Question about Brighton catchment area rules

[Brightonian76]

Hi all,

Long time lurker but thought I’d join up and make a post to clear something up. Ok so our son (9) is currently in Primary school in Woodingdean and I couldn’t be happier with the school he’s in.

However my husband and I are very aware that Longhill secondary school is just over the horizon and we DO NOT want to send him there.

We’d be looking at moving to the Dorothy Stringer and Varndean catchment areas and have a couple of questions about how they might work.

First question is even in the catchment area do they take into account how far you are from the school? Would someone living 0.1 miles away have a better chance of getting in than someone who lives 0.7 miles away but is still in the catchment?

Secondly, do they look at how long you’ve lived in the catchment area for? Would someone who’s lived there for years have a better chance than someone who’s been living in the catchment for the last few months?

I know about the Brighton catchment lottery system but just want to give ourselves the best chance we can.

I've just read their admissions criteria.

It appears that they don't use distance as a tie break, they use random allocation, so no living 0.1 miles away doesn't give you a better chance than 0.7 if both are in catchment.

There is no preference for having lived at an address for longer.

Some schools have their own rules though.

https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/secondary-school-admissions-guide-2023-2024#tab--section-4---admission-priorities-and-catchment-areas

You should be able to find previous years admission data somewhere which will say which category they admitted up to.

No, as TeenD says, allocations in the case of oversubscription under the catchment category are just done by random allocation for both schools. There is no distance criteria or length of residence.

It's a random lottery system so it's irrelevant where you live so long as you are somewhere in the general catchment area for each secondary school

Ok thanks everyone. Like I said, it’s not an immediate concern but I do want to be ready for when the time comes abs knowing that there are no additional criteria makes it (slightly) easier !