Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Primary School Places/N Harringay School
I read with some dismay the recent news stories regarding the shortfall of primary school places in London, and the numbers of pupils who do not get their first preference for places. My son will start school in September 2012, and I would love to hear first hand from parents who have applied this year. Questions that I have running around my head include:
Has anyone not got a place at all?
How many parents got their first choice of schools?
What criteria did parents use to make their selection eg, location/Ofsted reports etc.
Of the three primary schools within a mile of me, North Harringay seems to rate highest on their Ofsted report, but is the furthest away. South Harringay is closest, but scores much lower. I don't think Ofsted reports alone can tell the whole story - so what would parents recommend?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
-
Thanks John. And to think that a whole 168 hours have passed without my even realising that Gina had brought me down to earth, not so much with a boom as a bump. But at least it's a different Gina this time.
-
Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
-
And nobody even sees that it's precisely the fact that people are planning more babies that has brought about this boom and hence shortage in school places. Before that, we were all just accidents that had ceased waiting to happen.
I wonder if the person who took over from Sharon Shoesmith will be sacked over this. I wonder if anyone will be sacked. I appreciate that it's difficult to pry into people's homes but at it's most basic level government is about planning for things like this and they ALWAYS get 5 years notice. Is it like when you get given too long to do your homework?
A good thing some of the wealthier parents in Crouch End are opting for private schools or the situation would be even worse.
-
Permalink Reply by Germana on
-
Liz posted earlier a story about the government cutting funding late last year for extra primary school places that would have been needed in Haringey. So there you go, it's not just bad planning. It's the usual story....
This time it seems the government might not just be hitting the poor but also be also damaging their own voters in the more affluent and conservative parts of the borough....except these are more likely to blame the Council that the government itself for this mess. Of course there will be a variety of causes for what is going on but it's certainly really shameful, because as you say they had 5 years' notice...
-
-
Right, John. Isn't it long after time for Haringey's Planning & Enforcement to extend its remit to the baby boom problem?
-
Permalink Reply by Louise Nazeraj on
-
@Gina O Thanks for your advice - I will be contacting other home educators and this has been suggested to me by various sources. The decision to home school would be a last resort believe me. I work from home, live in a one bedroomed flat and have a child who would rather listen to Pingu's squawks than take any lessons from me!
I'm largely basing my aversion to Tiverton on the fact it is completely outside my community and for all the reasons that people have listed on here and other threads, I want to be able to invest in a school within my community, not one on the other side of the borough.
Unfortunately my daughter turns 5 on the 7th September so keeping her in a nursery is not an option for me either. But I'm working on a cracking appeal so watch this space.
-
-
good luck Louise! I hope you win your appeal or find another suitable solution.
In any case, worth mentioning that I had a neighbour who was home schooling her two girls in Stoke Newington and she said good things about it and also mentioned there is a good network of parents working together on it. I am not sure whether she was employed in any way outside the home, and I am sure this is a big investment in terms of your time and effort - and she did eventually send them to a secondary school.
-
-
I have to say that I personally believe home-educating is a bad idea anyway, let alone in your circumstances. At the end of the day, the Council have to give you a place somewhere, and it's not what you want, you join the waiting list for a school that you do want, and a place will be come available at some point. Teachers are, after all, trained to do the job they do. Unless you are a Stephen Fry type worldly wise person, what makes you think that you can do their job better than you they can without any training?
-
-
From my own experience as a parent and a student, I respectfully disagree. A professional chef cooks for 30, there are plenty of amateurs who can do wonders for four.
-
-
Well funnily enough I did train as a teacher so I might have some idea of what I'm doing. But it is a last resort, driven by desperate measures but one I may have to consider if I don't get a school close to my home. I like your idea of primary schools being staffed by worldly wise Stephen Fry types. I seem to remember my primary school being staffed by a bunch of short-tempered hungover remnants from flower power who'd flunked their degrees and thought they could get away with teaching little children and get long holidays while they were at it. But I'm sure times have changed enormously.
-
-
The idea of a Stephen fry-up, whether for four or for thirty, leaves me a little queasy. Sure, he's a good egg, a national trencherman and, at least on those days when full of beans, he probably wouldn't make such a hash of things. But, rasher folk might suggest, he's never really held down a job long enough to bring home the bacon and I'd fear for his pupils on those mornings when the mushroom cloud descends. Proof of the white pudding's in the eating, of course, but I fear a diet of Qi-University Challenge-Oscar Wilde-Moab is my Footstool - The Ode less Travelled and other unfinished dramas might not substitute for the national literacy/numeracy grind for 4 or 14-year olds. I think by October Half-Term poor Stephen would be toast.
-
-
Hee hee I have enjoyed your breakfast-based musings. Stephen Fry used to teach my brother-in-law French at a St Custard's type school long long ago. I think he was viewed with affection.
-
-
@HC, this post has cracked me up as much as most of OAEs. Brilliant!
They haven't changed at all as far as I can work out. At least mine could play guitar and speak Maori.
© 2024 Created by Hugh.
Powered by
