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

poet123

Yes, their health is the main concern. My son went back after his first year and did till Christmas of his second year, and we saw a real change in his demeanour. He was stressed and unhappy, and we could see that it was the course that was causing it, he had made the wrong choice. It was hard for him to admit it even to himself, but once he had he felt much better. He had passed all the modules but hated the subject. He dropped out, got a job in an office and re applied for the following September.

The degree he went on to do wasn't related so he had to start from scratch again, but it was his passion and on that course he was a different person.

It sounds as if your children have been through the wars and that is hard to watch as a parent. As you say sometimes it is less a question of the qualifications and more will they survive to to the end of it. We had to reassure our son that there was no shame in admitting you had made a mistake, that few things are irretrievable and that he would eventually look back and see that. Thankfully, he can do that now, but at the time it is hard to see the wood for the trees!!

laurel7172

poet123 wrote: »

We had to reassure our son that there was no shame in admitting you had made a mistake, that few things are irretrievable and that he would eventually look back and see that. Thankfully, he can do that now, but at the time it is hard to see the wood for the trees!!

Quite. My daughter is currently looking to change degree course (two offers for second year transfer so far!) and I'm genuinely proud that she had the confidence to admit she made a mistake (though, really, how much of a mistake is it when you have to make such a huge decision on so little information at the age of 17???) and do something about it. It shows great strength of character, in my view.

And yes, life is short, and precious, and sad stories all too frequent. There are definitely far worse things than an academic false start.

ladymarmalade

I always thought I would, but now I would not!

As a teacher, I spend a lot of time reading OFSTED reports, and it has struck me over the past two years how fickle and changeable it all is.

For example, the secondary school I attended until 2004 (which was ok when I was there) was 'OFSTEDed' in 2011 and received 'outstanding'. Two years later in 2013 it was put into special measures. Any parent who moved house for that school during those two years must be pig sick! Personally, I wouldn't want to move my children (when I eventually have some) from school to school chasing good/outstanding schools.

I think until the government really decides what it is looking for, and stops moving the goals posts, schools are going to fluctuate that much that it would be very risky to invest so much money into school places.

However, like I mentionned, I do not have children, perhaps I would feel differently if I did!

mumps

poet123 wrote: »

Yes, their health is the main concern. My son went back after his first year and did till Christmas of his second year, and we saw a real change in his demeanour. He was stressed and unhappy, and we could see that it was the course that was causing it, he had made the wrong choice. It was hard for him to admit it even to himself, but once he had he felt much better. He had passed all the modules but hated the subject. He dropped out, got a job in an office and re applied for the following September.

The degree he went on to do wasn't related so he had to start from scratch again, but it was his passion and on that course he was a different person.

It sounds as if your children have been through the wars and that is hard to watch as a parent. As you say sometimes it is less a question of the qualifications and more will they survive to to the end of it. We had to reassure our son that there was no shame in admitting you had made a mistake, that few things are irretrievable and that he would eventually look back and see that. Thankfully, he can do that now, but at the time it is hard to see the wood for the trees!!

It sounds like he made the right decision, it is hard for them to be sure when choosing a university or a subject.and they do tend to feel they have failed.

My daughter does seem to attract disaster but she still managed to get a first. She only took two weeks off when she got out of hospital and wouldn't come home, she insisted on staying at uni and although she had only been there a few weeks she felt happy and well supported there. I have to say the university dealt with it really well, the resident tutor got her into hospital really quickly.

My son was more of a shock, he is disgustingly healthy and always has been so, to get a call that he was being admitted as an emergency was a real shock. It took him a few weeks to recover from the op and it did seem overwhelming at the time but he has bounced back and is hopefully writing his dissertation at this very moment.

mumps

laurel7172 wrote: »

Quite. My daughter is currently looking to change degree course (two offers for second year transfer so far!) and I'm genuinely proud that she had the confidence to admit she made a mistake (though, really, how much of a mistake is it when you have to make such a huge decision on so little information at the age of 17???) and do something about it. It shows great strength of character, in my view.

And yes, life is short, and precious, and sad stories all too frequent. There are definitely far worse things than an academic false start.

I hope the change goes well, my son settled in really well when he transferred and has never regretted it.

Spendless

FBaby wrote: »

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.

Ahh thanks. Though there is the odd seperate infant and Junior schools here. My kids attend/ed them. The majority are straight through Primary schools.

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.

No, it was changed by the head due to what happened when DS's year was given places. He is the same age as your eldest, so millennium babies and a bumper year. 50 kids didn't get in which included loads that had been at feeder Primarys since Reception. As it's a foundation school (later becoming an Academy) it could set it's own admission criteria, they didn't feel it fair that children who'd been in their Pyramid of schools for years (latest date for this to be used in applications is to be there at beginning of yr 5) lost out on places to those that weren't living in the area, hadn't attended a feeder school but had an older brother or sister attending, which is why they moved feeder schools up the list and siblings down.

silvercar wrote: »

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.

Here even for Primary or Infant schools sibling criteria comes below catchment. That's the chance you take if you apply for an out of catchment place. This isn't true of Church schools who also set their own critera, where some of them put siblings first, as the next nearest school to me (a CofE) does.

System

No I wouldn't move. Schools would actually be a consideration at the point I bought the house.

honeypop

Schools were a consideration when we bought our house a year or so before our first child, in catchment for 4 decent Primary schools over the past years (and still was until last year!). When we applied for reception class last year, couldn't get into any of them due to sibling intake and the remaining spaces going on distance which made the catchment areas a lot smaller than usual (we live 200m away from one, still too far away!). We were offered a space across the town, in our 8th closest school, which would have been a nightmare journey twice a day.

So glad I didn't move here just for the schools, kind of assumed we'd get into 1 of the 4 closest and just didn't happen. But it must happen, since you can't predict the catchment areas in any one year, just go by historic data, that people move for a school and still don't get it.

happy35

I moved back to the area I grew up in when my son was a baby as I wanted him to go to school here


The schools in this town are very popular and people do move here just to go to the schools.

Spendless

balletshoes wrote: »

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.

All Secondary schools here plus any Junior schools all have in their admissions policies feeder school criteria. Where it fits varies, as I said at son's Secondary it is above sibling criteria, though it is below that at many schools. The only time it doesn't apply is for a Reception place and your child is at that school's Nursery.