從 山地媽 那邊看到一單3月的新聞，St. Albans的熱門state school Beaumont School的catchment area 由2023年的840米縮小到2024年的511米 (大約是Sogo去到中央圖書館的距離，在英國即是幾個街口)，報紙訪問了數名因此失落目標Yr 7學席的家長，其中一位是港人家長，她剛好是2022年買了屋，住在512米距離，於是派不到。（報導1）
Locrating顯示的最新catchment area:
Catchment area大幅縮細的原因原來是本來學校收生人數是210人，但2022年的時候council告訴學校因為人口增加，叫他們臨時增加收生人數到240人（但政策上根據永久的published admissions number (PAN)是收210人），到了2024收生的時候，council要求學校回復至收210人，雖然學校想繼續收240人，但學校說council不讓他們這樣做。（報導2）
因為收生減少，加上兄弟姊妹入學人數增加(山地媽找到的資料)，所以catchment area大幅縮細，過往兩年的catchment area都是8百幾米，所以511至8百幾米範圍的家長派不到位覺得震驚是正常的。
當然，catchment area縮細，也可能某程度上因為所有熱門的non-selective school，就會吸引大批家長去租或買屋，如果搬入校區的適齡學生飆升，也有可能令catchment area更加縮小。
其實在英國，non-selective學校跟屋價和租金的關係很直接，也很現實。
我也是家長，我明白那些家長的驚訝和失望。
後續發展是，家長們找國會議員幫手，最後council同意讓學校回復到收240人，即是說本來落空的派位，應該可以失而復得。那算是喜劇收場了。（報導3）
不過，還是那一句，catchment area可升可跌，像上述Beaumont School 那樣大減3成多就很少見，不過如果你的住址在過往的catchment area邊皮位的話，就要作好心理準備隨時失手了。
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報導1 (Telegram)：
//A top state school “shrank its catchment area” without warning parents who bought nearby houses, families have claimed.
Dozens of families bought houses in St Albans, Hertfordshire, with the expectation that they would be in the right postcode for their children to get a place at Beaumont School, an “outstanding”-rated secondary school.
However, parents say they were shocked to learn on Friday that they had not been offered a place, despite some living as close as a six-minute walk from the school gate.
This year, the furthest distance between the school and the home of a child given a place in the catchment area was 511 metres, down from 873 metres last year and 840 metres in 2022.
Many children who have missed out on a place face an hour’s walk to schools that have accepted them instead.
Joey Kwong, an IT project manager, said she was stunned to learn that her son Brayden had not been offered a place, despite living 512 metres away.
She said she bought the house at the end of 2022 to get a place at the school and to have convenient commuter links to London.
She said: “Because we are both working, we want Brayden, our son, to be able to walk to secondary school so I can get back to full-time working”.
She said it was “pretty shocking” to find he had not been given a place on Friday.//
報導2 (BBC)：
//Families have said they are "devastated" their children cannot attend a local secondary school despite some living only 1,640ft (500m) away.
The pupil intake at Beaumont School in St Albans, Hertfordshire, will be reduced from September from 240 to 210.
The secondary school insisted the change to pupil numbers was made by the county council.
Richard Roberts, Conservative leader of the council, said the school was responsible for adjusting its intake.//
報導3 (The Herts Advertiser)：
//Hertfordshire County Council and the school agreed on Thursday (March 7) that it should continue to offer 240 places for the 2024/25 academic year, as it has done for the previous two, after initially lowering its intake.
"A large number of parents" had contacted the city's councillors and MP, about the situation, leading to Daisy Cooper MP writing a letter to the secretary of state, asking for the school's increased capacity to continue.//