Primary school admissions - 14 miles apart

[Ruralparents]

Hi all

I thought I’d join to mine your collective wisdom!

We live in rural Cambridgeshire, 6 miles from our nearest school in one direction and 8 miles from the next nearest in another.

Back in the depths of lockdown we had to a choose a school for our eldest to start at in Sept 2021. My wife teaches at the school 8 miles away and so we chose it because it would be handier. We didn’t know if our eldest would get in there but she did. And it turns out that her catchment school, 6 miles away, was oversubscribed.

Now, in 2023 our daughters school is over subscribed and our youngest has been placed at the catchment school. These two school are 14 miles apart! We lost our appeal and have now got the prospect of trying to manage a 28 mile school run, twice a day.

Cambridgeshire council don’t care, they are hiding behind their protocols and passing the buck.

We asked if our eldest could move schools to be with our youngest and they’ve refused because her year group at the catchment school is oversubscribed.

Out of catchment siblings get the same priority as in catchment siblings in Suffolk and Norfolk, but not Cambridgeshire. And when you live 6 and 8 miles from the two schools it’s fairly obvious you’re going to be at the bottom of the admissions list when either school is over subscribed.

Has anyone had any joy appealing on the grounds of unreasonable journey times etc? I just don’t think anyone should be made to do over 10000 miles a year on the school run. School transport hasn’t been offered but even if we can get it, someone still has to be available to put a 4 year old in a taxi and to collect them etc, it doesn’t help the logistics.

There is an ombudsman, but I think they have just rigged the whole system in order to do as they please and screw those who live out in the sticks.

Well I'm a radical feminist woman but I also think it is a slightly unhinged opinion to suggest that if push comes to shove, in a partnership of a part-time teacher and a higher-earning full-time farmer in tied accomodation, it should be the farmer giving up their job. There are obviously unfortunate structural reasons why it's the woman in the part-time teaching job, but it wouldn't make it any less bonkers for them to go for the option that would lose them their house and main source of income.

That said, I think it's a little defeatist to be talking about either of you giving up your jobs. It's a problem that feels insurmountable but really isn't - you've had loads of suggestions on this thread.

that is madness!!! I thought places tried to always place siblings together.

does your wife not get priority for working there? My husband did when he worked at a school.

People with school age kids usually think about this when buying a house.......I'm sorry but this is of your making. Can tou move closer to your wife's school for a y3 place?

RTFT!! They are in tied housing.

You are on a sticky wicket and I think you are getting slated unfairly TBH. Would you be able to request a lady taxi driver ? We are on the South Coast ,and that is possible esp taking such a small child to School .Maybe you could go with her for the first few days .I think the Council probably feel if they make an exception for your family ,lots of people may say the same.Alternatively maybe a lady /childminder could do the journey maybe.

Well actually my point was the same, why is he jumping to the immediate conclusion that his wife will have to give up her job before other solutions are looked in to? When asked if he considers his own employment as dispensible as hers, he blows the big I AM trumpet... but apparently I'm unhinged for pointing that out. Righto!

As an aside... please make sure your child knows that its not personal and the school hasn't rejected them... its just a computer system. My child was a lot older (8yo) but thought there was something wrong with her when she didn't get the school place with her sister.

I think the op is in a flap and catastrophising. He doesnt actually think his wife will give up her job. But ultimately, his job is the less dispensible of the two. Without it they have no home and insufficient income to support a family. That the situation is a reflection of structural sexism and inequality doesn't make it any less the case that they'd be properly screwed if he gave up his job.

Given that your wife is employed by the council could you get in touch with your local councillor and the councillor with responsibilities for education and ask them for advice. It seems as if a computer is giving the answers here and human intervention might help, especially with regard to the taxi situation if it comes to that.
In the meantime I’d be inclined to defer the youngest, or keep them at pre-school until Easter in the hope that a space becomes available at your wife’s school.

The comparison isn't him giving up his job or the dw hers.

That posters response was in response to the op suggesting that it was a better solution for his wife to give up her job completely rather than a) him spending 2 minutes 2 days per week to see her safely in to a taxi. b) paying a child minder to take her/see her safely in to a taxi. That smacks of billy big balls vs wife work and was bound to result in some frustrated responses.

Op - you say you can take days off here and there - what would you actually be doing for the two minutes two days per week at 7.30am which mean you can't see her in to a taxi?

Hello @Ruralparents.
I do understand your predicament. I'm a (full time) teacher, my husband is a herd manager on a dairy farm. We have 6 dc ( only 1 at primary school now) and no tied accommodation. My husband does 2 pick ups and 2 drop offs a week. One of these is his day off.

You may not see it, but you have distinct advantages here.
Your wife is part time.
You are the boss.
Chickens can probably wait half an hour.
You could start earlier so you can nip off. You are talking what, half an hour?
You can go in your breakfast time (which is what my dh does)
On days when you are off farm / in meetings/ harvesting etc do you have no grandparents/ family or friends who could help?

The taxi won't pick DD2 up at 7.30. If school starts at 8.45, it will probably pick her up at 8.30. It won't take her to breakfast club either.

