To think that HV's should not be doling out 'advice' on school admissions and to be livid about the implications

[spritesoright]

Sorry, this is long.
I recently took DD to her 2Y health visitor checkup. We got the usual advice about vitamin D, teeth brushing, etc. Then near the end she asked me if I had looked into schools at all. We have moved recently and chose a house within walking distance of two 'satisfactory' schools but beyond this I have not done anything.
I actually believe that home influence is more important and as long as DD is at a 'good enough' school nearby she will do fine with our support.

The health visitor then went on to strongly urge me to make further considerations and suggested checking the catchment distances, attending church if we're religious or MOVING closer to a good school.

I was a bit flabbergasted.

Initially I thought she was just trying to be 'helpful' but a friend got the same lecture at her HV appointment so it seems to be standard in ours and surrounding councils as advice.

I can't help thinking that the implications of this are that if we don't get DD into a nearby school we aren't being proactive enough so it's our fault as parents. At least that's what the council are trying to say.

In reality we live in a borough that had a massive birth boom in 2011 when DD was born where schools are already oversubscribed and I can see the council doing little about it. I suspect they are constrained by the coalition's emphasis on free schools and academies (don't get me started).

I checked the council primary admissions guide online when I got home where it urges parents to 'choose realistically' based on distances but even though we are only a few minutes walk from nearest schools, DD would not have been admitted to either this year based on distances they provide.

Other nearby schools are Catholic or C of E and given that we're atheists that's not going to happen.

So, AIBU to think that I shouldn't have to open my own free school, convert to a new religion or pay twice the amount for a house next to an 'outstanding' school in order to get my child into a primary school!?

I know the council has a responsibility to school her somewhere but what I fear is that it will be 5 miles away (in london rush hour traffic) or in some temporary trailer in a parking lot somewhere because the council are not being proactive enough and instead trying to pawn the responsibility off onto parents?

I welcome your thoughts.

I get what you're saying on the macro level, and yet it's clearly not the solution practically for any parent to not do their homework. That's where it gets abstract to me. Which isn't to say I don't care about other people. If the wider, practical, viable solution is obvious, then that is what I must be missing and I'm happy for anyone to point it out to me. I admit I'm not a politician or councillor or education strategist. I'm not even very good at maths. But as a parent on the ground, faced with the prospect of a school place miles away, moving closer to a school took me out of that 10 into the 190. The OP has two years to do likewise now she knows. But if the answer is truly that it's better not to know, then she can disregard what the HV said and not worry about.

If you read what I said, Mandy, I said that there have never been enough school places for the children born in London. By 'never', I mean going back many decades. It wasn't such a problem as it is now because until very recently, LEAs and the Greater London Authority have had fairly reliable stats to use for their planning:

X number of children born in London
a% of that number will go to private schools
b% will not be living in the borough by the time they're school age
c% (a vanishingly small number) will be home educated
Y children are likely to move into London during the first four years of life

So we need Reception places for those who are left.

When my children were little in the 90s the problem was that some schools were unpopular and couldn't fill their places. There were enough places in total for all the children that needed them, but not necessarily in the schools that parents liked.

The rational response for the government was surely to try to improve standards in all schools, not to encourage a dog eat dog situation where middle class parents have a headstart in the race to get a place in a good school.

I still think its been a long standing problem, I don't need to tell you my age but I remember one of the parents of one of the girls in my class having had a bit of a wrangle with the council because they were closer to the school than another girl who had been offered a place. Our school was "better" (or at least her parents thought it was a better fit for their daughter) than the place she'd been offered. Lets just say it was the early 80s. So its an age old problem, and I think not recognising that in choosing where you want to live leads to problems. I don't think its necessarily just middle class parents, I think there is a 'preference' for schools throughout boroughs.

Oh well, glad that's cleared it all up. .

YABVU
HV was trying to help. Many mothers do not know the school situation, so need to be told.
You chose to buy a house, recently, just before your dd was 2. A house that is near to schools that are 'satisfactory'.
You don't want her to attend religious schools, because you are not religious.
So why buy your house? That particular house.
You should have investigated what schools were available. Find a school that you like, with the religious beliefs/ non religious beliefs you prefer. AND then find a house.

Complaining about it now is ridiculous.
What did you expect?

