QUOTE (Ziggy @ Mar 10 2010, 12:08 PM)
My advice would be to appeal and then hang on if you can. Your child doesn't have to be in school til the term after they are 5. In my experience, most people drop off the waiting list by the start of September, as they want their child in school somewhere. If you are patient and pick your moment, you could be lucky. However, you need to remember that St Nic's won't be your catchment either and attendance at St John's doesn't guarantee a place at St Nic's, so this whole thing may be repeated in 3 years' time. Good luck!
Sound advice indeed.
I can see this from many points; My son started at our catchment school, but I moved him out of cathment at the end of year 2. I had many, personal reasons for this, the main one being that for him, in my opinion, his first school was not able to meet his needs. It's a great school in many ways, & the school he moved to is not without issues, but for him, at the time, it was the right choice. I was very sad, not least because it meant he couldn't walk to school with friends, that I'd moved house so that he could be in catchment 4 years previously, that I too think the best mix is gained when children go to school in catchment etc etc, BUT at the time, I decided that the pros outweighed the cons.
I feel sorry for parents faced with these problems, I've been there & will probably go there again at secondary school placement time. That's why my motto remains; Make your decision based solely on what's best for your child, having contemplated all the options yourself & don't give up.
The 'stay in catchment area' is now invalid; an outstanding/good/satisfactory/poor rating has evolved, choices have been given & we cannot go back, whatever we might like to do.