....to ask if anyone will please sign our petition

[Farnhamparent]

I am a regular poster. I know this is a bit cheeky, but we need help from other mums.
Please! We have around 30 children at reception age for 2011. We have all been refused our preferences and are being forced out of our village school catchment into a failed local school in special measures, due to a political agenda. The Head of the village school is supportive of our cause, but being ignored by the council.
The council are expanding this school in special measures because is becoming no longer viable. It will take at least 3 years to improve it, and throwing more children at it is illogical. It needs time to cope, improve, and this is NOT the time to double its intake. Our children should not be guinea pigs.
We would actually accept any local school able to cope and offer a decent standard of education for our children.
We want to demand on behalf of all parents that a child should be able to go to his/her local school and have the opportunity to a good education.
PLEASE HELP US. You do not have to give your full address. Your name will be mixed in with many others, so will not be obvious.
Petition
Please do not flambé me - the children in both areas need as many voices as possible.

Your link doesn't work. However, I'm not sure I'd be comfortable signing a petition about a situation like this, I think that really is for the parents affected.
Maybe I can offer you a ray of hope. When a school goes into Special Measures a lot of work goes into deciding whether or not it should be closed. If the LA decides to keep it open then a huge amount of support will be put in and the quality of teaching and learning will improve rapidly. It won't take 3 years to turn it around, rapid and quantifiable improvement will be expected within a year. There will be regular HMI inspections to check progress.

I don't know how long this school has been in Special Measures, but to give you an idea - A school I am working with went into Special Measures in October. The LA has provided funding to bring in an expert Advisory Headteacher, they are providing the governing body with a lot of in-house training at no charge, they have funded various secondments to bring in teachers with special expertise and they are funding various interventions for children who need particular help. The aim is to have the school at Outstanding in a year. I think they will get there, already children are showing significant levels of progress towards the expected levels for their age. There is another level of pressure on schools these days as Michael Gove has indicated that if a school in Special Measures can't make enough progress within a year it will be taken out of LA control and converted into an Academy. (This hasn't been confirmed by DfE, but is a significant threat hanging over the schools).

A very significant number of people like myself, who are involved in working with these schools, agree that rather than avoiding a school in Special Measures, we would be happy for our children to go there. The threat to a school in Special Measures is not that the quality of teaching etc will fail, but that parents will desert them, causing the school to become unviable. That happened in the London school where a teacher went public about how awful it was after a bad Ofsted didn't it? But normally, without a blaze of publicity, the schools get the help they need, the teachers get the support and a new lease of life (dead wood will go...) and the school turns round.

I feel for your situation, however I think you would be better posting this on your local board. If the signatures you gain aren't anything to do with it and from all over the country it will lose its impact I think and they would probably dismiss it.

Sorry, just to add, maybe you could speak to one of the advisors working with the new school? It would help you to realise what a rapid difference can be made to a school once it is realised that it is in Special Measures. Maybe they could share some current pupil data and other information to support this. The other thing that hopefully will give evidence would be to ask if you can have a read of the public minutes from their governing body meetings.

Not getting a place at your local school is something a lot of people have to face given limited class sizes in reception. If the class is full and you have been allocated another school then I dont see what the petition will achieve anyway.

ah i just read your post properly and realised you don't have to give your address! ok i will sign it but the link isn't working.

Thanks for your replies and I appreciate the help and advice.
We are a very active group with a campaign going through all of the formal processes, and we have also been to meet with the Head of the school in special measures. This is her first time in the role of Head and they have not been able to recruit a teacher yet, so are looking to take on a Newly Qualified Teacher, which unsettles us even more.
The Head has said that she aims to have some improvement by 2012, but that is too much of a risk for us. Truanting is also very high. A child has one chance at a good education. We feel there are so many other schools in the area (obviously we want our village school) that could have been expanded that have a track record of good OFSTEDs that is is illogical to expand the special measures school just now.
Her aims are also below par, pointing out proudly that already the children are achieving a base of five GCSEs. Is that really good enough?
The Head of our local school is supportive of helping us, but the council will not 'sign' off on him doing so.
It is a really illogical decision.
The petition achieves being able to have a weight of opinion behind us, as well as the parents of the 30+children. We need the council to listen to us and feel that people are interested, so it cannot be swept under the carpet.
Yes, local signatures would be better, but also critical mass is good too.
We didn't expect ourselves to be in this situation.
It is bad enough not to get your local school, but illogical to send all of these children to the only school in the area that is failing, with no track record of being able to cope with what it has.
I genuinely appreciate your comments, and I hate having to appear on boards asking for contributions of people who are not directly involved, but it is also a point of principle.
We desperately want the council to reverse their decision, and we will throw everything we have at getting them to hear us.
Thanks.

