Would you move house to get your child into a good school's catchment area?

Spendless

FBaby wrote: »

When I moved with my partner and I asked about schools, he said the local ones were very good...until I learnt that they were so good, everyone had been playing the system to get in, ie. parents putting their kids in the feeder schools to get priority to the primary school, meaning that those arriving to the area, even if only next door to the school had no chance to get in, so being in the catchment area doesn't mean you will get a place.

Is that a typo? Do you mean putting their kids in the feeder school to get priority to the Secondary? Otherwise what feeder school do you mean prior to Primary? Nursery? Here, that makes no difference.

My son's Secondary changed their criteria in the past few years so that Feeder Primarys are further up their criteria, but catchment is still above it. They moved siblings further down the list, so out of catchment, not attended Primary school but with an older sibling in the school means less likely to get in.

FBaby

Locally you have junior and senior school, so reception to year 4 and then year 4 to year 6. Junior schools are feeders to the seniors schools, above distance. The local senior school is massive and three junior schools feeds into them. For a few years, parents have managed to get their kids in the junior schools despite not being in the catchment area.

Once upon a time, it made sense as parents tended to send their kids to the local schools anyway, but when one senior school further away started to fail, parents started to look at alternatives. It led to kids travelling from further distances, and all new local kids not being able to get a place in their local schools, hence travelling in the other direction to the not so good school. Ironically, once the headteacher got kicked out and they got an excellent new one, the school totally turned around and is now actually getting better SATS results than the other (although not the only criteria to consider it good, the rest was never an issue).

I understand parent's reaction, but that's why the LA should have acted sooner. The traffic in the morning is a nightmare because all those kids travelling to go to schools outside their catchment area when it wasn't necessary in the first place.

balletshoes

Spendless wrote: »

Is that a typo? Do you mean putting their kids in the feeder school to get priority to the Secondary? Otherwise what feeder school do you mean prior to Primary? Nursery? Here, that makes no difference.

My son's Secondary changed their criteria in the past few years so that Feeder Primarys are further up their criteria, but catchment is still above it. They moved siblings further down the list, so out of catchment, not attended Primary school but with an older sibling in the school means less likely to get in.

feeder primary school isn't on our secondary school criteria at all (unofficially there are 4 feeder primary schools, the 4 nearest the secondary school catchment area, but it makes no difference for secondary school admission).

I agree with those who have said, as well as checking the current catchment area for the school of your choice, check the other admissions criteria.

FBaby

They moved siblings further down the list, so out of catchment, not attended Primary school but with an older sibling in the school means less likely to get in.

Wonder if this is to discourage people moving in the area to get eldest in and then moving back out, thinking that youngest will get in because eldest in already attending.

Preference being given to catchment area, then feeder schools, then sibling is to me the fairest way to select.

silvercar

FBaby wrote: »

Wonder if this is to discourage people moving in the area to get eldest in and then moving back out, thinking that youngest will get in because eldest in already attending.

Preference being given to catchment area, then feeder schools, then sibling is to me the fairest way to select.

Sibling policies are usually applied to primary school intake as otherwise parents would find it difficult to get 2 children to 2 different schools at the same time each day. For secondary schools, children are old enough to make their own way.

mumps

poet123 wrote: »

Kids only get one shot at education.

I am sorry that is just wrong. I work with young people, I have teenagers come to me who have done badly at school and I have seen them complete NVQs, foundation degrees and some take a year out to finish their BSc. There really are second chances if you want them.

I left school at 15, I was bright but had horrendous problems with handwriting and was so disillusioned as whatever I did the focus was always on presentation. I got a job, got married, had my first two children and started day release, five years on I had trebled my income and completed my qualifications. I am a senior manager in a very successful company. I have always told my children that it is easier to do it the conventional way but that if it doesn't work for them their are other routes.

I am sorry, don't want to have a row but this is something I feel passionate about because it can have such a devestating effect on young people who are stressing about exams and results and if they don't get what they need for a particular course they think their lives are over. So not true.

When youngsters come to me for a job and say they won't be any good if we send them on day release I like to tell them about the successful people who failed or dropped out of school. Have you ever read Churchill's autobiography? The beatings he got at school are the stuff of horror, like me he couldn't write without blotting the ink! Bill Gates, I bet his mother wept when he decided to drop out of Harvard after a year but he's done OK don't you think? Richard Branson is another not to mention Einstein who apparently dropped out of school at 15 and when he decided to return to education a year later failed to get a place at the institution of his choice. He managed to complete his education and make a name for himself.

Don't you teach in FE? I bet you don't say to teenagers at your college that their case is hopeless if they didn't do well at school.

I think the education Gods didn't want me to reply to this as this is my fourth attempt. For some reason the previous three suddenly disappeared.

