed but can be a better fit for some children and I know parents who have chosen it over their catchment school for this reason and been very happy so also worth considering even if on paper it might not appeal so much.