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?
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...
@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.
@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.
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