Romesh Ranganathan - School Places & Entitlement

So, unsurprisingly, the issue is not still having children at two schools (which would also be the case with his other three preferences); he doesn’t like the school he has been allocated. As a parent, of course he can be disappointed with a school. But what he can’t do is point to his children as evidence and say ‘see I support state education’ if it is conditional on them going to specific above average schools.

Are you this likeable in real life? It must be tiring being this bitter all the time.

In this particular case, the school he wanted is very popular and over subscribed. Likewise, his other 3 preferences are popular and oversubscribed. He was offered a school within Crawley, it happens to be a very unpopular school with a poor reputation. He has the 'right of appeal' for the school he wanted (which incidently is where he and his wife taught before he switched to comedy) The school did have a sibling policy when the older two were admitted, it was then consulted on and changed.
Crawley at the moment is very squeezed for school places, lots of people moving in to the area etc. He may get in on appeal, he may get in on the waiting list, it happens to a lot of children in that area every year and even in later years when parents try and move them as there just isn't the movement.

Catchment is first priority and always has been.

Completely agree with this. It’s unfair to give priority to people who got into the school they wanted then moved. Places should be reserved for children in the local community, not parents who’ve played the system and relied on the sibling rule. Anyway a lot of admission policies will give preference to a child outside of catchment with a sibling at the school than one outside who doesn’t have a sibling. Once all the catchment places and SEN/LAC places have been allocated. It’s just that sibling isn’t the trump card it used to be. Rightly so in my book. I attended a different school to my brother. We travelled independently and didn’t expect a parent to take us. It wasn’t a pain at all. Also what about when parents have one in secondary and one in primary. That’s not the same school. People manage ok.

London has public transport though. Most of us, even in large towns, have a pretty sparse bus service.

It's just my internal narrative spilling out - it's not as if I can tell anybody to their face that they're chatting shit and no, their mate didn't get a place because of it, they didn't get their place despite it, it had absolutely no bearing upon the decision; it was just sheer dumb luck that they happened to get to the right place on the rankings or waiting list to be offered a place after their ridiculous performances.

That too, but I was thinking parents who think THEY got THEIR own place because they turned everyone else down/spoke to the headteacher/danced naked on the playing field under a full moon and then tell other parents that was the ‘secret’ of their success,

Oh, definitely. And deeply offensive when it's somebody effectively saying you have personally broken the Law/are corrupt.

Seriously, when there has been somewhere in the region of thirty thousand separate data points checked in a 15 working day period that also encompasses three data drops, two parents' evenings and mock exams, people who have genuinely exceptional circumstances have been handheld, guided through the process and additional evidence has been obtained on their behalf and then everything has been checked and subsequently robustly challenged, there is no way some entitled knobsworth is going to get a place for their kid because they've shouted at the Receptionist that they know their rights or that they're personal friends of the Deputy Head (who doesn't know them from Adam).

I saw his video on Instagram - his main complaint was having not got any of his 4 choices - that they were finding it impossible to get a reply to his emails or telephone calls. He also asked if other people were in the same position. I think the suggestion he was using his status to try and get them to change their minds is entirely erroneous.

There are families travelling over 2 hrs across London because they’ve been moved to temporary accommodation out of borough on the other side of the city. Takes hours on several buses.

He’s entitled to publicly complain about anything he likes, just like anyone else.

The local education authority is unlikely to deviate from its processes, so it’s not like he’ll get preferential treatment for being famous or wealthy. Nor should he. But he’s entitled to appeal, as anyone is. And his child may still eventually be offered a place if they’re on the waiting list.

If his child wasn’t likely to be in the catchment for all four schools they chose, it’s likely they won’t get offered any of their choices. That’s why it’s best to put realistic options.

Maybe he’s against private education as a matter of principle, as are many other people. I believe Paul McCartney’s kids went to state schools.

School admissions policy is a tough one. I’m a great believer kids should attend their local community school, so they can walk there and their school friends live nearby in the local community. So, IMHO living in the catchment area should come first. However, it’s a pain if you move outside and then siblings have to attend different schools. But not the end of the world because the eldest can and should travel to school on their own once teenagers, unless it’s a rural area with no buses.

