AIBU to name a school that has offered more places than it should?

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Round where I live (South London), there's a private school that's limited to 505 places by the local authority - but got itself more than 50 pupils over the limit back in 2018. They didn't let the Council know this had happened: someone else dobbed them in.

The people living close by hate the extra traffic, so they're pushing back.

The whole mess is out for decision by the council, but could take months to work out, what with appeals and the rest.

The school is having open mornings/evenings over the next few weeks.

AIBU to want to say who the school is, so prospective parents know what they're getting into? Or should I leave it to council planing to sort it out?

@NoisingUpNissanWhy aren't you grateful that they're taking kids out of the state system?

Grateful? Are you having a laugh? Gosh, how nicely doublethink is advancing, where we're now supposed to feel gratitude to people wealthy enough to advantage their kids over ours. And yes, they do. Private school, on average, confers a one grade advantage to its pupils. That's getting that uni place or not.

I'm not sure on the rules surrounding private schools and capacity of students, but all schools will have to take over the number of pupils if Labour either close or make it impossible for people who are not high earners to continue to send their children to a private school (I don't know how because children aren't able to get into schools as it is around here, they'll have to take a large number of children on top of what they have though).

You're being very unreasonable to post a teaser thread!

I would advertise this as there will be consequences to those children if they are not allowed to expand numbers. These restrictions are there for a good reason - site safety, road congestion, public transport capacity, noise.. They could probably insist the children are sent to another site.

@Countryescape if you're in England or Wales and seriously think that the admissions code is flaunted by heads sneaking in rich kids, then report the heads and achools. More likely is that they have won an appeal due to SEN they may not want to advertise or are siblings to children admitted in a year they added extra places meaning that they get in with a further distance. Report it if you think it's otherwise.

I’d name the school so perspective parents can be aware that their kids classes might be bigger than expected.

Prospected*

AsTheWorldTurns it's a secondary. The schools response to being dobbed in has been to apply to expand even further so we are actually talking well over 100 extra pupils.

So it's not just 50, but 100?

The planning commission will be involved in the expansion, why don't you write a letter of protest?

London is a nightmare, if you want to avoid traffic and congestion your best bet is to leave. Sorry.

What does dobbed mean, by the way?

I guess it means turned in. So people are reporting them to the council. The council probably has bigger fish to fry if it's London, everyone is desperate for spots.

It’s probably a planning condition rather than related to education per se.
I think it’s very annoying for local residents but of limited consequence to anyone else honestly.

London is a nightmare, if you want to avoid traffic and congestion your best bet is to leave. Sorry.

😂

Bold fail, I was quoting @AsTheWorldTurns

How do you know the exact number of pupils on roll?

Im well aware of PAN but in my (limited) experience, my local school was over subscribed so they added two extra forms, over and above the published yearly intake of 160, they actually took in 21, one year. This was absorbed by two other years with reduced classes at around the 140, 150 mark. All schools have spikes.

PAN isn’t relevant for an independent school, although the DfE limits explained by @shelikesemwithamoustache do apply. State schools do periodically take ‘bulge’ intakes, often at the request of the local authority. There was a spike in the birth rate in 2010, for example.

If an independent school is taking extra fee-paying pupils then this is likely primarily a business decision. It would be interesting to know if they have increased their staffing accordingly or if class sizes have increased. There may also be health and safety implications on site.

"How do you know the exact number of pupils on roll?"

It'll be in the inspection report

Aren't you missing the point? Every school holds open mornings etc in autumn for next years admissions. Presumably like every other school in the country those in the last year will leave at the end of the summer term and they'll be under capacity again.

No sign of the OP...