The Catchment Area Cheat

Desperate times, desperate measures

Enter the catchment area cheat, the parents who will do anything to get their children into the school of their choice and, while cheating to get into a school is nothing new, never have the stakes been as high. Pressure for places in the UK’s best state schools is intensifying with state grammar schools leading the way. 

In 2011 almost one in six of applicants to state secondary schools, failed to get their first choice school.

Popular schools see upwards of 10 applicants for every place.

In 2008, across London, one in every 14 parents failed to get any of their six school choices - with no sign of any let-up. Catchment areas are already shrinking as parents who had planned on private schooling join the battle for places in the best state schools.

“I never thought we’d be looking at the state sector,”

says Emma Whitworth, mother of three. Like many families, the Whitworth's are reining in their spending in anticipation of hard times ahead. They, along with other middle class parents who in rosier times would be sewing name tapes on the local prep school blazer, have been banging on state school gates to try and secure a place. Many parents, who in previous years would have qualified, are finding themselves just outside the catchment area this year. 

School admissions - ins and outs

As school admission battles hot-up parents have been warned that if a child gains a place on the basis of false information, their child may be removed from the school. Poole in Dorset made headlines when it used anti-terrorist legislation to spy on three families suspected of catchment cheating.

At the same time, LAs are becoming more vigilant in their monitoring.  An investigation by the Local Government Association earlier this year found that, of 31 councils surveyed, 77 per cent reported an increase in the numbers of parents found to be lying on school admissions application forms.  

We know what schools say their catchment area and entrance criteria are but our own eyes show us parents pulling up at the school gates after motoring in from a distinctly non-catchment direction. So how can you find out where the pupils at each state school really come from? 

Real catchment areas  - does a foot in the door mean living a mere few feet from the school? 

The Good Schools Guide has come up with a Catchment Area Analysis System that generates a graphic snapshot of the geographical spread of addresses from which pupils have been admitted to a school. For the first time, it is possible to see every state school’s REAL catchment area – the area within which pupils actually live. These are found on individual school pages (Catchment information is only produced for English state schools and you have to be a logged in subscriber to view).

So near, so far...

Not surprisingly, the real catchment is often at odds with the ‘official version’. While conventional wisdom says the catchment areas of the most popular state schools are measured in terms of feet, not miles, real catchment areas reveal surprising anomalies:

• St George's School in Harpenden, Hertfordshire a famously oversubscribed senior school (with boarding): Pupils are attending from as far away as south London and Reading.
• Poole Grammar School in Dorset - hit the headlines in 2006 when it restricted entrants to pupils who had attended junior school within the borough. Many pupils are still being admitted from two neighboring LAs.
• St Mary Abbots School in Kensington - a tiny C of E school selected by Mr and Mrs David Cameron. Pupils have come from as far as Ealing
• London Oratory School in Fulham - school of choice for the Blairs: Pupils come from as far north as Muswell Hill and southwest to Sunbury.

To find the Real catchment area for any English state school...

....go to its school page, on our site, and click on Catchment Area.

Don't be tempted to join the cheaters. Remember that the school of your dreams is not the only fish in the sea. 

Oversubscribed schools often suffer from huge class sizes, and their brilliant exam results may reflect the aspirations of the parents or too much emphasis on exam coaching rather than excellence of teaching.

A school’s popularity is often like the stock market: dependent on psychology and mob behaviour, rather than intrinsic value; and lately we've all learned plenty about that.

Having said that, you are probably curious about:

The Catchment Area Cheat’s Handbook

• The Sibling Subterfuge: pretend a cousin, your spouse’s child, or even an unrelated child with the same surname, is a sibling.
• The Rental Ruse: rent a flat (or even a hotel room) within the catchment area have mail redirected and whatever you do, supply a land line phone number - mobile only is a dead giveaway.
• The Caravan Caper: move the family into a caravan within the catchment area.
• The SEN Scam: children with medical problems or special educational needs are often given preference in school entrance policies; so get the blighter tested, and document your case (you'll need a statement from the LA to prove your point).
• The Granny Gambit: An old chestnut and difficult to detect. Use a grandparent’s address within the catchment area.
• The Faith Fiddle: For C of E and other faith schools, start attending the appropriate place of worship well in advance of your application; baptise the little monsters. And faith schools are no longer able to interview parents to judge commitment to the faith, so cross the crucifix pendant or head scarf off your shopping list.
• The Tutorial Trick: hire a tutor to help get your little Miss Average into a selective school.

Further reading

School Open Evenings

London Schools In The Good Schools Guide

Mix And Match State And Private Education

Appealing For A School Place

The Good Schools Guide Advice Service

State School Admissions - How To Secure A Place