Brighton votes to allocate secondary school places by lottery - good or bad?

[TheDullWitch]

Would you put your child's future down to pure chance because it's a fairer system?
here

As a non-poshie londoner who moved to Brighton because she couldn't afford private ed in London, it is very worrying what we will do in 4 years time. We have now been moved into the good catchment area but are so far away that I can't see how we will get into that school. We were planning to move to be near a secondary school in a few years, but it isn't clear where we would have to move to actually get a place. atm ds is in private school (funded by the in-laws) but I'm not sure if this funding is continuing indefinitely, and it definitely doesn't cover the 3 dds.

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Jeremy Vine has beem luking again. Discussing this topic and the Heather Mills blue badge on his show today.

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He's calling it a tombola not a lotery though. I picture bunting, straw hats and the vicar calling out the names. If you don't get a place you get some dodgy bath salts or a bottle of Bucks Fizz.

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puddle I think you live near me as the headmaster of ds's school has said they cannot cope with the numbers and won't be forming extra classes which is what they have been asked to do.BUT they may open an annexe to the school closer to the centre of town to accomodate the overspill but I still don't think parents will want that as they want this particular school in its current location

I didn't know that Noddy. It seems completely bizarre.

I am not sure how the lottery system will work and no councillor has ever been able to explain it - apart from at a very high level. They are introducing an incredibly complicated system with three different elements - an equal preference system, new catchment areas and then the lottery.

And of course it is pure coincidence that the outcome of this plan is of most benefit to parents in marginal wards when local elections are looming.

I think they have introduced a lottery system here too but only for the single-sex schools so far (and I think you still get a place if it is your nearest school)

Aha - I am starting to see the logic after reading an article about this on the BBC.

The schools in Brighton aren't geographically distributed, they are mostly in certain locations. Which means that although someone living them near may get a choice of two good schools, someone further out might have no chance of either.

So in the circumstances, it sounds like it could actually be a fairer system.

It would be madness in general, but in those unique circumstances it may make some kind of sense.

I am glad I am not living there though, because there are so many drawbacks. Lack of continuity for kids who end up going to different schools from their friends. Bizarre splitting of communities etc etc.

I am wondering if the lottery is just for the usual over subscribing areas and if local kids in local streets will still get in to their nearest and then all those further away but still within the catchment will go into lottery.Also they are scrapping the sibling link in 2012 so that will cause problems too.I still think if kids went to their local school regardless of area and local parents and businesses got involved in it with events fundraisers etc then these schools would improve.I get really annoyed woth people who think a school and community just runs itself.

Cloudhopper the 2 best schools are in the same road!But they haven't always been the best and I think the local council needs to look at how they became this way.One of them takes a huge intake from a local council estate so it is not all posh londoners!

Hmmm i think it's a pretty crap idea tbh. What if they couldn't afford to travel to the a school further away ??

I think the schools should reflect the neighbourhood. It's only natural you want to send your kids to school with their neighbours. That's what communities around about.

Brighton and Hove should have done more to ensure that Comart stayed open and did better. It's a disgace that people in Whitehawk don't now have a local secondary school. Also people in Seven Dials/Prestonville don't either. There's the big massive Catholic school which takes up every bit of green space for miles around but which won't let local people in unless they're religeous fundamentalists, then there are other schools at least one bus ride away.

They need to make BHASVIC into a secondary school. There are not enough secondary school places as it is and yet there are more and more homes being built. (King Alfred development and loads of flats around Preston Park.)

If my kids end up at a shite school I will home educate.

Noddy they may not continue to be the best either under the new plans.

I see your point noddyholder. There is much more to it than meets the eye. The unique set up has led them to the decision to do the lottery, because it is just a nightmare for everyone as it stands.

Having said that, I would just be terrified if I was a parent. Surely this is going to create a lot of stress and uncertainty for kids as well, not having any idea where they are going to go to school. And I think it is a real shame if the siblings rule goes, because it is really nice for children to go to the same schools as their siblings.

Round here it is a grammar system, and I am not sure that is better. There seems to be a lot of coaching and stress on the kids.

Sometimes I wonder whether the furore over schools is really warranted. Is it really so bad to get into an underachieving school? Does it make that much difference, other than the peer influence?

spider if you look at the map on the brighton and hove website whitehawk road is in the catchment for varndean/stringer but hollingbury isn't?!?!?!?!What I want to know is if more people within the catchment areas apply than there are places who/how do they choose?For example if 200 apply within the area for 180 places who decides which 20 go into the lottery??I agree re comart such a cop out to close it and just shift the kids around.Brighton needs another school no question

Bizarre.
Apparently parents at the meeting were 'baying' at each other yesterday evening as reported by fivelive news.

I don't think the council will shift on this. It has taken so long with so many consultations to reach this compromise.

'The Labour-run authority'

Shock horror.

I think it's bloody ridiculous - and they want more people to ditch their cars and walk to school. Oh, this will help then...

I hear they're laying on school buses but the kids who will go to Blatch have to get the school bus which stops at Stringer then comes back round to Blatch.

Just imagining this happening in Sheffield - it would wipe the smug grins off a few people's faces, but HELP, the traffic nightmare....

They have decided and it seems final.It has already resulted in price increases in the local estate which are ridiculous and apparently people are already selling and moving to get in!

Nice for you though Nods.

It will be interesting to see how this affects relative exam results in the different secondaries affected. If it works, there should no longer be "good" and "bad" schools and every school should have roughly the Brighton & Hove average percentage.

I'd like to know what the focus of the complaints is - is it (a) the cross-town travel involved, or (b) the fact that the "good" school which people paid a premium to get into the catchment for is now becoming infested with oiks from the council estate?

if it's (a), then that's ironic, because it's precisely this kind of journey that people do in order to GET to a preferred school, especially in big cities.