End of sibling priority in Wansdworth?

[MsHerodotus]

Interesting - I like the idea of the 800m rule, tho' here in East Sheen it would have to be a 500m rule, as the catchments are so tiny...

here

Instead of it being an arbitary distance it should perhaps be further away from the school (x point) as the crow flies or similar. You could have been very luck and got in one year despite being 1.5km away then move nearer to 1km away but then no longer get qualify for the sibling priority.

You could simply say that subsequent siblings applying from the same address as the first on have priority, and those who have moved nearer, but not those who have moved further away.

With the 800m rule, the law of unintended consequences would apply - identical houses next door to each other, one costing 50k more than the neighbour... Prices would drop dramatically just the other side of the 800m line...

Presumably they have looked at the figures and distances of the subsequent siblings as realised they have a case here. If so, fair enough.

I do think however it would probably just stop people moving house, so there would be even more loft and basement conversions! I do think that people feel free to move, once they get their 1st in. There are stories on here of families trucking in kids from Chelsea to go to naïce schools in Richmond, after they rented for 6 months.

I'd like to see LA publish the number of non-sibling places available as well prior to admissions deadline. It would help you see your chance of a place in better light.

A school near us, PAN 30, the reality was 9 available for non-siblings.

The system is horrible nowadays on so many aspects.

Goldi that information would be invaluable. People then would not get their hopes up for a school they have no chance of. First time parents would understand the odds better etc

It's not actually going to make any much difference in Wandsworth.

The council can only control the admission policies for its own schools, not for foundation schools, voluntary aided schools and academies.

And everyone knows which schools have significant catchment area gaming issues. Guess what sort of schools the problem schools are...

Even if it were universally applied, there ought to be a get-out for parents who see an effective catchment area contract around them. If you live 850m from a not-particularly-oversubscribed school, send DC1 there, and then a new housing development opens up 500m from the school (or it gets a new head, or another local school goes downhill, or a host of other reasons) then your DC2 may not get in without sibling priority even though you haven't moved house.

Good point Tiggy. In ours it's 45-65 out of 90 siblings and around 5 LAC / SEN

Yes publishing last years siblings would at least help. It gets even harder with the bulge classes. There is a school close to our old address where would have got in in alternate years only, as it went 60,90,60,90.

The other one I've seen used is where there is an additional category called 'Children for whom the school is their closest' and this is higher than 'distance' on the criteria. No idea if it is a good system or not, but maybe worth considering.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the consultation.

Exactly I knew of a 30 PAN school that rejected siblings. It was also a church school with pretty stringent criteria.

I think a clause where a sibling link can be considered if either they live within x meters OR the older child was admitted from the same address OR the family has moved closer to the school than when first child admitted (even if still further than x meters) should cover most genuine circumstances of children initially sent to other schools / moved into area and sent to only school with places. It would however stop those renting for a short period then moving away. The x meters is easier to apply but maybe a nearest school priority would reduce the impact of black holes.

You could set up a "qualifying sibling" criterion, if you specified all siblings still resident at the address from which admission of the eldest was secured AND siblings within a sibling priority admissions area which will be set at 3x the furthest distance admitted for a non-sibling the previous year (or year before that if more lead time is required).

As more are admitted locally (as tiggy described) the qualifying sibling catchment would also grow a bit, so it's a win for those who stay nearby (assuming London distances, so everything under a 1-1.5 km) but will stop admission of all siblings of a family who move miles away. Good for traffic, too.

But you also need the same policy adopted by academies/foundation/VA schools, or there's no point.

And while we're redesigning admissions criteria I also think "child for whom this is the nearest school" should get enhanced priority (maybe behind our new "qualifying sibling" criterion but ahead of other groups).

I'm against

(and FWIW Wandsworth has had problems with primary school places since 2008 or 2009)

I am sure this would apply to most of the schools in Wandsworth that people actually want places in.

Belleville is a 4 form entry so 20 siblings is neither here or there, Honeywell is 3 form so they are both big schools and able to accommodate lots of siblings

what about people who have to move?

all these sibling criteria you are proposing penalise renters massively.

the problem is that there are simply not enough school places why should families, parents and 5year olds be punished for failings of the LA?

this is an excellent idea. I personally know of a family who rented nearby to an oversubscibed school and moved back to their large family house out of catchment as soon as eldest child was in. Two younger siblings will automatically get places even though they do not live near to the school...and never have.

Over half the Reception places at both Belleville and Honeywell went to siblings in 2014 (54 of 90 places at Honeywell, 66 of 120 places at Belleville).

And of the non-sibling places, the farthest distance for a Reception child admitted to Honeywell was 182m (Belleville 238m). All the cars clogging up the roads around Belleville and Honeywell at drop-off and pick-up aren't coming from families who live 200m away.

From FOI requests in 2013, the number of siblings who would be ruled out by the 800m rule (if it came in and if it applied to B or H)) would be about 12 at Belleville and 13 at Honeywell.

My goodness those catchments are crazy. Something certainly needs to be done if a first born can not get a place at a school 250m away. These are large schools (not sure if faith or not).

I hope other London boroughs are considering. I think this phenomenon is probably quite widespread.