Hope this one works

petition

Thanks again - it is very appreciated.

Why can't your kids get in to your local school?

Why not protest about that rather than the choice you're left with?

I'm concerned about the idea that a child SHOULD go to his local school as I've been in the opposite position. I was fortunate enough to get my DDs into an OUT of catchment school as the local one was shit, to put it bluntly - on special measures and closed down eventually.

Had there been a successful campaign to ensure all children went to their local school my DDs would have been saddled with the crap one. Whilst I sympathise entirely with your plight I'm unwilling to call for a situation whereby children are obligated to attend their local school.

Similarly a local school may be excellent in many ways... but if it isn't right for YOUR particular child it shouldn't be the school they MUST attend.

However I see that your petition is not calling for this - I'm just saying that your OP makes it SOUND like this is what you want. I'm probably going against the POV of many MNers, just as I was when I refused to put my own DDs in a failing school, as I don't see WHY a child should have to suffer a second rate education for the common good or political ideals so yes, I'll sign and wish you good luck.

Am interested to know why so many children in catchment have been refused a local place though... presumably just too many applicants?

You want to increase the reception year in an infant school by 50%? Do you know if the school even has the capacity to do that? There would also be long-term issues as that huge cohort moved up through the school.
I somehow doubt that you will pull this one off, but can understand why you are trying. If this looks like it isn't going to work then please talk to the LA officers who are tasked with turning the new school around.

Thanks for your replies and support.
The school normally admits 60, but as a temporary measure in 2009, admitted 90 due to demand throughout the area for reception spaces. As a knock on effect, because the admissions policy was not updated, effectively the siblings rule has meant that new local children for 2011 have been squeezed out. For us, living around 520m from the school, we cannot get in. A number of people from up to 2km can get in because they have siblings.
We would like a permanent expansion, as quite frankly, with the demand for spaces in this whole town, most local schools will have to look to expand at some point. These are not space-squeezed inner city schools. Yes, it does create a knock on effect, and is scaring other feeder primaries in the area, but frankly, there is room to extend at the 7acre junior school - it is bad planning on behalf of Surrey council.
We are arguing for access to local schools, but as you rightly point out, this does not mean we think all children should be forced into their local school. It is about choice, too.
It is an illogical decision, when there are so many other satisfactory or good local schools, to expand the educationally/ academically worst school in the area. That is not really exercising a duty of care.
We are sure that the failed school will improve, but will need at least a couple of years to get on it's feet. This is not the time to send in new children to a school that at present, cannot cope with what it has - especially when there are others with better track records in the area.
I guess the bigger point we are arguing is not just the local schools issue, but the right to more choice in the system, and that every child should have the access to a good education. Those pupils at the special measures school included.
We choose the local school for obvious reasons, as we can all walk there - any other involves another 30+ cars on the road.

Can I ask a few questions?

I understand LEA's may do things diffferently so this may not be the case near you.

What is the catchment area of the school?
Are the pupils with siblings still coming from the catchment area?

Here pupils are admitted on the following basis:

LAC
Children with a statement naming the school
Catchment area - those with siblings already attending
Catchment area - as the crow flies in distance
Out of catchment - those with siblings already attending
Out of catchment - as the crow flies in distance
out of county.

I only asked because you may want to check admissions policy against the info you have. Its great you want to fight but I agree with the angle of wanting your local catchment school not that the other one is poor. Schools on special measures often have a lot to offer pupils - and thats the argument you'll get. Theres money for this and that - you won't get that at your village school etc.

I really do sympathise with you - I didn't get my first choice of school for DS - but signing a petition when I only have one person's side of the story and no personal involvement doesn't sit right with me.

Why should a local council take any notice of a bunch of internet strangers with no vote in the area?

If it's going to be presented as internet signatures from locals, it seems a bit dishonest to pretend there's lots of local support for spending lots of money on one small noisy group at a time when resources are so finite.

Sorry. As I say I do sympathise, I just don't really like this course of action.