Just wanted to add I know one young man who left school with no qualifications, he is dyslexic and struggled at school. He talked his way onto a degree course! He didn't do A levels, didn't do an access course. He wrote to someone in the dept he wanted to join and was invited in for a chat and literally talked his way onto the course. As a young father he also carried on working part-time throughout his degree. He now has a good job and is doing really well so it isn't just the rich and famous.

balletshoes

mumps wrote: »

I am sorry that is just wrong. I work with young people, I have teenagers come to me who have done badly at school and I have seen them complete NVQs, foundation degrees and some take a year out to finish their BSc. There really are second chances if you want them.

I left school at 15, I was bright but had horrendous problems with handwriting and was so disillusioned as whatever I did the focus was always on presentation. I got a job, got married, had my first two children and started day release, five years on I had trebled my income and completed my qualifications. I am a senior manager in a very successful company. I have always told my children that it is easier to do it the conventional way but that if it doesn't work for them their are other routes.

I am sorry, don't want to have a row but this is something I feel passionate about because it can have such a devestating effect on young people who are stressing about exams and results and if they don't get what they need for a particular course they think their lives are over. So not true.

When youngsters come to me for a job and say they won't be any good if we send them on day release I like to tell them about the successful people who failed or dropped out of school. Have you ever read Churchill's autobiography? The beatings he got at school are the stuff of horror, like me he couldn't write without blotting the ink! Bill Gates, I bet his mother wept when he decided to drop out of Harvard after a year but he's done OK don't you think? Richard Branson is another not to mention Einstein who apparently dropped out of school at 15 and when he decided to return to education a year later failed to get a place at the institution of his choice. He managed to complete his education and make a name for himself.

Don't you teach in FE? I bet you don't say to teenagers at your college that their case is hopeless if they didn't do well at school.

I think the education Gods didn't want me to reply to this as this is my fourth attempt. For some reason the previous three suddenly disappeared.

granted to all of that - but i think its better to be able (with the right support in place and decent school attitudes) to do it first time round, in school.

mumps

balletshoes wrote: »

granted to all of that - but i think its better to be able (with the right support in place and decent school attitudes) to do it first time round, in school.

Absolutely but that doesn't alter the fact that you can have, and many of us have had, second chances. My own children did it the conventional way, passed the 11 plus, did GCSEs and A levels then university. I told them it was easier that way but I would never write off a teenager because school hadn't worked out for them. Same applies with university, in my time I have known a few who have changed courses, changed unis or just decided to do it a different way. Parents always get stressed and upset but it really doesn't have to be the end of the world.

poet123

I am sorry perhaps my post wasn't as clear as it could have been.

You only get one shot at getting the basics at the time it is normal to learn them was my point. Of course there are second chances but it is better to try to get it right from the off than have to play catch up all your life. It is the easiest route and if, as parents, we can facilitate that by judicious choice of schools surely that is what we should be doing?

I absolutely agree with all of your post, and I certainly didn't mean to imply that it was not recoverable if you failed at school. Today, perhaps more than ever, the opportunities are out there for everyone if for whatever reason you don't achieve your potential in schools. That is exactly as it should be and I am as passionate as you are about getting that across.

With regard to changing courses at university my own eldest son did exactly that, and yes, it was stressful but we supported his decision 100%. He took a year out, re grouped, went back did a different degree, a post grad qual and now has a good career. So again, I really didn't mean to imply that anyone should be written off if they have a brush with failure.

mumps

poet123 wrote: »

I am sorry perhaps my post wasn't as clear as it could have been.

You only get one shot at getting the basics at the time it is normal to learn them was my point. Of course there are second chances but it is better to try to get it right from the off than have to play catch up all your life. It is the easiest route and if, as parents, we can facilitate that by judicious choice of schools surely that is what we should be doing?

I absolutely agree with all of your post, and I certainly didn't mean to imply that it was not recoverable if you failed at school. Today, perhaps more than ever, the opportunities are out there for everyone if for whatever reason you don't achieve your potential in schools. That is exactly as it should be and I am as passionate as you are about getting that across.

With regard to changing courses at university my own eldest son did exactly that, and yes, it was stressful but we supported his decision 100%. He took a year out, re grouped, went back did a different degree, a post grad qual and now has a good career. So again, I really didn't mean to imply that anyone should be written off if they have a brush with failure.

Thank you for clarifying. One of my sons changed university, he managed to transfer at the end of the first year to a university that suited him, for some reason he just didn't like the first one although he did well academically. I have to admit that was relatively stress free and the two universities were very helpful about it, he went straight on to year two at the second university.

My youngest will graduate in a few months and his time at uni has been totally positive, well except for a hospital admission last year which mucked up his exams and made for a stressful summer. He was devestated as he thought he might end up redoing the year. I kept telling him that a year is nothing, it would be fine, but in the end he managed to complete everything. I am praying this year will be minus health concerns not because I am desperate for him to graduate but because a 200 mile journey to a hospital in their university city is not a pleasant experience. It also happened with his sister who had menengitis in her first year. I suppose it is no wonder that I have a slightly different perspective on the graduation as I focus on them surviving! At one graduation I saw two mothers collect posthumous degrees for their children and that really puts the whole thing in perspective.