How much does catchment matter for high school if go to feeder primary

[Rosemariex]

Hi Everyone, as the title suggests does anyone have any experience with how places for high schools are allocated.

friend is looking to move not far but will be out of the catchment area for high school.. its annoying as she will actually be closer but as the catchment is in the opposite direction she will be outside of the boundary.

she is wondering how much it matters. her daughter is baptised catholic and goes to the catholic feeder primary no siblings.. will the catchment very much affect her chances of getting a place or does the fact she is baptised matter more over people who are in the catchment but whose children aren't baptised.

thanks

It depends on the individual school as schools have different policies regarding feeder schools and catchment areas. She needs to find the school admissions policy.

No-one here can tell you for sure as admission policies differ widely. Some will prioritise religion, others catchment, others feeders over catchment, etc.

She would need to read the policy for that specific school. They may also be able to tell her how many children were admitted under each criteria in previous years which might give her an idea of likelihood -sometimes that is on the local LA site, sometimes you need to ask the school if it is it's own admissions authority (likely if it's a catholic secondary).

Here you have to be in catchment AND attending linked junior school to stand any chance of getting into the catchment secondary school. You HAVE to use all the choices in the form (including local schools you don't want) or else your child could be allocated a crap school miles away.

Local news has stories of kids from our village being allocated poor schools that are 10 miles away even though there are 20+ secondary schools that are closer

as pp have said, it depends on the school policy.

Go on the their website and look at their admission criteria. This is a legal documnet, that they MUST stick to. Any changes to it must be done in consultation with parents etc.

Typically it will have a list of criteria eg

1. looked after children
2. children with EHCP listing this school
3. siblings of current children

and so on. It can be complicated, and there are often sub clauses (eg siblings of children who will be on role at this school in the september when the applicant starts) and so on.

The school MUST follow this priority list, and it is the way she can check is she iseligible for the school.

Local schools have the following criteria...

1. Looked after children
2. In catchment siblings
3. In catchment feeder school
4. Other in catchment.
5. Children of staff
6. Out of catchment sibling
7. Out of catchment feeder school
8. Other out of catchment.

If the school is religious, that slots in at the top of Out of Catchment.

If you check this admissions for this year you'll get a view on how much it matters (of course, things may be different next year).

Where I live, feeder school is high on the admissions criteria, and for some secondary schools you really need to attend a feeder school; for others you can get in if you don't attend a feeder school but live within a defined catchment.

Shes checked and number 2 on the criteria is -

children who are baptised roman catholic and who attend the following partner primary schools

number 4 is children who are baptised roman catholic and who live in the identified catchment area of the following primary schools

but then in the notes it says parents should check carefully whether they are resident within the school catchment areas

so I am assuming that she falls under no. 2?

Then she will be offered a place because she goes to the partner primary school.

There is no advantage to living in catchment as that is no. 4 on the list.
It isn't like accumulating points, she will get in under the no. 2 criteria, which is higher up th elist than no. 4.

The only thing to keep an eye on is if the criteria change. They usually give more than 12 months notice of change to admission criteria, so it depends on how old the dd is.

the thing about check that you are resident in catchment int he notes doesn't apply, as she is not using no. 4 (resident in catchment) she is using no. 2 (catholic and attends a feeder school)

Yeah falls under number 2.. thanks for everyones replies x

What's number 1? ECHPs and looked after children?

Yeah x