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700 children miss out on school place
Dominic Hayes, Education Correspondent1 May 2008
Hundreds of children have no primary school to go to this autumn as a new crisis engulfs the admissions system.
At least 700 children in south-west London have missed out on all their preferred choices.
Kingston council admitted today that about 200 families had not been offered any of their chosen schools. There are only 30 spare places available to the children - at two unpopular, undersubscribed schools.
A council spokesman said: "The situation is unprecedented in recent years and the demand for places has exceeded the projected need based on the usual indicators, such as increased birth rate and local housing developments.
"This year's increase appears to be a result of more families moving into the borough and the possibility that the slowdown in the economy is affecting the number of parents choosing independent schools."
In Sutton 88 children have not been allocated a place, in Merton the total is 258 and in Richmond it is 158, although the council said the proportion of "unplaced" pupils was half that of last year.
Other London boroughs are likely to have similar difficulties.
Parents, who are considering legal action, accused councils of failing to plan properly for a growth in the number of infants needing schools, including recent arrivals from eastern Europe. Many of the most popular primaries fill their reception classes with siblings of older children.
Joanna Cobley, an oil contractor from Kingston, may have to send her son Daniel, four, to a private school after he and eight others out of the 23 children in his year at Kingston Kindergarten received no offers. They are all now on waiting lists.
She said: "It's almost like the council is relying on a percentage to go private ... in which case, where are the tax breaks?"
Mrs Cobley said officials had failed to explain what was happening, adding: "I would be interested to hear why this has hit crisis levels."
The Kingston spokesman said some places would become available on 14 May, when families who have been offered places by more than one borough and are also considering going private make a decision.
A Richmond spokesman said: "We have the best primary schools in the country and with the demand for places correspondingly high, we work very hard to find places for all our applicants."
Richmond Council said many of the unplaced applicants it dealt with came from outside the borough, while 63 lived inside the authority's borders.
Reader views (2)
I would like to share what just engulfed my family. My niece who is four currently goes to a nice little catholic school, she is in nursery class however as required nationally, one has to apply for a primary place although you are naturally progressing to the next class. So, we filled the form putting her current school as first choice and nothing else. To my sister's horror, she got a rejection letter from the LEA that my niece cannot progress to reception class as expected along with two others. Reason? they have to prioritise other Catholics from outside although the family of these three children are from the Christian denomination too. When they were offered the nursery place, they also had to provide their support from their parish church which states that they are church going families; is it ever morally right to chuck out pupils from school because they are not the right denomination of Christianity? If so, why were they given nursery spaces in the first place? Having started school life in a nice place, her chance of a smooth transition to reception class in the same school has been snatched away. I think this is absolutely cruel.
- Hirut Fajembola, London, 02/05/2008 05:12
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We have had ongoing problems in Lambeth too for many years.
There are at least 8 families in my street with children who have just entered or about to go and none of us could get in the nearest community school through the regular selection process. This is pulling our supportive neighbourhood apart as we are dispersed across different primary schools and how do you explain to a 4 year old that she can not go to the same primary school as her friends next door. In anticipation of this I had requested information under the Freedom of Information Act from Lambeth Council back in December about their school planning process, use of demographic data and analysis of population trends. They did reply in quite detail but it raised more questions. From their reply it looked like they were using only high level data (Towncentre) which would not pick up local population trends. Especially in our area in South Lambeth a lot of young families moved into relatively affordable family homes over the last 5 to 8 years. I am just about to make a second request under the Freedom of Information Act but still a bit unsure about the best way forward.
Would like to hear from any parents who have challenged their local council and exchange experiences.
- Susanne.Olatunji, London UK, 01/05/2008 16:00
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