calling all wimbledon mums on graham road or nearby who did not get a reception place for their child this year!

[lilasimpson]

hi, i would really like to gather all mums in wimbledon on or near graham road who did not get any school this year for reception...i live in graham road and did not get any of the closest ones, namely dundonald, WC and pelham....i am trying to demonstrate that the area we live in is not likely to get any offer and some people who live in the area close to dundonald are likely to get an offer from both dundonald or wc....so that is very unfair....if more than 10 parents are in this situation, i will be able to forward this issue and something may be done for that....
we need to do it!!!

Sympathies that you didn't get offered a school place, particularly with so many bulge classes this year.
I don't understand your point though. People only get an offer for one school, based on what order they put them in on their application form, so there is nobody who would have got a place at both Dundonald and WC.

You don't get offers for 2 schools.

what i mean is that people who live in some areas get the choice and put their preferred school first choice....i did not get any school while others had the choice!! do you see what i mean?

that is exactly what i mean!! a few roads are in both catchment areas, we are too far away from both!!

No, that isn't true. You are either closer to Dundonald or to WC, so you inevitably have to put that one down as your first choice. I know of a couple of cases where people have put WC as their first choice, although they live marginally closer to Dundonald, but that is a huge risk. I doubt it would work the other way round because Dundonald is only 1 form entry whilst WC is 3 form entry.
There is another "no man's land" from Worple Road up to the Ridgeway, where people are not close enough to get into any school. This has now been fixed by making WC 3 form entry and having a preferred catchment area for the final 30 places, or so I am led to believe. Perhaps that might happen at another school which would help you.

Hi Lila

Sorry to hear about your situation. It must be so difficult for you.

My reading of the rules for WC is that families in the priority area are considered above other applicants for all 3 forms of entry (looks like it may have been different in 2009). There doesn?t seem to be any consideration as to whether it?s your closest school. Looking at last year?s application numbers, the furthest successful families applying to Dundonald lived 186m from the school. Anyone living 186m from Dundonald is also in the priority area for WC - based on this it does look like someone living on the doorstep of Dundonald school could still have been offered a place at WC, which really doesn?t seem fair when other families just a few metres away don?t get a place anywhere.

Having said that, there really are lots of aspects of the application system which are unfair, eg it?s quite likely there are siblings getting places at Dundonald whose families have moved house since their first child applied. The bottom line seems to be that there just aren?t enough reception places all round.

I?ve been looking at the Merton Council website at the section headed ?Why have you created an APA at Wimbledon Chase Primary School?? The answer includes the statement ?The children who live close to Wimbledon Chase but are not in the priority area live close enough to offered places at alternative schools.? Evidently this hasn?t been the case this year (and probably also last year) so perhaps this gives you some material to take this up with the council.

Do you know where they?re going to be adding the bulge classes this year? Any chance that one of them will be somewhere near you?

Good luck! I hope you get a place somewhere you?re happy with.

oh, I didn't realise they had changed the rules for the priority area and that you now can't get a place unless you live within that area.

quite right ce213! thanks for your statements! i dont know where the bulges will be added this year if there are....joseph hood has lots of space left though, but i did not like it when i went to visit....

hi lila

i just seen you thread and just wondering what the outcome of your dilemma regarding primary school offers. As i have found out that my child wasnt offer any places today.

Hi Chauhan - are you Wimbledon-based?