So OP would have to wait with DD2 between his DW leaving (maybe 7.15?) and 8.30. That doesn't sound like it would fit with livestock farm timings.

This ^^
We live rurally and have had to face some of your battles. As a single parent I had one child going to a bus stop alone for a 6m journey and one walking to a friend's / childminder / before school club, depending on availability.

You have given the clue, "the rest of the class" at pre-school - what are they doing? Maybe call in some favours on the three mornings you need help, and your wife looks after theirs on the two mornings she is at home / driving to other school later.

Parents don't call it a juggling act for nothing, but ultimately you did choose to put your first child in a school that was further away and not catchment, what did you think would happen, honestly??

Saw your update about preschool. I’d leave him in preschool until Easter tbh, that gives you another 8 months to sort it all out and to arrange interim school run arrangements with a nanny or whatever. Put both kids on both waiting lists in the meantime. In the long run he really won’t be affected by staying in preschool a bit longer especially if he’s only just turned 4. If you’re worried about him being behind then surely your wife can do a bit of phonics or whatever with him at home. He’s not compulsory school age until Sept 2024 so this really isn’t a big issue.

It's hard, we will be in a similar situation soon. Our dc all go to the nearest schools. At the moment we have 2 dc in primary school 1.5 miles away, 2 in secondary school 2 miles away and 1 in college 6 miles away. Dc1 has 1 year left in college and then dc2 will be going. But our nearest college doesn't do the course dc2 wants to do so we have to get him to our second nearest college which is 20 minutes in the car on a good day, longer in rush hour so about 10-12 miles away I think. At the moment we manage by having the secondary school dc in their free breakfast club so they get dropped off at 8, then whizz round to drop dc1 to college 30 minutes early and then drop the younger 2 off at primary school hopefully not late.

I live rurally in a farming community and my kids get school transport to school (only 3.5 miles though and they both go to the (thankfully undersubscribed) local school. Bus takes about 20-25 min for what would take me less than 10 min to drive. We are lucky we live near the main road so they get picked up at the end of our drive, but some friends drive over a mile down country roads to meet the school bus as it doesn’t go to everyone’s door!

It is a logistical challenge for many. There is no out of school care like breakfast or after school club. There are barely any local childminders anymore. My observation is that it is mostly women working flexible/part time and grandparents keeping it all going. I do see farmer dads on the school run though, so it is definitely possible. Farming families tend to live close to grandparents and aunts/uncles so that is how they manage.

ah, I didn't see that, it was buried in one of the subsequent posts. OP is self-employed, he's just going to have to do the school run at 3 and get someone to look after the kids on the farm until he finishes work. It's not like he's in a 9-5 office job.

This sounds a very sensible post from someone who understands the issues.

i think realistically you need to find a way to make it work as tough as that may be.

If you decide not to go for the taxi option in view of your younger child's age, bear in mind that you can still ask for mileage costs which may ease the pain a bit.

Yep that's fair. I am not a farmer so I have no clue how realistic or otherwise him doing any school runs is - I'd assumed totally impossible I must admit. But the fact someone upthread has said she is a full-time teacher with 6 children and a dairy farmer husband suggests that there is probably a solution to be found with a bit of creativity! Though props to you @twinkletoesiamnot (are you quite sure you aren't?😉) some people manage apparently superhuman feats of organisation. I have three children at school less than a mile away and one part-time job and I'm on my knees 🤷

It's not just 2 minutes though, is it? If he needs to be at work, for let's say 7, and then the taxi doesn't come until 8.15, then that's a problem, isn't it? And there's also after school to consider, potentially. If the taxi drops back at 3.45, and he's still at work, then that's an issue.

I don't think it's insurmountable, but they would probably need to find before/after school child care of some kind.

No staff under him.
Just someone to cover his days off, the farmer and the farmer's son.
When he took the job he explained that he needed to do some of the school runs.
He organised his day around that.
Ie he starts milking at 4 am instead of 4.30 on those days so he can be finished by 8., takes dc to school then goes back to work. Pm school runs means he is slightly later finishing.
If there is an emergency or he has a cow calving / break down and can't get away I can often call in a favour from a friend ( I collect their dc once a week to facilitate this) or would have to sort something else.
Luckily this has only happened once in 3 years.

FWIW OP, I do have some sympathy- I teach rurally and I know it can be a challenge getting children to different primary schools. I know people are saying you chose this, but locally at least, some primaries have closed recently, so it may not have been like this when you chose to move there! And anyway, if no-one was prepared to live rurally and farm, food would be even more expensive than it already is.

I also know school transport times can be difficult and inflexible.

Unfortunately, I do think you might have to deal with it, for a year and hopefully when your older child is in Y3, they can move to the other school, which means at least it's only one set of school runs to deal with. You may still have to appeal for a place, but it will be easier.

Possibly, if there's someone local who wants to earn a bit of money doing before school care, could you then pick up from after school club or similar two days a week? Using wrap around care is very normal, even for young primary aged children.