I want to think about this now because by the time it is actually relevant to my family (ds is only 7) it will be too late to do anything about it.
The school in question is an academy in a city centre with an excellent academic reputation and excellent public transport links to every part of the city. Not surprisingly it is massively oversubscribed. It is an academy.
Its admissions policy has the following priorities:
Looked after children and those who have the school named on their ECHP (obviously, no prob with that)
Siblings of those currently at the school.
Everyone else, by lottery.
The problem is that this year, nearly 80% of the spaces were gone by the time the sibling places had been allocated. So any elder sibling or only child has an almost negligible chance of getting one of the tiny number of remaining places.
Sibling priority makes sense for primary schools - obviously when a parent has to deliver and collect their children at the school gate they can't be in two places at once. But for a senior school where pretty much every pupil (apart from those with additional challenges) arrives by bus unaccompanied by a parent - what justification is there for giving so many places to siblings?
I think this policy should be challenged but I don't know how - who decides and who has influence. Do challenges like this ever succeed?
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Secondary education
Is there any way to call for a school to change its admissions policy?
40 replies
peukpokicuzo · 10/03/2017 08:08
OP posts:
tiggytape ·
10/03/2017 09:13
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