Labour reviewing school admission criteria

Labour are lurking taking notes

oo
extra transport costs…didn’t think of that
pollution….didnt think if that
less tax payer hours….didnt think of that

children should suffer because thier parents made bad choices

Of course not. Children should suffer because their parents made good choices. Typical Labour

Did everyone / anyone see the drama recently where a young boy stabbed a girl to death. They were about 12 I think. Anyway that school, he attended in the drama, was exactly the same as the school I attended. And is exactly the same as many schools across the UK. Dreadful. Not sure what the answer is. Poor teachers.

No idea tbh.
It’s only in one ??? Paper

Maybe Labour have leaked it to the Telegraph to see how it would go down with Mumsnet

We are an authority on the subject ☺️

They’ll end up with people needing transport which council will have to pay for.

Is there any evidence that Labour are actually considering this or have we all reacted to a right wing made up dog whistle?

There shouldn’t be ‘bad’ performing schools though. This is the key issue.

I’m surprised Labour has the backing at all. Education will be worse off.

Clearly
Additional funding should remain in place then

Interesting how they’re allowed to publish statistics on ethnicity for education purposes. But not on ethnicity for crime purposes (another thread running on this somewhere on MN).

This suggested policy isn’t about improving schools or society as a whole though. This is about moving pupils around so there’s a different mix across better performing and worse performing schools. It’s not about improving the poorer schools. It’s about prioritising some pupils for entrance into the better schools. It won’t help the worse schools.

Schools that are rated as 'requires improvement' do get extra funding and support to improve. However, when they do improve that funding and support is then removed and it can become harder to maintain improvements with less money and they fall into a cycle.

It's not making things better for everyone.

It's trying to lower everyone down to the lowest to make us all supposedly equal.

And it's not me me me. My kids are grown up. I don't need a fucking school place, thank God.

It definitely can. Pupil premium attracts an extra 1.5k per child on average, and used wisely, this money can definitely help close the gap.

Once again, politics of envy from Labour.

Agree with this too - being eligible for pupil premium does not mean your parents aren’t interested in your education! Many are very keen on education as a route for their children out of poverty.

The ones with disengaged parents will just apply for the nearest school regardless, because the parents won’t want to schlep an extra ten minutes down the road (I have seen this happen firsthand).

It's a difficult balance. My girls go to a good village school which has a broad mix of wealthier families, and a significant number of children from a local housing estate and also a local permenant traveller site. Previously all got into the school. Then the council sold a plot of land to a local developer who built around 40 new homes, these were a mix of private and social housing, and mainly families with younger children. This was closer to the school and therefore some children on the housing estate didn't get a place unless had a sibling there already, which has meant the school has become less balanced socially rather than more. Families who had lived there for several generations could no longer get a place. But anyone who suggested this idea at the planning stage was labelled a 'Tory Nimby'. There is a need for more housing so it's a difficult balance.

But you are wrong in saying it wouldn't disadvantage better off children. Being able to attend the local primary, having local friends and being part of the local commuinity has been hugely beneficial emotionally for my oldest, who was really struggling in a big London school. She is happier, calmer, more confident and a consequence is doing better. The school itself is no better, on ofsted gradings it's actually worse, but the smaller calmer friendlier environment has made the difference.

YABU.

I agree in principle, but it shouldn't be on income as other than the super rich, most people who earn well have worked immensely hard in their careers.

They need to address WHY some schools are far more popular than others, and look at making less popular schools more desirable.

The BIGGEST factor to how successful a child will be at school isn't actually the school they attend, but their own parents support and attitude.

Perhaps the government need to have more parent-focused targets to prioritise school places - parents that attend parents evening*, parents that make sure homework is done, parents that attend school events or support the school at various events, parents that read with their children etc... THIS is what is failing our children, not the school they attend.

*I appreciate some parents work evenings and cannot attend parents evenings, which sometimes I cannot do when I have a clash with work, but I still contact the teachers and ask for feedback or ask for them to call me to discuss.

How does this make things better for everyone! Some kids will get to go to a “better school” and some kids will be shipped half way across a town for no reason

If you’re putting in effort Labour will make sure it works against you.

You need to level down, there’s parents who care little. Depressing.

You’re not wrong. The biggest way that children achieve in educational terms is linked to parental engagement.

• A 2024 report from the Education Policy Institute compared white British pupils’ attainment against other ethnic groups across education, from early years foundation stage to 16-19 education. They found that by the end of secondary school, most ethnic groups achieved higher GCSE grades than white British pupils in 2023. All ethnic groups (except white and black Caribbean, and white Irish pupils) had bigger improvements in attainment between 2019 to 2023 compared to white British pupils. Chinese pupils’ attainment is 27 months ahead of white British pupils, 8 months ahead of Indian pupils (the next highest attaining group), and almost 5 years ahead of Gypsy Roma pupils (the lowest attaining group). Overall, the attainment of different ethnicities has converged slightly since 2019*

Have to agree - we have apparently got 40% of children eligible for pupil premium in DS’s primary. It is outstanding (both Ofsted and also generally), and outcomes are way above national and borough average. Plus lots of enrichment opportunities for all of the children (music, sport, languages, etc). It can be done.

Social engineering doesn’t ’level things up’. What does, though, is ensuring all children get equal access to good quality education wherever they may live by ensuring ALL schools provide such an education. Do away with faith schools. Do away with private schools. Build more decent schools. But sending less affluent children to schools in more affluent areas won’t make a blind bit of difference to most children. The rich kids will not associate with the poor ones - and vice versa, I know, because I’ve lived it and see it now. A few of my Y6 children attend a local private school on a scholarship, but they are never included in friendship groups of the wealthier children - all the scholarship kids stick together precisely because they’re not seen as equal.

Because it is difficult to make a school “good” when the majority of children aren’t engaged in education,

I totally agree. However, this suggested policy isn’t going to help those children whose parents aren’t engaged. Those parents won’t even bother applying to schools which perform better. Changing selection criteria won’t help if parents don’t apply in the first place.

In an ideal world, all children would start on an equal footing. In reality, this will never happen because children with interested and invested parents will always have an advantage.

Meanwhile in terms of diversifying an area so a mixed cohort attend local schools.
New housing estates need to be more equally mixed in terms of smaller and larger properties and social housing. More often than not developers pay off local councils to avoid the social housing % they are required to include. This must be stopped
Estates made up mainly of detached properties fuel the education problem.