What kind of admissions criteria might a school apply?

What kind of admissions criteria might a school apply?

Ralph Lucas (Editor, The Good Schools Guide) gives expert video advice on: What kind of admissions criteria might a school apply?; How do schools choose which children to accept?; We don't live in the catchment area of a perfect school, can we still apply? and more...

The key one is usually where you live, and that can take various forms. Sometimes it is the distance from the school as the crow flies, and they will just draw a line around the school and in it you're in and out of it you're out. Or, they will do it by walking distance, and then they will have some acute computer program that traces a safe walking route from the school to your home. Or, they can do it by individual parishes, or by the pupils that went to individual primary schools. There's all sorts of different geographical variations you can go for. Sometimes that's also split up by what's called banding, where they will give children an exam, not to decide whether they get into the school or not, but to split them into academic bands. They will then take an equal proportion of each band of academic ability. That means that the geographic limits will vary according to academic ability. They might be quite tight for the top band, and really quite loose for lower down. Or, they may vary, which makes it difficult to know. Obviously, grammar schools will select on academic criteria. Religious schools will have some sort of relgious hurdle to get through. Many schools will allow preference for siblings, so that parents aren't having to go to one school there and the other school the other way, so that they can organise their lives properly. Beyond that, there is almost always preference for children with special needs of some kind or another, whether it's medical or educational, and for children that are in care who have priorty at any school.