Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Sleepless Nights over Harringay School
Worried: Katy Mendes is concerned that her daughter Holly will not get a place at South
Harringay School (Picture © Evening Standard)
The Evening Standard carried a story today about the fears of London's parents about a shortfall in primary school places.
More than 7,000 extra primary school places are being created in London this year but experts admit there is an “enormous challenge” to find enough space for all the children needing places.
Included in the article is the picture above and the following:
Katy Mendes, pictured above, who lives less than 100 metres from her first-choice school, South Harringay Junior, is worried her three-year-old daughter Holly will not get a place because the school is so heavily over-subscribed.
“I can’t remember being this nervous for a very long time,” she said. “I’m having sleepless nights. There’s a significant shortage of school places in inner-city London — the demand for good schools is so high.”
Full article on the Evening Standard website.
Tags for Forum Posts: education, school admissions, schools, south harringay school
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by JulieB on
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I think people get told the distances in their offer letters. Chestnuts was 0.3 this year, last year it was 0.23 so you can see there are some small changes. I think it largely depends on the number of siblings, last year Chestnuts had a record of 37 siblings which was why the catchment was so small, this year I think there were about 22 siblings which is a much more normal number.
The statistics for all the over subscribed local schools will be printed by the council in their application document, if you have a child starting school in Sept 2013 you'll need to apply this autumn. The document for 2012 is still on the council website which will give you a rough idea. http://www.haringey.gov.uk/index/children-families/education/school...
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Permalink Reply by Germana on
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bearing in mind that Chestnuts this year had a slightly wider catchment area and North Harringay a much, much smaller one. Things really do change from one year to the next....
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Permalink Reply by Craig McGuire on
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Thanks for the feedback. What an incredibly stressful situation!!!
Looking at the figures from last year, on Allison road we have a good chance of not getting in to either North or South Harringay schools. Does anyone know what happens then? How far could we have to travel?
The worst part is that it makes me consider moving, which would be awful as I love the ladder.
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Permalink Reply by cara howard on
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Usually on the form booklet when you apply it gives you the previous year's stats - how many applied for each place and what the furthest distance offered was.
It's been a while since I filled one in, so it may have changed.
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Yes, it's been 4 or 5 years since I had to apply for a primary school place (but have recently applied for a place at secondary school) but as far as I can work out the term catchment area is a misnomer.
The main criteria are children in care/looked after, social/medical need, children with an SEN, siblings and then distance. From what I can see it's the siblings category which is the largest; almost no children with social/medical need, a handful of looked after children, and a few with an SEN were offered places.
But I agree, the whole system is confusing and confused. Children,especially primary school aged children, should be able to attend their nearest school.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Using the 2012 data given by other members on this post and the other simillar one running concurrently, this is what the 2012 catchment areas look like. (I've taken the school centre as the centre of the radii. If the distance is taken from the school boundaries then they would be slightly larger.
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Permalink Reply by Liza on
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That's interesting Hugh. Looking at Chestnuts you can see that basically because about a third of the catchment is taken up by the hospital and park, the catchment area is effectively to the west of the school rather than an actual circle around it. It also makes it clear that catchment sizes relate in part to density of housing, not just to application numbers, which I suppose is obvious but I hadn't quite registered. Fun fun fun!!
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The distances are measured using Royal Mail data, so I expect that it is wherever letters are delivered to. This does actually make a difference because I know several people from Beechfield Road whose children were offered a place at Chestnuts this year and according to your map they would be outside the "catchment". Those extra few feet make all the difference!
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Chestnuts is a lovely school. It was our first choice last year and we didn't get a place despite being very close as there were so many siblings. This year we'd have had no trouble getting a place as there were fewer siblings. Don't believe everything you read in the Ofsted reports - they can be way off the mark. Everyone I know who sends their children there is very happy with the school, and we are still on the waiting list and hoping to get a place still (for year 1). Contrary to what was said above, where I live (not on the ladder) Chestnuts is the only good school. There are no other good ones nearby.
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just for the record - I put Chestnuts down as one of my choices and would have been more than happy for her to go there
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Lucky you - I live 220m away from South Harringay Infants and did not get a place. We have been offered a place at Tiverton Primary which by my reckoning is 1.5 miles away and there isn't even a direct bus route from where we are on the ladder. So that would be £5.40 per day in bus fares (4 x £1.35 fares) not to mention the time that's likely to take. I went to take a look at the school through the gates on Saturday morning - it's surrounded by tower blocks and all the windows have security grilles on them - I could have wept. Can someone reassure me that this is also a good school. I didn't get any of my six choices and would have been equally happy with Chestnuts.
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I didn't put Tiverton down as one of my choices for the reasons you give, even though it is actually our nearest non-faith school. However, when I was visiting other schools the head of Downhills told me that he thought the the headteacher there was inspirational. I didn't have enough time to visit. So it may well be a lot better than you might think.
However, in your position, with all the travelling, I would put myself down on as many waiting lists (for nearer schools) as possible. You can go on the waiting list now even if you did not originally put a school down as one of your choices. It might be worth visiting some nearer schools that you hadn't otherwise considered. I would look at which schools are in walking distance and look at any that are not heavily oversubscribed (add your name to the oversubscribed schools too, as you never know).
It is all very stressful - I really feel for you. A year on I am still hoping that we can get a place at Chestnuts for our son at some point in the future.
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