Phil - do you punch out emails to all the Helens you know on the odd chance of hitting the right one!?Helen - I thought each school had a potentially different catchment area. So if you got a large detail map of the borough and a set of compasses, you could draw the circle enclosing the catchment area of each school. You would need though to know what were the admission criteria for each school, as geogrphical proximity may have less weight than other criteria such as a sibling already in the school. That would at least enable you to see in which schools' catchment areas your address falls. But in deciding which child is closest to the school, the decison making body may operate by measuring - who knows how exactly - the footfall from front door to school, the closest being determined not by how the crow flies but by the footfall. The schools should be able to tell you how in practice they apply their admissions criteria - you can pick up a lot of vibes from the school secretary as to how vigorously the religious test of admission is applied (and what washes with the school and what is easily rumbled), and any illegal unwritten criteria (a child wiping their nose on their sleeve may not go down a treat!).That last comment is a joke, but some schools do cheat. This does not excuse parents also cheating, by, for example, pretending to be at an address they do not inhabit.
Dan Filson ● 6220d