School Catchment areas

jetsetwilly_2

Found a house we really like. Ticks all the boxes for location except 1 big one....

The area has 3 primary schools, 1 is outstanding, 1 satisfactory, 1 in special measures.

The house is literally 1 street into the catchment for the poor one. The outstanding one is equal distance.

Last year their intake was 25 and they had 32 applicants.

Is there any way of finding out how many of that 32 were from inside the catchment? Clearly if most were, then the house is a no no. If most were outside, we would most likely be closer as we are right on the edge of the catchment. Of course, each year is unique but would give us an idea.

Thanks

stef73

Try the website findaschool.info. Do you know the schools catchment criterea policy? Where my son goes the first is disabled,then siblings already in the school then distance. When my son started school people who lived very close 5minute walk away didnt get in as alot of children already had siblings at the school and some of these live to far to walk to school.

flea72

Find your LA admissions policy online. It might not give total breakdown, but it usually states under which criteria the last child was admitted and how many applicants they had.

Or wait til monday, ring the school and ask

Davesnave

Be aware that the entrance criteria can, and do, change.

Even the best schools are only as good as their Head enables them to be, and good Heads rarely stay put nowadays.

A school in Special Measures will receive much input, and probably a new Head, so things could all turn around in a relatively short time.

Duskylady

Our local authority has a brochure from the admissions for last year and it tells you what the lowest awarded criteria is. If is "within catchment" then only children in the catchment area got in and some of them may not have. If it says "distance" this is children outside of catchment area got in and they are then allocated by distance (this is as crow flies to the school important if it has a weird catchment area shape) it also tells you the furthest distance children travel to the school. It's useful as it can tell you which schools are very oversubscribed however it will obviously change each year.
tbh we have discounted houses due to school catchment, I know that not helpful

makeyourdaddyproud

How can a school ever improve if your doing your best to avoid putting your well behaved child there? Aren't you simply contributing to the problem of oversubscription of "perceived" good schools?

FBaby

I believe you can also do an FOI. This is what I did. We are equal distance by crow flies to two primary schools, but by road, we are much closer to one. That one had an ofsted of 1 and therefore massively oversubscribed, whilst the other was under remedial measures. No need to say that I wasn't happy at the prospect of having no choice but to go to that one. In the end, we had no choice (or private) so went to visit it and were very pleasantly surprised. In the meantime, they got rid of the headmaster, got a brilliant new one and 6 months later, Ofsted came back and put the school on a level 2. A year later, Ofsted re-inspected the other school, and downgraded it to a 2... all this in two years... I am very pleased with the other school. Don't let Osfsted alone be the decider to such a significant decision as to which home to buy.

FBaby

makeyourdaddyproud wrote: »

How can a school ever improve if your doing your best to avoid putting your well behaved child there? Aren't you simply contributing to the problem of oversubscription of "perceived" good schools?

No offense, but as a parent, that's not your concern. What you want is the best education for your child. Also, many schools failings are not due to the pupils, much more likely to be caused by poor management.

ognum

I let our a family sized house in a village where the school has gone from poor to good in the last year having been in special measures, the school in the next village has now gone from good and is in special measures.

All I am trying to say is that the school you choose one year may not be the best school two years later. Improving schools is about teachers, governors and parents working together and things can change very rapidly. the information you are reading may already be out of date!

mandragora_2

jetsetwilly wrote: »

Is there any way of finding out how many of that 32 were from inside the catchment? Clearly if most were, then the house is a no no. If most were outside, we would most likely be closer as we are right on the edge of the catchment. Of course, each year is unique but would give us an idea.

Thanks

No it wouldn't. The numbers can (and do) vary quite considerably year on year. The school I work in is massively under-subscribed in one year group with the year groups either side crammed to bursting. We're a rural area, and a popular, successful school, usually oversubscribed - but in that particular year, fewer babies than usual were born!

Why not visit the school you're interested in, have a good look around? If you still like it for your child and think they'll do well there, ask them about predicted pupil numbers for next year's intake - they'll have some sort of idea, and at the very least will be able to tell you the generic 'historical' infor you're asking for on here.

However, I'd also say visit all three schools - you will know better than an ofsted inspector which school 'feels right' for your child. That's the one to plan for and work towards. I'm speaking as someone who lives in a catchment area of a school which had good ofsted inspections, but sent our children to a different school, because that was the right choice for both boys - they were bright, and didn't need the somewhat claustrophobic atmosphere of the local school. They blossomed with the great staff and livelier atmosphere of the town school up the road - both got a clutch of A's and A*'s as well as a grounding in how to deal with streetwise peers that the 'safe' school never would have given them.

jetsetwilly_2

I teach so understand how things can change. But looking at the current intake it is highly unlikely to improve in the areas I am most concerned about. And it certainly isnt my problem that it is a poor school. They need to improve to attract a better intake not the other way round