Labour reviewing school admission criteria

So this could generate huge costs to meet transport needs and that money could have been better spent on improving all schools !

Yep, it’s all grade A bull shit. Seems to be designed to prevent higher tax payers (who have the financial autonomy to pay fees/or move) from having the freedom of choice. How long before these higher rate tax payers decide not to play along and instead think more globally about their careers? Not long I suspect.

It could have a huge impact on parents getting to work on time as well it’s just not a well thought out idea at all

Local council pay for students transport if you’re more than 3miles away
( I think that’s still the distance, it was a few years back )

Or be able to stay for after school activities and sports. We were constantly late and in trouble at our school because we lived too far away to walk and the buses were very infrequent, and anything after school meant we had a long wait for a bus or a really long walk home, it made life miserable. In big cities schools may be close together, but apart from those situations randomly assigning places will be horrible for children and parents.

The problem is that 'normal' families like I consider mine to be, has gone through several different types of jobs, etc.
There was a time when both DH and I were out of work at the same time, and relying on Job Seekers Allowance, etc.
Then a time when we both had fairly average or just above average pay jobs (but being two of us, our household income would have seemed well-off). So our lives have gone through multiple stages.
Presumably, it is just the stage when one applies to the school.
The second problem with this, is that if too many children are not going to their local school, this means more journeys across towns, etc as children cross backwards and forwards.

the emphasis shouldn’t be on which children get to go to the better school it should be on why are some schools failing ? Get all schools to a certain standard, improve education for all regardless of background or location. Cast the net wide to make sure every school is a good option rather than having this situation where you have to pick and choose who gets the better opportunity and education?

If we are levelling things up, the fee paying/public schools should be incorporated into the state system and included too.

I think it definately could pick up people moving away from Labour.

The one issue I can see raising its head, is transport to school. Currently, most areas will provide transport to schools a certain distance away / unsafe routes only if they are the nearest suitable school.

If there are a few schools in walking distance then fine, but if parents can't logistically get their children to these schools anyway, it isn't going to help.

Based on the principle that a child will 'suffer' by going to a less popular school, then equally, why should a child 'suffer' due to their parents working hard and made 'good' choices.

Also, the cohort is partly what makes a school better. Every school gets the same amount of money, same number of teachers etc(actually schools eith high numbers of FSM get more funding as pupil premium) , the difference between the good school and a struggling school is often the cohort, the amount of time teachers have to spend dealing with behavioural issues, poor attendance etc vs actual teaching, parental engagement etc.

Further away , usually us 3miles, means free transport to school. Local councils have already sited the huge expense in this area. No idea how Labour expect to fund that.

Middle class parents will either have to pay ( I’m sure free transport will be means tested- this is Labour after all )
or
Parents will have to drive. Meaning middle earners will struggle to keep a standard full time job. It’s difficult to get you kids to school and get to work on time and then have to leave to pick them up at 3pm. In our area some schools finish at 2pm

Labours fallout……pathetic ill thought out policy

Schools need to be accountable for admissions statistics - eg if your local area has 25% of pupils eligible for fsm and your school has 5% then you need to be answerable for that and downgraded if appropriate

Harris Academies already do this. Seems fair enough to me, if private school parents have to pay the VAT, seems totally fair you can’t play the admissions system based on distance, i.e buying a house near a good school. Some could say that was buying privilege, tut tut.

This.

Will it win votes? A lot of their base is parents who use good state schools.

So children in catchment will have to travel to schools outside catchment and visa versa adding time and expense for everyone. And of course siblings may have to go to schools miles away from each other, all very helpful for parents! Just make it so all schools are equally good, swap the teachers around if you think that would improve the quality of teaching, at least that would only affect a small number of families.

Surely they could resolve this by lottery based application eg places allocated randomly within x miles of the school.

How do you ensure that all these pupils will be able to get to their randomly allocated schools?

Ease of travel is surely one of the factors parents consider when choosing schools.

When the welfare state was created a three tier system of Grammar, Secondary Modern and Technical schools was also established, the Grammar schools were successful and allowed many working class children to enter careers that would otherwise have been closed to them, I was one of those wc children. The Secondary Modern schools were less successful because they tried to ape the Grammar schools and the Technical schools never really got off the ground.

It depended on the LA, I think. Where I grew up, the secondary moderns had a curriculum different from the grammar. A few pupils transferred to the grammar each year to do A Levels. (one boy, not in my year, starred in the school play and tried for Oxford during his time in the Sixth) The two tech schools - boys and girls - were very well regarded. And there was a Tech college for post 16 education. Some grammar pupils who didn't want to do A Levels transferred there.

Also it’s all very well giving a child on FSM a place at a really great school miles and miles away but what if they can’t afford the transport costs?

Hate everything about this. Hate the VAT on private schools. Terrible ideas - both of them.

Reviewing and potential changing of the admissions criteria to try and supposedly improve outcomes for certain groups is like scraping the frosting off a mouldy cake and just redoing it. They need to look at the root cause of the issues. Improve all schools get them all up to certain standard rather than shuffling round who goes to the better ones, it’s should not be acceptable for any child from any background to go to a failing or poor quality school.

If you mean for grammar schools, then I think it makes sense. I think most probably already do this. I know our local grammar take 25% FSM. Still have to pass the 11+. But the other 75% have to get above a certain, higher level and then goes on catchment.

For comps I'm not sure it makes sense. I think there is a real benefit to kids being local and able to get themselves to school and socialise with their friends more easily. I think the emphasis with education should be making sure schools have the funding and resources they need rather allowing some students to travel further to school.

I don't know. I would say that the % of FSM at my school would be very low.

Exactly
Everyone tries to do the best for their kids and this would be the best solution
Intelligent people will act accordingly

Does this mean if you are richer you will have to drive your child to school? If you say have bought a house in catchment for the walking one, but then aren't allowed to go there? And will.people.living further away from the school get priority due to their finances but obviously also then have to drive there?

It is wrong that more expensive houses are catchment for better schools, but I'm unsure this will solve it. It'll just mean less kids walking to school