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Tories want to abolish school catchment areas

94 replies

peanutbutterkid · 17/11/2006 21:35

They say .

Am I the only one who thinks this is mostly looney? Schools will have to have lotteries about who gets in, so you could live next door but be stuffed and have to travel miles to get your child(ren) into any school.

School run madness and traffic will only get worse. What happend to the Tories' new green image??

It ignores the reality that "good" schools are usually only so "good" because of the social advantages of the people living in the surrounding area (middle class kids do better in school than poor kids, separate from what the schools are like). Getting poor kids into "good" schools will only bring the test scores of schools in good/bad areas closer together, not especially help the poor kids.

Rich Tory supporters won't care about this policy because they don't mind about state schools where they live, they send their kids private, anyway.

I live in catchment of average schools when I could have afforded catchemnt of excellent schools, btw, in case you just think I'm protecting my own interests.

Does everyone else like Tory idea, or think more like me?

OP posts:
pointydog · 17/11/2006 22:21

I think the tories have thought about this a lot.

UnquietDad · 17/11/2006 22:24

It would be absolute DISASTER. How the hell are people without cars supposed to manage? And what about primary schools being feeders for particular schools? I will be pissed off to say the least if this ever happened - not least because DW and I are among the group eastendgirl mentioned...

eastendgirl · 17/11/2006 22:25

Climate change?

beckybrastraps · 17/11/2006 22:26

All that work on transition. Down the pan.

UnquietDad · 17/11/2006 22:26

What about climate change? [puzzled]

pointydog · 17/11/2006 22:29

yes i am in Scotland (didn't notice your question earlier)

nearlythree · 17/11/2006 22:30

I'd be a lot more impressed if he promised just to abolish s**t schools and make sure that every school was a good one in the first place.

pointydog · 17/11/2006 22:32

Well one way (and I do mean just one way) to get rid of shit schools is to stop choice and make it all catchment based.

VoluptuaGoodshag · 17/11/2006 22:32

Dreich today isn't it? (for PointyDog)

pointydog · 17/11/2006 22:33

Indeed!

UnquietDad · 17/11/2006 22:34

I agree pd - choice has made it all worse. I think if they did what you say, though, the catchment-fever already being displayed would just be exacerbated - prices in the "leafiest" areas would go even more sky-high and people would use even more underhand tactics to get an address in them. If that's possible.

eastendgirl · 17/11/2006 22:34

It is ridiculous: are we saying that if the school is not on our doorstep, we have to jump in our cars, and then then there will be more global warming? Surely a 20/25mins walk to school every morning is ok, if it means that the schools are a bit more mixed, not all 100% middle class, or 100% no hopers from hell. Oh, dear I think my socialist beliefs are beginning to show. And by the way I don't want my ds to go to the local school because it is crap, I would rather walk, and walk. And you would do the same.

UnquietDad · 17/11/2006 22:36

Yes, but what if you got a school that was LITERALLY on the other side of the city? Thinking of where I live, that would be more like a 90-minute walk, not 25. And what would happen to the sense of community with kids in one street all going to different schools across a big city?

nearlythree · 17/11/2006 22:37

But with catchments you have the problem of the wealthy buying their way into them. Even our village is priced beyond many because of the school - when we moved here it was rubbish but it's now in the top ten in the county and the clamour for houses is mad. If we were starting from scratch I'd agree, enforcing catchments would work, but we already have crap schools and good schools and a property market that reflects that.

pointydog · 17/11/2006 22:39

I think it would all settle down in time. The really pissed off people would go private and most people would gradually accept that a genuine mix of pupils works.

And in the meantime the old universities will hopefully continue to give extra attention to applications from state schools and those from non-uni backgrounds.

VoluptuaGoodshag · 17/11/2006 22:41

But I remember the good old days where we went to the school which was nearest unless you were a catholic and went to the nearest catholic school. That's about the only choice there was. There were the great kids and the duffers like there are in any school but hey we all came out able to read and write, no-one was really, really badly behaved, one broken window after the long summer holidays was something to ooh and ahh at because it was so rare. I didn't live in a posh area, my school was in a council scheme in a minging old mining village. There was no such thing as league tables or good/bad schools. You went, you learned, you got the belt if you were misbehaving ...

VoluptuaGoodshag · 17/11/2006 22:42

I agree PD

pointydog · 17/11/2006 22:45

I don't believe that wealthy people flood an area just because the school is good (unless you're talking about Lodon which is a separate mental case). I think there are other factors. If there's a good school which serves a council/ex-council estate, I don;t think welathy people will be buying 2/3 bedroom ex-council semis just for the school.

Wealthy people like pretty places, with nice houses. Generally speaking.

MrsSpoon · 17/11/2006 22:46

Round about here the catchment areas must have been defined by a looney. We have to make placing requests to the School ten mins walk away (which has a better reputation than our catchment School anyway) to avoid having to walk 40 mins to our catchment School which is oversubscribed and as we are on the edge of the catchment area my DS1 was refused a place there and it will more than likely be the same story for DS2. Just about every child in the street goes to the School 10 mins walk away so I don't know how they can't just make our street catchment?

pointydog · 17/11/2006 22:46

Ah the belt. you're scottish then

expatinscotland · 17/11/2006 22:49

Glad to be in Scotland.

Wonder if it'll ever go Tory?

Probably not anytime soon.

nearlythree · 17/11/2006 22:53

Our village has 650 people. Since the summer holidays at least 10 families have moved in, and got their kids into the school. Families with older children have moved into town and cashed in - it's not just the 'nice' houses, the ex-local authority houses are being snapped up at mad prices. There are also several families who have moved in to get into catchment for the secondary school.

pointydog · 17/11/2006 22:53

Yes, I think Scotland's a lot better, expat. Apart from Edinburgh maybe but at least people just get on with it and send their kids to private school instead of faffing about so much with catchments.

VoluptuaGoodshag · 17/11/2006 22:53

Indeed I am. Never got belted myself though [halo emoticon] the threat of it was enough. Did get whacked over the knuckles with a ruler for trying to squirt milk out of the window at a dog though. Ah milk at school- another thing of a bygone age. We all took turns to be a milk monitor where you had to shake the wee pyramid carton to make sure the pupil had finished it. Admittedly it was no fun drinking it when it was warm but fun to search for one with a fire engine on it ........ I'm off again

VoluptuaGoodshag · 17/11/2006 22:54

Ah council house sales - don't get me started on that one ....