Help! Furthest distance schools calculation....

[BlackthornBerry]

Been browsing through the council's secondary school info. DC is couple yrs away from secondary. Options locally are very limited. I had always assumed one of our "local" schools was a bearable back up plan (with the hope of a grammar/semi selective state if DC is motivated for 11+ etc.) BUT according to the furthest distance info...the "local" school which is 0.9 miles away (google maps) had furthest distance of 0.3 last yr!!!

Another thing...google maps vs gov.uk website? Which is more accurate?

E.g a more desirable school we had in mind is 4.4miles away (google) and 2.9 miles away (gov.uk schools comparison site!) !?!?

I suddenly feel like we're going to have to move house to stand a chance at a decent school. 😞

Thanks everyone for your super helpful responses.😊

DC is year 3 so figure we need to make final decision re house move by end yr 4/ early year 5 latest? Didn't think of birth rates either so will check for 2014/15. Also conscious that schools can change a lot but I doubt the most local one will improve....been poor for over 10yrs. Re grammar...thinking prep from yr 5...that seems to be when most people start? DC doing well academically but not sure would suit a high pressure environment. Might need a different thread for that! Some parents don't seem to consider that aspect but surely that's important too 🤔

Thanks again for the tips!

Re grammar...thinking prep from yr 5...that seems to be when most people start?

It’s impossible to say as it does seem to vary so much between areas, and whether you are in a fully selective LA or have a mixture of comprehensives and super-selectives. It is not quite as mad around here as some of the London and fringe areas but a friend of DD’s started tutoring in the summer of y4 and was warned it might be a bit late. Remember that you also need to account for the children in local prep schools, who have one eye on 11+ from the beginning but often start explicit preparation (NVR etc) in year 4.

People don’t like to give the impression that they are hothousing their child and will often (not always, but often) downplay the amount of preparation they are really doing. It’s worth bearing this in mind when comparing with peers.

Bear in mind too that, whatever computer program the school/LEA uses, it will measure from a data point on your home to a data point on the school. A diy measurement on a map will give you a rough estimate, but it’s the school’s/LEA’s measurement of home-school distance which will carry weight.

Thanks for this...that's a really good point re local preps. I'm really not sure we will go down that route anyway as although DC is seemingly doing well ( in top sets and being given extension work for maths etc.) there is a degree of laziness which I'm not sure will change! I really think the child has to be very self-motivated for 11+ and grammar environment. So have to prepare that we will be aiming for a decent local comp as the main goal.

From the googling I've been doing following everyone's advice...we are likely too far for any of the desirable schools....even the not so desirable!!! The only ones we stand a guaranteed chance of getting into are absolutely dire. So much so that they're undersubscribed!! So looks like a house move will be necessary which makes me a little sad as the compromise will be huge (would need to significantly downsize due to affordability). Although I am a believer in bright and supported children being able to succeed wherever they go...this would be too big a gamble! Poor behaviour, disruption in class, low progress and grades etc. It just wouldn't make sense even risking it.