Secret plan to end pupils' right to go to sibling's school

[CountessDracula]

So saith the Daily Mail

I made a comment on another thread about how I think we'll see a huge rise in home-schooled kids in the UK over the next generation.

I stand by that.

It's already huge in the US for the same reasons it is here, also for faith reasons, b/c faith schools are independent schools there.

Is it all schools they are talking about.

Probably going to get shot down in flames here but I do think its a bit unfair to have a sibling policy for senior schools. Kids should be able to get to senior school on their own and its tough on people that only have one kid.

"Kids should be able to get to senior school on their own"

Hmm - well I guess that depends on how you feel about an 11/12yr old travelling to the next town (about 30 minutes on the bus) on their own, and then having to make the 20 minute walk from the bus-stop to school......

But some schools already have changed their admission to reflect this. My nearest secondary does this - priority is given to those who live nearest when they apply. Too many families were nearby when the eldest child started but have since moved further away. This means that they get 2 bites at the cherry - subsequent children can either opt for the nearest school, or the sibling's school. Equally people who live close to the school have little chance of getting in because places are allocated to out of area familes with an older child already there.

It is only really an issue if you are not at the local school.

And it would dampen down the various flat-renting schemes that sometimes go on, if parents realised that they had to do this for each child!

Hmmm. What is a 'partially selective' school? Community primaries aren't selective, are they?? I can see that in a selective school there is a problem - but secondaries don't usually have a siblings policy, anyway, do they?

So i simply don't understand this.

RE siblings in ordinary primaries...of course siblings need to go to the same school because of pick-ups etc, BUT I think that if a family get into a hugely over-subscribed school with thier first child, and then 'co-incidentally' move away but continue to send theri 3 subsequent children, it should be looked at. The over-subscribed school near me had almost NO 'proximity' places available last year because of the families who rent or buy close to the school for the fist admission and then move somewhere less 'edgy'. Then the flat they bought / rented is used the next year for exactly the same purpose, and the population of non-catchment siblings just grows and grows -and the families who live permanently in the area have to send their children to a school much further away across busy London roads.

But the rest of the country shouldn't have to suffer because of London-Schools-Panic-Madness!

HRH - do you live in the country side?

I think it is reasonable to expect a year 7 child to do a bus/train journey and then a walk.

Agree that 30 mins train + 20 walk is quite long but several girls did that sort of journey when I was at school. Lots of kids commute for up to an hour to get to school.

If the journey is too long then it might be best to look at schools that are nearer.

will someone tell me how this would work in practice.

you take one child to one school and another child on another.

that means you will always have one kid who will be late - and one pissed off school.

its absurd!

If it's in the Daily Mail, it must be true.

"with competition for every place more intense than ever, "favouritism" for one child over another should be banned."

So, favouring children who live nearer should be banned, favouring those with SEN should be banned... in fact, all places should be allocated following a "Drawn From the Hat" type procedure.

oh yes I'm sure it's a load of poo

Just thought it might result in interesting debate

Sounds like a load of old hogwash to me. At least I hope it is

Ladymuck - this a problem even at some primaries here. The closest to where I used to live was very oversubscribed. One of the problems was that a lot of the houses in that area were small terraces, popular with young couples starting families. As families outgrew them they often moved further away, but kept their kids at the same school. The new families moving in then can't get places - even though they live on the nearest street to the school.

"If the journey is too long then it might be best to look at schools that are nearer."

There are ALWAYS going to be children in Wellingborough that have to commute - there simply aren't enough Senior schools for the number of pupils leaving Primary/Junior schools in the town.

We have 3 Senior Schools (4 if you include the Private one )- and 13 Junior/Primary schools in our town. I once did the maths - based on number of pupils at the schools and there are nowhere near enough senior school places in the town for the children that need them - so many HAVE to commute - even if they don't want to!

1 of those schools is on special measures, one is split across a main road (with yr7 pupils having to cross the busy road for lessons) and the other is in a dodgy area - where I certainly wouldn't want my DS's (or DD if I had any) walking on their own in the mornings, or in the afternoons (possibly late afternoon if they stay on for after school activities such as sports).

I haven't seen the policy adopted at primary level, and in fact the condoc makes it clear that siblings at the school should be considered in priority when it comes to primary schools, given that parents of yougn children wouldn't want to see them split.

Ds1 is at a boys school, so many parents have to manage transport to 2 (or more) schools. All seem to manage fine.

QoQ - so what will you do - take your eldest to secondary school and leave the primary aged ones to walk to school?

HRH - thanks for explanation. Senior admissions are a nightmare in my area but I had hoped things were better outside SE. Obviously not. Where do they think the extra kids will go?

Some schools organise school buses at senior school level to get round transport problems. Ideally there should be sufficient senior school places in local area to avoid long commutes. This is also a green issue.

well if it stays as it is at the moment (with DH and my jobs) then DH would probably take DS1 to school, and I'd take the younger ones (although if I'm driving by then it'll be easily possibly to do both - the senior school that's 50 minutes via the bus route is actually only about 20 minutes by car (at peak times) - and they start earlier - so can get back to our town - and get the younger ones to school in plenty of time.

Favouring children? You'd have to choose which one of your own children made it to school on time then? Nice.

[probably has hold of wrong end of stick]

Well around here (S london) lots of schools have different start times. Also quite a few mums pair up so one mum stays at the first school whilst the other takes the siblings to the other school. I guess elsewhere schools would adapt, so you would have some starting at say 8:50 and other at 9:10. Presumably most people are faced with 2 different schools when the eldest starts secondary.

But anyway the condoc is only looking at those schools which can select up to 10% of their intake according to ability (eg in sport or languages say). And the condoc is just saying that where a pupil is admitted on the basis of this selection, it shouldn't guarantee siblings a place who would not otherwise be eligible (eg because they were equally "talented"). The parallel is with grammar schools who have never given automatic spaces to siblings.

Blu, think of a secondary school in our neck of the woods beginning with G - that one is partially selective and has a sibling policy.

Siblings going to the same school isn't just about journeys imo. It's about family bonding. If kids have the same teachers, know the same people, have the same reference points, there's some chance - no guarantee, but some chance - that they'll have a closer relationship, not necessarily while they're teens, but later on in life.

Also from a practical point of view, if one kid is being bullied, getting together with a crowd who are known for shoplifting etc. etc., a sibling in a school who has some knowledge of it, may enable parents to know what's going on in their chldren's lives a bit better.