Politicians' school choices

The conversation below was moved from another thread to allow that discussion to fulfil its intended objective:

by matt 1 day ago

Whilst on this subject, there are two good local primary schools in your area Karen. I hear that your own children go to schools elsewhere. Please correct me if I've heard wrong!


Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) 1 day ago

But Matt, surely you know that MPs and councillors are expected to make this sort of altruistic sacrifice to ease pressures on primary school places, purely in the interests of their constituents' offspring?


Reply by Julie 14 hours ago

This argument's a bit unfair on MPs and councillors who can't answer back on behalf of their spouses and children. David Lammy is often portrayed on this site as somebody who has moved to the white highlands when he actually lives just a little bit south of Harringay, two or three streets outside the ward and in the catchment area for a local community school. He moved there for good reasons.

There are a lot of good schools in Haringey. People often choose outside their immediate catchment area for a variety of reasons: proximity to childminders, friendship groups, special needs issues or because they want a faith school. In the past it has tended to even out, with most people being happy with what they're offered, though there is pressure on school places coming up, and those who opt for a popular school a long way from home may find their nearest school full, when they get rejected.

If there is going to be a problem with this, Karen is your elected councillor and is clearly interested in the topic. Her first port of call should be the admissions officers to obtain facts about reception class admissions for September. They have maps showing where the applicants live and which schools they want, and have been offered. They will have details of all the appeals. Some schools are being asked to open new reception classes, and given funding to do it. She can find out which ones these are and report all this back on this site. It's an unusual approach to a problem to start out with a shout out for anecdotes and casework. Taking this kind of strategic approach as a local councillor, I would have thought, is more important than where she sends her children to school.

Interest declared: I am a member of the Labour party, NUT activist and St Ann's resident whose children went to the nearest schools, because I couldn't face making a picky decision I later regretted. They have both done very well.


Reply by Cllr. Karen Alexander (Libdem) 12 hours ago

I have already made the relevant enquiries with council officers and am awaiting a response but thought it would be useful to also engage with residents thorough HoL. I will of course be updating the site when I have some answers.

I am tempted not to engage in any dialogue about my childrens school but for clarity and for the record my children do go to a school outside of Harringay ward because we wanted a faith school linked to our church.


Reply by Birdy_Too 10 hours ago

They do teach 'faith' at all Harringay schools. Quite ironic that you don't have 'faith' in Harringay's schools.

Reply by Julie 9 hours ago

I've (personally) got some sympathy with the secular schools lobby. I think it's weird that a school can say to a child living on the doorstep, 'You can't come in here. You're not the right religion.' And an awful lot of my friends and neighbours found God when the time was right. You can stop going to church when the kid's safely in the school, apparently.

South and North Harringay are good schools. Some of the most oversubscribed Haringey schools are seriously overrated. Sometimes all the engineering and falsified addresses and money in the world will deliver a school where your child is miserable or doesn't do well.

I think that Harringay residents are right to ask councillors about ways they support the local schools. Sending your own child to a school undeniably constitutes a vote of confidence.



Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) 10 hours ago

Yep, Julie, I was being a bit unfair - but evenhandedly, I hope. Respect, Karen, for a perfectly acceptable response.

Interest declared: a Free Radical NUT passivist, sometime teacher in both 'faiths' and 'states'; thrice voted D.Lammy (2000/2001/2005); twice voted K.Alexander (2006/2010); trusting SHS and NHS primaries will have places for my kidz whenever I get around to it.


Reply by John McMullan 1 hour ago

David Lammy is often portrayed on this site as somebody who has moved to the white highlands when he actually lives just a little bit south of Harringay, two or three streets outside the ward and in the catchment area for a local community school

I don't care where David Lammy lives and so I don't care where he sends his kids to school. Unlike say, Tristram Hunt, I do think he has a genuine connection with his constituency. That said, I think that you're being deluded describing Lancaster Rd as just a teeny bit away from Harringay. That railway is like a large river with not many places to cross. West Haringey and East Haringey are very different beasts, not just politically.


Reply by Helen Riley 1 hour ago

My comment isn't about the schools issue - so apologies for going off-message, but this phrase 'white highlands?' It seems to be used perjoratively of an area and therefore the people who live in the area. Which - if it is basically being used to mean 'racist' - is really unpleasant. I would appeal for people not to use phrases which could be construed as demeaning to their neighbours.


Reply by John D 58 minutes ago

I agree - and it's not the first time it has appeared in a post by Julie.


Reply by Clive Carter 1 hour ago

I live (just) over the railway line in Stroud Green. The railway line is not the Berlin Wall. I go through Harringay frequently. Lancaster Road is slightly to the south of me. It's not a big deal, in fact I would say its irrelevant.

Criticism of Mr Lammy on legitimate grounds is fair enough but where he lives is not a one of those grounds. It is fair to say that he lives a short distance outside Harringay but it would hardly matter one way or the other if it was further away.

An MP's address is a distraction when there are important matters out there.




Reply by Birdy_Too 37 minutes ago
The constituency he represents or the constituency he 'lives' in? He has naff all connection with SOT Central.



Reply by John McMullan 31 minutes ago
@Birdy, many MPs have no connection with where they represent. Ours does. Lucky us.


Reply by rwillmsen 17 minutes ago

Slightly offtopic I suspect but in relation to the previous poster I'd far rather have a Labour MP even if they lived in a town far far away and had never even heard of the constituency in question, rather than a yellow Tory.