I began thinking about schools soon after ds1 was born. I was happy with the 2 schools closest to me. Great. If I hadn't have been we would have moved and a good school catchment would have been one of the most important things on my list of criteria.
it always amazes me when people buy houses/move with no consideration of these major MAJOR issues.

The lack of school places in outer London is well known.
And to be getting worse and worse.
And to have hit crisis point last year.
I was on a thread last year, when applying for ds2's place, saying that they predicted that atleast 175,000 children would be without a school place, this September.

We all know its going on.
Presumably you too were well aware OP?

OP states very clearly that she did think about this when they moved. They bought a house in walking distance of two primary schools. What she is saying is that it should not be necessary for parents to be coached in how to finesse the system to be sure of getting a school place for their child. I agree with her.

I think the general consensus is that its not enough to 'think' about it, given the extent of the problem, you have to actively check the position re catchments etc. You can't presume just because a house is within walking distance, you'd be eligible for a place. Unfortunate as it may be, regardless of who is at fault politically, thats the reality.

Only skimmed sorry.

Sounds like you are in a similar area to me, with a huge pressure on school places.

We don't have "catchment" we have different criteria for different schools with one of (often the last ones) being straight line distance from the school. They even define which bit of the school and which bit of the house.

You are lucky that you got a heads-up at 2, as I did, that actually your child most likely won't get into the two (in my case 3) primary schools in walking distance. Not because they're super great schools, but because there is a dearth of places.

Of course there should be enough places for each primary school child to get a good education and ideally within walking distance where that is appropriate for the area.

But in the fact that isn't happening, a heads up before it gets to a letter through your door saying you have been allocated a place miles away and that is going to totally mess with your life, work, arrangements and everything, can only be a good thing.

I think you are judging her harshly when she was trying to help, and your real beef is with the systems around schooling here in the UK at primary level.

Around here we end up with siblings at different schools even when the family is in walking distance.

OP I know it's shit but you need to do your homework and do it quick.

Combine this with lobbying anyone you can think of to improve matters.

I think stopping publishing league tables would help matter with primary schools. Around here the schools are all perfectly good but you have people going mad to get their kids into the 99% school and the 98% school would be a disaster. Well maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration but that's the gist of it and it has messed up the whole kids going to their nearest school thing.

I think as a nation it is time to stop pretending that we offer an adequate free, state education as a universal benefit to all children whose families want them to have one. The numbers of those being excluded from this so-called universal benefit through no fault of their own, are also increasing year on year at a rate that should concern us all.

Disagree with me?

1. Children in authorities who do not have enough spaces may find they don't live at the correct address to get a place. whereas 150 yards away from school may have secured a place last year. This years intake may only be for those living 100 yards away.

1. More and more SN kids are being home edded as there are no enough specialist teaching units/schools and not every child can thrive in mainstream despite the political pressures for them to do so.

1. Many children with disabilities/learning issues find themselves illegally excluded from school, or managed out by schools more concerned with league table results than the welfare of the individual child. After there are several children waiting without any SN to fill the school place just vacated, who will not put the schools Ofsted rating at risk. This can also happen to children who are recuperating after serious illnesses or accidents to prevent compassion sullying those all important attendance stats.

1. Looked after children often fall through the gaps as frequent changes of foster home fail to align with a very slow school admissions process in many areas. This is especially true in the exam critical years of 10 & 11.

Oblomov, the OP is not complaining about the schools.
I don't understand - the HVis implying those schools aren't good enough for the OP's child. But some children must end up going. Which does she think need to be the unlucky ones?

No I think HV is implying the OP May have to take steps to get into any school.

But I agree withlondonmum this situation of publishing league tables and then making parents fight it out for an education the state is obliged to provide is ridiculous.

All the emphasis on parental choice and free schools etc. is covering up the real issue which is that all schools should be good enough.

The burden needs to be flipped back on to the councils to provide catchment areas that cover the entire borough seamlessly and then ensure there are enough places. they hae the census data etc.they know what is coming.

once they have enough places educate all the kids in catchment, they then need to ensure all schools meet the required standard.

Otherwise it all becomes a self interested cat fight with the kids being the losers, parents having to leave work or change hours to accommodate ridiculous school runs or to home educate.