Would you select this school as your first choice?

[Itspardonnotwhat]

Long sorry so will try hard to summarise and answer any questions but I wondered what people would do in the following circumstances.

Current two schools in catchment are very oversubscribed. No chance of getting into one, slim chance of getting into the other. Both are 1 mile+ away along busy roads. Huge capacity issues in the area, projected shortfall of 30 places in area for 2013 intake. Local council has proposed building a new school in the village. Proposed sites are all easy walking distance from my house. School admission forms have to be returned by middle of January.

The time table for the new school includes a decision on the site and the school provider (two local schools have expressed an interest in running it as a satellite) in the middle of December. This will still be subject to a formal statuority consultation period and planning consents which won't be concluded by the time admission forms need to be sent in but selecting this new school (albeit just in the planning stages at the moment) is apparently an option.

Would you choose this new school? Would you send your child there?

Thanks

[midseasonsale]

I'd be ever so interested. If it is likely one of the good schools is running the new school, I would be keener. Means all play mates will be very local. The worse case situation is that after a few years if you are not happy, you move child to a different school.

[CecilyP]

No real idea how long it takes to build a new school, but if they start in January, will the school be ready in September? While, in your position, I would be interested, I would also want to find out what happens if the building is not complete.

[Itspardonnotwhat]

Thank you, sorry for the delayed reply (family funeral)

Yes, contingency plans for if it is not built on time are key I agree. I'm not sure if we will be made aware of them by the time we have to apply though I do know that the two schools have to detail them as part of their business case for running the place.

Yes it is an exciting prospect and I am hopeful that it will come about. However every time a local parent makes a comment about not making their child a guinea pig in a new school, or not being prepared to take risks with their childrens schooling then I start to doubt myself again! But yes, worse case scenario we move schools in a few years time (though I suspect places will be hard to come by.)

It also feels a huge risk selecting a school that we currently know so little about but I suppose there's an inherent risk in any school selection.

[lljkk]

Yes I would seriously consider, not sure why you wouldn't.
Sometimes past tells you nothing about the future.

[mrz]

They started building a new school in my village 15 months ago and it nowhere near complete definitely something to consider.

[titchy]

If they haven't yet started the formal consultation are you even going to be able to put it as an option? How many schools can you list? Other than the two oversubscribed ones what other provision is there?

[Itspardonnotwhat]

The council seems confident, well as confident as they can be, that it will be up and running by september 2013. Site selection is currently taking place and the building will itself be a 'flatpack' type affair so, supposedly, easy to construct. It will also be on council owned land so no problems re purchasing etc.

We can list four schools (I think, the form is upstairs). I'm not sure how we can list the proposed school as an option but we have been asked to submit our forms as close to the deadline as possible as by then they should know the provider, site, having planning consents. I'm assuming they they will let us know when, and if, we can include it as an option. It is most definately being touted as an option for 2013 though. I have a meeting next week with someone from the schools admission team so that question is top of my list.

In terms of other provision, we may just be lucky for one of the over subscribed schools dependant on the number of siblings and church goers who take precedence in the admission criteria. Past years have had unsuccessful children diverted to other local schools in a nearby small town which are not as highly regarded. However the area has a shortfall of 30 primary places as a whole for the coming intake year so no guarantee we'd even get into one of those.