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The youngest goes to school in September and looking at the application process.
We’d like to put 1st choice as one that isn’t our closest.
But if we put 1st preference anywhere other than our nearest school we’re almost certain not to get a space. It was 3x over subscribed last year.
If we then put our nearest as 2nd choice, which was similarly oversubscribed does that mean we’ll not get a space there given we didn’t put it as 1st?
I’m fairly sure both were oversubscribed but I’m skeptical About the stats for admissions since you can put a preference for something like 4 schools and I think what is done is to quote every one that preferences a school even if it was listed as 2nd, 3rd or 4th on everyone’s list (could be wrong but the total of the preferences column far exceeds the total places offered in a county)
If you are in the catchment area then regardless of distance you’ve got a chance of getting in.
We put two non-catchment schools down for FBG and didn’t get either and just got lumped into our catchment school which was probably about 18th and last choice but hey. Actually has turned out to be much better than we feared...
Your local council will have a webpage with each school and it’s catchment areas, they are not circular. It will also have a metric for the radius of where the furthest away child was last year in that area. There may also be sibling metrics.
This will give you something to go on.
IIRC having your closest school as 2nd choice shouldn't make a difference, its all meant to come out in the wash in theory.
Take the stats on admissions with a pinch of salt, there's so many variables - the year previous to my daughters had a massive spike in kids so there were more kids wanting the school places and we wouldn't have got into our closest school, and there were apparently a massive number of siblings too (which get higher priority than distance to school) but shes breezed in the following year when it was her turn.
The most important thing to do is give 4 choices if you can. If you just put one thinking it'll 'force' the council into giving your son/daughter that school all its doing is saying you'll be happy with any school if you don't get your first choice.
Realistically if you live a long way from the preferred school, which is presumably a nicer school you're not getting in as you'll likely be ranked on distance from the school. Might be lucky but probably sensible to assume the worst, sorry.
Thanks Dbg, I was wondering that but whilst I always thought ‘catchment area’ was a thing, I’m not sure they have catchment areas round here. For all the schools the criteria is things like
1. Looked after
2. Siblings
3. Distance
You can see for some the distance of the furthest pupil in prior years but that’s only a guide as if there are loads of kids living next door to it in the year you want to go there if you live next door but one you still might not get a place by the look of things yet in another year you could get a space and live a mile or two away.
Is your catchment school one that everyone thinks poorly of and so likely to have been undersubscribed, hence getting a place or could you have displaced someone further who preferenced it as 1 or 2?
I’m kinda thinking the process is largely pointless in a populated area and thus you should preference the nearest school unless you think it’s so bad there’s nothing to loose.
The process is kinda skewed to applying for your local school, yes
I think nearest is good but one a little further seems nicer.
So they further one is 1st choice and 2nd is nearest. Worried that if we don’t put the nearest As 1 St then well end up with the school that every one thinks is a bit naff on the other side of town.
Was intending to pref 4 as suggested since heard that was the sensible thing to do. Unless really not fussed.
It doesn't matter where you rank your choices. Each of your selections processes your application without knowing the preference, then you get offered your highest preference of those you 'get in'.
Best of luck
What's the difference in distance, and what's the difference in Ofsted?
Don't forget, there is something to be said about having your child's schoolfriends live nearby.
Do both school 1 and 2 feed to the same secondary?
NN - thanks that sounds a sensible way to do it and makes it more reassuring that we needn’t put the nearest. How did you find out that was the way it happens though?
Yes good point about mates- the further school is not massively so (20min vs 45min walk) so a car /bike journey in reality.
Ofstead is comparable, although one much more recent than the other, though I don’t expect many pay a massive attention to the time the inspection was completed, since there’s little other info to go on.
Also bear in mind the ‘best’ school may not be the best school. FBG’s school has 25% of kids on SEN’s, way higher than the national average of kids on free school meals, middle of the road SAT scores etc.
However , due the the SENs they are well funded and have a high number of specialist teaching assistants. This has then gives the school the resources to spend more time with kids individually. I actually think FBG is getting more attention than if he were in the ‘best’ school in the area where I think by now he’d just be cruising and just another bum on seat.
Also the ‘best’ schools tend to push primary school kids far harder than is healthy at that age. One of our friend’s kid was getting homework as a 5 yo and not the odd spelling but putting together PowerPoint presentations ffs. Yeah sure kids need to be learning at that age but they also need to be having fun but the pressure on staff to maintain that perfect Ofsted score means they have very high expectations and pressures on the kids.
Don’t get me wrong, the number of patents turning up at pick up time, can of beer and spliff on the go and shouting and swearing at their kids makes my skin crawl but the school is well managed and the kids all seem to being very well to their ability potential so don’t get too hung up on the pure stats of the school.
I’m not sure it’s possible during COVID but we could visit the schools and get a feel for the teaching ethos etc. It was a bit embarrassing when he got the place at the school as we hadn’t even visited as we had discounted it out of hand. Had to explain to the school why we wanted to visit outside of the open days 😳
It is/was clearly explained on the application website
Plenty of highly rated schools, often the ones in "better" areas, actually aren't all that they purport to be.
Reason being that the parents can afford tutoring so basically subsidise the teaching and results. They also have problems of their own. We have a friend who is a pretty senior teacher at a grammar but also served as governor for their kids' primary so gave us quite an insight into the mechanisms at play. Another school near us, which we are out of catchment for but would have got our eldest into as his year is very small, has a significant issue with bullying. Not helped by mobile phones given by doting but distant parents. Again, results are good for the 11+ but kids are privately tutored from year 3 for it and quite a few left in the last year to private school due to the social issues.
TL:DR it's all a crapshoot. Don't be too guided by ofsted etc. If you can visit or speak to headmaster etc, or even other parents, you'll get a better idea. Good luck.