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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Pupils cannot be denied a place in their preferred schools simply because they are full, a court ruled yesterday.

The landmark High Court judgement is likely to give hope to thousands of families who challenge the schools they are allocated each year before independent appeals panels (IAPs).

In the case, the mother of an 11-year-old girl took her battle to London's High Court after an appeal panel rejected her choice of secondary school because it was full.

The mother - referred to as M - wanted her daughter (MC) to be educated away from her London inner city neighbourhood and its problems of crime and bullying. The mother had applied to a popular and oversubscribed school but she was rejected by Haringey's schools council admissions service.

The ruling means M and her daughter are entitled to a fresh hearing before the IPA.

This was the first High Court case to examine provisions of the new schools admissions appeal code 2009. It will provide guidelines for parents and education authorities in the future.

More on the ruling here.

Tags for Forum Posts: haringey heartlands, school funding

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Doesn't matter how small the amout is..

Anyway, instead of 'us' paying for 'them' .. how about 'them' paying for 'us' for a change..

What about this for an idea..
From Stephen's link;

A group of rich Germans has launched a petition calling for the government to make wealthy people pay higher taxes.

Germany could raise 100bn euros (£91bn) if the richest people paid a 5% wealth tax for two years, they say.

The path out of the crisis must be paved with massive investment in ecology, education and social justice," they say in the petition.

Those who had "made a fortune through inheritance, hard work, hard-working, successful entrepreneurship, or investment" should contribute by paying more to alleviate the crisis.


I like! Calling all rich Britons ....
This is available in Crouch End but no longer in Tottenham where it could do more good. Why not?

It is not valid to knock down my argument with a "costs too much". It costs a hell of a lot more having those kids roaming the streets beating one another up and vandalising railway stations.

I am pretty sure that I'm on record somewhere here on the site as acknowledging that the hooded little thugs are actually the ones most likely to be beaten up and robbed and yes I know they're scared.

I also don't think I've said "national service" or "CMT". It does have to be an option.
It's not about saying it costs too much. It's about saying that if you can afford to institute some form of 'military service' (whatever you wish to call it) then you can afford to fund a chronically underfunded and little considered aspect of our education system called Further Education to the advantage of those that could make use of it.

To return to Eddie's point about how do we solve problems of under achievement and lack of aspiration, you are not going to deal with the issues of confidence and helping first generation kids into higher education by sticking them in the army.

You will do it by mentoring and providing the kind of networking and support that middle class kids take as their birth right. Organisations like Connexions try very hard to provide this. The Connexions advisors in our school were worth their weight in gold, doing all that stuff that parents normally do: helping filling in application forms, getting references, finding money for them, being on their side. Fund a few thousand more of those wonderful people. If parents can't or won't do it then we have to find the money to fund those who will. One more year in education literally saved the life of one of my pupils because it meant that she could get the pastoral and medical help she needed. She was helped there by a Connexions worker.

The point is that I know that further education can and does make a difference to people who mess up or have insurmountable problems at 16.

On your last point, going in the army is already an option. You can join at 16 if you wish.
Going to University is an option too, you just have to pass some easy exams. Further education is not for everybody and those that leave school are saying just that. Men especially have very few options. We like to fight and compete with one another not sell trainers! Why are the army not recruiting from schools around here? Because they're snobs.

You don't need to stick them in the army. This young reprobate attended ATC in New Zealand from the age of 13, it made a huge difference to my life. Doing rifle drill with M16s and learning to fly were huge confidence boosters.
There were some posts in here not long ago about how dreadful it was that youngsters from Tottenham were forced to join the Services because they had no other option.

And going to University is only an option if you can afford it and are prepared to come out with debts of 20-30K and no guarantee or even liklihood of a job at the end of it.
Tottenham Grammar School eh ? Does that still exist doing this fine work ? Somehow I doubt it. Maybe we need more Grammar schools ? :-)
Tottenham Grammar fund provide grants for schools in Haringey to fund all manner of projects.

John M: the army do recruit in poorer areas. We had reps from the Army and the Air Force coming into school assemblies.

A simple question: if all those kids leaving school at 16 want to do military service, why don't they simply join the Army? It's not as if they don't know it exists! I don't follow your reasoning at all.

Kids leave school because they don't want to be academic, fair enough. They surely should be offered options that do not involve joining up? Hence, my (sorry long post) basically suggesting a more European model of tech schools and apprenticeships. Some kids I actually believe should be allowed to enter these early i.e. at 14 rather than put them through the torture of 2 more years of academic study. The key is quality. Apprenticeships that lead to practical qualifications that lead to jobs.

Lots of kids I taught did want to train for a trade but the competition for places was a fierce as getting into Oxbridge and many kids were left with no alternative if they were not successful.

Further education does not mean academic study necessarily. That's what 6th forms are for. It means practical learning, being mentored in a real work place and something at the end of it plus the opportunity to aim higher if they decide that rather than being an electrician they want to study electrical engineering and design the lights at Blackpool every year.

Sure the ATC have a place but confidence could equally be learned on a gardening project or building cars. What is needed is adults prepared to spend quality time with them teaching them how to be an adult. That is the important thing.
John, of course it's valid to say your solution costs too much.

Like everything in life, there's more stuff to spend money on than money available. If the cost/benefit ratio of sending everyone into Military service doesn't stack up - let's not do it.

Personally I'd like to see a National Institute of Educational Excellence (NIEE) modeled on NICE that *gasp* evaluated teaching according to results and funded what works.

It never ceases to amaze me that we let anyone with a theory loose on our children's brains, often with not a jot of evidence that the latest (or oldest) fad works.
I love the idea of NIEE. I will suggest this in some appropriate quarters.

Everyone's an expert, when it comes to education. Teachers are always the last to be asked for an opinion, if they get asked at all. Worse than this, they seem too ready to accept that politicians, parents, governors, almost anybody really, has a better idea than they have about how children learn.
I didn't say everyone. Just the young men who like to fight and have nothing better to do. I mean, that is what soldiers do isn't it?

It will cost money sure but it's really unfair to compare my solution to something unspecified and free and say "look, it costs money". Of course it costs money, what do you think it costs us having these blokes just smoking weed and beating one another up?
Services for young people are definitely a postcode lottery and getting more so as they are outsourced and being run by voluntary organisations. The education system is excellent - has anyone seen what they do in schools these days? Bullying and crime are not created by schools, their origins are families and communities - let's work on them first, before communities are deserted and lose the tiny amount of pride they have left. I'd like to see what Ms M's neighbours have to say about her.

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