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Moving to be in a catchment area for the 'right' primary school


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We are moving next weekend into the catchment of our preferred school and will be going through the application process this Autumn.


I am not sure how common it is, but we are renting through Winkworth and most of the properties to let that are within a sought after catchment used this as a marketing point. So I therefore assume that it is 'done' and there is a thriving rental market in popular school catchments because of it.


One of the main things I would advise is that you should look around the schools a year before you are due to apply. My son isn't due to start school til next Sept but I went to open days about 6 months ago to give us plenty of time to be in the best position to take a property when it came up. We have chosen to live near a school that doesn't have the best results or an outstanding ofsted, but that I really loved when looking around. It is a very very popular school and as such the catchment is 0.1 miles so tiny.


When you are looking use an online tool to calculate as the crow flies distances. Don't necessarily trust estate agents that claim the property is in a catchment. There is no way they can make this claim (we found KFH and Winkworth do this alot).


Another thing to think about is how long you will need to stay in the catchment. We have found out that our preferred school will have a bulge class when my son enters Reception, and therefore assume that we will need to stay in the catchment until our daughter applies 2 academic years later on, in case there are too many siblings for places (unlikely but possible).


We have also found that moving at this time of year has been pretty easy. Properties near the school we like don't come up often and we would imagine if we were looking Oct - Dec time we'd have lots of competition from other parents trying to get into catchments.


Are you applying this year browncoffee?

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We are in the fortunate position to like the school at the end of our road but one thing that I had not realised before my daughter started there was how much we would all love being so close to the school. It's not just a matter of convenience (although that helps) but there is a fantastic community around the school and connected to it, that we would not be part of if we lived further away. It would also be much harder to support your child's friendships. Moving into the catchment just to get a place and then moving back once you've got it, would mean you'd miss out on all of that side of things.
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I was actually also going to add the above point re: how would you feel about lving out of catchment long term. I went to primary school in camberwell but moved about 2 miles away when I was 5 and missed not having classmates round the corner to play with. My husband experienced the same but even further.


We are actually relocating full stop to the area where the school is so will not have this issue. However, you can still move out of catchment and be close to a school as catchments can be so very small.

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I think it depends if it is a temporary or a permanent move. We moved house right before the school application process and had our eye on a particular school. However we were making the jump from renting to buying and are planning to stay in our house for the long term. Having local kids to play with has been one of the best things about our move.
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My daughter rented a property in Orpington having spent a year reading OFSTEAD reports and visiting local schools. The school she originally wanted ( the top primary school in the area at the time) she disliked when visiting as felt it too rigid and conscious of it's league position. Having worked with people with learning disabilies all her adult life, she asked about the schools special needs provision and was told that they only had one child with sepecial needs (autistic) but that he did not stand out so no one knew of his needs. This upset my daughter and she went on to view 2 other schools who were lower down the league tables but were very open about their special needs provision.

When she had viewed these, she looked at the secondary provision in the area and the catchment areas. After several months, she decided on a school which was also in the catchment area of the secondary school she wanted. Rented a property and her daughter was accepted in the infants of the allocated primary school. Within a year, she was able to putchase a house outside the schools catchment area but her daughter now in juniors was joined by her younger brother in infants. My granddaughter now 14 attends is at the secondary school of my daughter's choice and her brother will join her when he is 11. Daughter very happy having taken the long term view over her children's education. Moral of story really is that these days it pays to consider both primary and secondary provision in the area first.

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Thank you all so much for taking the time to post and for your PMs.


Here's summary of my lessons learnt:


- Move if there are other benefits (such as moving to better accommodation, from renting to buying etc.), not just for 'right' primary school as a school's position on League Tables, Ofsted rating etc. can change (for various reasons including but not limited to change of Heads, which is totally unpredictable)


- Moving to get into school and then moving back is more hassle than it's worth, plus can be unsettling for kids (as most kids build a network in the local community and unfair to uproot them again, particularly as they get to adjust to new school, new friend etc.)


- Consider secondary schools in the area you're moving to, if you plan to stay long-term


- Don't rely on ratings, league tables etc. for choosing the 'right' (whatever that is for you) primary school! Make sure you visit first and make up your mind about what is right for your children before you make a decision


- If possible, rent first and get a feel for the area before committing long term (buying)


- And one from me, don't underestimate the value/power of EDF. Would miss it too much if we moved:-)


Thanks again everyone and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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Ahhh...Jollybaby: I'm still suffering from separation anxiety! Mr BC's attachment to scooting to work (or should I say, avoiding public transport) means we need to be closer to the City. Regardless, who knows what'll happen in a few years;-)
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we have the same issue Browncoffee - Mr Oi either cycles or walks into Town for work and, for the right school and house he would commute . . . but he'd really rather not! Plus it's another expense. I also have the fear that you still can't guarantee getting into any school unless you live on top of it - friends in Kennington are 100m from their first choice and still didn't get in!
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