And giving priority to siblings can be unfair because, for oversubscribed schools, it can allow families to game the system by moving into the catchment area for a few years to get their eldest into the school, then move to a preferable (e.g. cheaper) area and take advantage of sibling priority for subsequent kids. While kids who live nearby lose out.

I’m in Scotland. We have fixed catchments. You can make a placing request to a non-catchment school but will only be offered it if there is space once catchment kids are allocated (and often some spaces are reserved for children moving into catchment). There is priority rankings for placing requests with out of catchment siblings near the top. If you are in catchment and apply on time for S1 or P1 you are pretty much guaranteed a catchment place (never heard anyone not get one) and the number of classes increases or decreases to reflect numbers of catchment kids. Much more straightforward.

yeh same. There is a school near me whose actual catchment includes some far-flung villages, say 4 miles away (as otherwise DC would have to travel 10 miles +) but not some other villages/bits of the city which, while closer (say a mile or two), are served by other schools.

London is high density.

In rural areas, catchments mean that children living in villages have a chance at a "local" school.

My children's school catchment extends nearly 7 miles in some directions taking in farms and villages, but in another direction the school fields hit the catchment boundary. But there's another school about a mile and a half away in that direction. (Whose catchment covers other villages)

I thought having a sibling at a school trumps everything else really. How would that work otherwise? It's mad to force siblings to go to different schools.

Really tho? so at a secondary school (which 11yo+ can make their own way to, so no need for anyone to take them) the younger sibling of a pupil, who now lives 6 miles away, gets a place above a child with no sibling who lives half a mile away? That really wouldn't be fair, surely?

Tower Hamlets (which is in London) has fixed catchment areas.

In my area of London, a very high percentage of secondary schools are single sex. So there is no such thing as an automatic sibling place in these schools anyway! Funnily enough, everyone survives.

He's still has a right to complain about the state school system, even if he has money. Saying he should just pay for private school is a bit of a silly thing to say. Maybe he doesn't agree with rich people paying for private education and that state schools should be just as good.

I thought having a sibling at a school Trumps everything else really. How would that work otherwise? It's mad to force siblings to go to different schools.

This happened to a friend of mine (we're in NI) after she moved house. Her 1st son was in a very good primary that had catchment area as part of its admissions criteria (not all schools here do).
The family were now just outside the area for her 2nd son, so she moved her older child to the school her youngest was starting in.
She wasn't that happy with the new school or the move, but she was a very poor mature nursing student at the time, and didn't have much choice.
RR needs to suck it up & stop complaining.

So what do you think schools that are full should do? Just let everyone who wants a place in? Schools have a limit on places for a reason.

I’m in London and there is at least one school near me with a fixed catchment - they call it a “priority area” and kids living in it get priority over those outside it. The area is the same every year.

Beh, I’m with Romesh on this one. Rules should be there to make education easy for both children and parents.
It makes no sense whatsoever for parents to have to run around from one school to another, with kids in tow - let alone from one part of the city to another.
It is irrelevant whether the parents could afford to go private.
And if you do go private to guarantee you have choice, then as of Jan this year you are also subject to 20% VAT.
The whole thing is designed in such a way to make life exceedingly hard for families, and keeps women at home even when they’d quite like to go back to work.

I’ve never come across a school with a fixed catchment. It’s definitely not a thing in London.

Yeh funnily enough @privatenonamegiven our DC did all go to the same secondary, as DH and I decided for a number of reasons (mostly our own experience as schoolchildren with along commute) that local trumped everything, as long as it answered most wants (which it pretty much did). It may be that school B or school C would have suited DD or DS2 in other ways, but we really wanted to avoid a long walk/bus/walk type deal.

@Sofiewoo why is it crazy tho? We don’t know what those prefs were. But I could have listed four very high-performing schools in my city or the next village and my DC would not have got into any of them, as we are further away than all the DC who did get in. That's not crazy. Why should my DC get into a wonderful school ahead of children who live just a mile away? If I like it that much I should move closer to it.