I currently live 587 metres from Belleville (according to the council) and have been on the waiting list since April, moving from 17th to 1st over a period of 3 months and then recently dropping back down to 4th.

Thats such rubbish as it clearly states on the council website from school to home address!

Measurements are taken from the Belleville Rd main site not the Forthbridge (which is now called Meteor site).

So how does the Forthbridge site of Belleville school work?

I'm 150 metres away from it but is it measured from the Belleville Road school?

I'm sure you've probably made sure of this already but you might want to check exactly which entrance to Belleville school they measure the distance from. I originally thought it was the main entrance on Belleville Road which would put us at about 350 metres (according to my calculation on googlemaps) but then the council worked it out at 430 metres which is quite a big difference! Luckily we still scraped into the Forthbridge Road site.

You might be okay! I'm sure last year it went to about 750 metres for reception once term had started. Although with that distance you will probably end up at the new Meteor site.

That is encouraging. We are dithering over a house that is 655 metres away by foot (480m as the crow flies) and would be prepared to go private for a year and then switch our child if we thought we could get in by grimly hanging on!

I know of a child from my sons nursery who was over 100 on the waiting list for reception 2010 and approx 900 metres from Belleville. A year later she is at number 2 on the list.
Not sure it really helps much as each years entry is different but the list always seems to move quite quickly, guess it just depends how long you're happy to wait!

Thanks for that - I finally got hold of the council this morning and they confirmed that is is indeed walking distance. We have been desperately trying to get a property we can afford in the Belleville catchment and thought we had found one, but whilst it is in the catchment as the crow flies it is 100metres out in terms of walking distance. Is it to much to hope that one might get in via waiting list/mid-year entry if one is out by this distance? I'd love to know what people think.

I was told it was the safest street lit walking distance. I know lambeth is in a straight line but wandsworth is not. Hope this helps.

Does anyone know if one's distance from the school is measured 'as the crow flies' or in terms of walking distance? I've had no luck getting a reply from Wandsworth, who say to allow 18-21 days for replies to email! Any advice much appreciated.

Just in case anyone was wondering, I think these distances are from the first round of offers in April. By the time school starts and waiting lists have moved the distances go out a little further - but not that much!

Hi all, Finally got a reply. Pasting it below:

_____________________________________
Thank you for your email regarding primary schools.

I would like to explain that a school catchment area is the geographic area from which students are eligible to attend a local school. In Wandsworth there are no catchment areas for any schools so you can apply from any address, however in 2011 we were only able to offer to the following distances for the schools that you named. All measurements are given in metres.
· Belleville 550.234
· Honeywell 381.567
· Allfarthing 291.718

Beatrix Potter is slightly different in as much as they have two priority areas and those children living within the priority areas are considered ahead of those living outside, The way that places were offered for September 2011 for Beatrix Potter are as follows:
o Siblings living inside the priority area – 1102.919
o Applicants living in Priority Area 1 – 1144.167
o Applicants living in Priority Area 2 – 1341.405
o Siblings living outside the priority area – 6518.126
o Applicants living outside the priority areas – 803.565

These are the distances for children applying for a place in the first year (Reception) of Primary School for September 2011.

I am attaching this link so that you can see how far we were able to offer to the individual schools for the last round of applications into Reception in 2010, this should give you a realistic idea of how close you would need to live to a school to possibly be offered a place.

http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/info/200086/schools_and_colleges/18/primary_school_places

Hi,

Belleville does not have a priority area. There was a consultation about it, but for now the admission process has been left unchanged.

Cheers,

Sam

Still not heard back from Wandsworth council despite calling them. Appreciate if anyone can shed any more light on catchment areas. Does Honeywell also have a priority area like Belleville? Any idea how far they went this year? thanks!