School catchment areas

laurence2163

Hope someone can help with this.
We are considering moving in the next year and have two children under five years old.
This next move will be a considerable upgrade so it should be in an area that we will feel happy about staying in for 10+ years.

The question is as follows, is there a website or other resource where you can put in a postcode and it will tell you the schools whose catchment area you lie in?

The areas we have looked in are Stapleford Abbotts/Doddinghurst/Ongar, Essex they have a rural feel and I have driven past the areas on the way to work and seen loads of kids getting on school buses but I don't know where they end up. I thought about stopping and asking one of the kids but you'd probably get arrested for that knowdays so can anyone assist.

silvercar

Your local education authority should have a website with details of admissions rules for the schools. Be aware that catchment areas can change and admission rules altered between now and when you apply.

In some areas state school bus services are very good, in others they don't exist. Private schools also seem to run a lot of school coach services. Sending secondary school children on buses to and from school seems acceptable if that provides access to a good education. To justify extending younger children's school day by a coach journey at each end, the educational benefits would need to be large IMHO.

Smi1er

As stated catchment areas change all the time along with admission rules.

You say you have children about to enter primary schools.... then go onto say the move will be for 10+ years... yet you don't mention anything about secondary schools?

laurence2163

I'm looking to get a feel for both Primary and Secondary school catchment areas as we hope to stay in the area for a long time. I appreciate now that they are subject to change but the villages I am looking at are slightly isolated from the nearest towns so I would have thought they would be less subject to change.

silvercar

Don't bank on it. There is a village near us where all the children would go to secondary school in a town just north of it. Then a new housing estate was built just outside the village and all the children from the housing estate got into the town schools and the children in the old village ended up being bussed in the opposite direction to a large school that was not on anyone choice of school's list.

Jorgan_2

Try speaking to the schools to get an idea of the catchment area. I live in a semi-rural area & my son doesn't got to the designated school, he attends one in another county, seven miles away.

merlinthehappypig

Upmystreet will show the nearest schools at both secondary and primary level, though not if you zoom out too much.

This site will do a similar job http://schoolsfinder.direct.gov.uk/

Neither will confirm the catchment area, but will give you a likely idea of which school it is and then you can ring the LEA to confirm.

Some local authority sites, Shropshire, for example, have interactive maps showing exact catchment areas.

Sisyphus

The LEA will tell you what the catchment area was in previous years. Whatever you do, do not rely on EAs for this info.
When we moved in to our current home EAs pointed to other properties telling us that they would be good for a certain secondary without knowing or saying that they were well outside the catchment area and had been for years. More honest EAs did not have a clue. One couldn't even remember the name of the school. (Best performing North London Comp with over 1000 pupils, 5 minute walk from his office) - how about that for value added service?