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

'smug parents who think i'm all right jack a kick up the bum'

Isn't this just predjudice? Pre-judging a whole group of people. If something comparatively rude was said the other way round there'd be an outcry. This is inverted snobbery and does no good for anyone.

I agree spider I am appalled with that attitude.From what i can see the postcodes in the catchment for decent schools will see an influx of MC parents buying up property and getting into the schools they want.I think Stringer has been considering managing its own affairs for a while and all this furore will hasten that.These schools aren't exclusively middle class as there are children from hollingdean and whitehawk in ds's class A child should not have to be bussed to school As I said before parents local businesses and teachers need to unite and put more in to their local schools This happened at ds primary and was a real success.

sm I chose to send my children to my catchment school is an ok school. my view was to support it help it improve. I have to put up is a lot of negative comments about it from people in the area who applied for the one of the best local school ( affluent catchment area) with was in the next catchment( which on current local birth rate we were pretty much guaranteed a place at living only a mile from it). alot of it was to do with the fact that there is a council estate right next to my catchment school and the perceived more middle class environment of the other school. parents who lie to get their children into the school of their choice (rent houses, lie about religion, make donation to schools) are saying im all right jack.

its those parents that my i'm alright jack comments are aimed at. the renting is people who own one house but rent a house in a particular area for short term only to beat the catchment system.

I'm just wondering who will be paying for these school buses? There was an article in the Argus the other week about the school transport service in Brighton being £300,000 over budget for last year.

MagicF if they want to plough their resources into that then fair play to them. Maybe they have good reason to want or need their kids at a particular school.

I say 'they'. Personally I've never met anyone who's renting in an area to get into a school. I'm not sure it's a major issue.

Well personally I hope that this is extended to other big cities. I would like to buy a house nearer the Steiner school we have chosen for the dc's but I cannot afford to because the state schools in that area are classed as 'good' so all the people moving in have pushed the prices beyond our reach. Ironic really!

sadly I know a few people either directly or through friends who have played the system to get their child into the school of their choice based on league tables using underhand methods. I remember seeing that programme about the school in the south that was really popular and seeing the head going to physically check addresses and though surely people dont do that but as my dd went through the process I was shocked at some of the stories that came out. and some of the footstamping that came out of people being rejected from their first choice school was amazing too especially in respect of one tiny school ( fantastic school with excellent special needs provision) which was oversubscribed at amost 3 to 1. people were wanting to ring up and complain that xyz got in. even siblings were turned away. it got quite nasty.

I think everyone should have the opportunity of a good school not just those lucky enough to live near one. but good education for all is a eutopian concept I fear.

Will the lottery take into account which schools siblings attend? And would it bother anyone if their DCs were all at different schools?

Who's Sports Day/Parent's Evening would you miss, in the event of them being held at the same time, your DSs or DDs?

apparently if I heard correctly based on special needs first, then siblings then lottery.

It would definitely bother me and DW if ours were at different schools, as the school run would be a nightmare. And it would mean someone was going to school among people they didn't know from the local community or the local primary.

The underlying issue here, surely, is that this is an admission by the government that not all comprehsnsive schools are equal. If they were, there would be no need for enforced social engineering of this kind.

And yes, one small, malicious part of me rather likes the idea of certain people in posh parts of my city thinking they were home and dry for one lovely catchment and finding they're in the less desirable one. So sue me. It actually happened in this city, on a small scale, about 10 years ago - anyone in Sheffield will be able to tell you about the great High Storrs/ Abbeydale Grange catchment debacle.

But deep down, I don't like the idea of forcing parents to send their children to schools where they dont want to go. It's just that, even deeper down, we ought to feel it doesn't matter - right?

kids who could possibly be int he same school wont be split and forced to go to two seperate schools. it can't be done for one thing. how can you get two kids to two schools on time?

they did say special needs then siblings then lottery.

here some sibilings didnt get into a very good school there was a lot of bad feeling. out of catchment parents were up in arms. those parents were advised that it might be more appropriate to remove their existing child(ren) from the school so that all siblings went to the same school.

I can see that the transport may be an issue as Pixel says. In our area you can only get a subsidised bus if you are more than 3 miles from the school. Some poorer parents may get a place at a decent school but have no means to get the child there.

Locally the school bus contract was pulled a couple of weeks before the new academic year started, due to budget issues. Chaos ensued for the first week until it was sorted and even now it's unreliable.

I would LOVE to know where the children of the Brighton and Hove councillors who made this decision are going to school.

privately, I would think! lol

Hopefully some of the richer parents who thought they were guaranteed places at Varndean/Stringer will now cough up and pay for private, which will free up some school places.

And those that have to send their children to Falmer, Longhill, Hove Park etc will hopefully start to try to have some imput into the schools and turn them around with parental involvement.

This does seem a much more balanced system them the previous one. I hope other councils will follow Brighton & Hoves example.

The only thing I don't understand is plans to scrap sibling link. If you are a single parent, how are you meant to be in two places at one time?

But sibling link has no meaning at secondary school. Children go to school on their own, not dropped off by parents as at primary.

but don't siblings normally travel together? mine are 4 1/2 yrs apart and I hope my dd would be travelling in with my older ds when she starts secondary

Not always, DullWitch, surely? Some people will be taking them in the car because they happen to work nearby. Does everyone get a school bus to secondary? Mine are Y2 and about to go into reception, so forgive my ignorance.

Giving priority to siblings is discriminatory against first-born and 'only' children. Where there is competition for places there ought to be a level playing field for all children. It is the child who applies to the school and places shouldn't be allocated to siblings simply for convenience to parents.
My dd lost out on a school place at our catchment school because of the 30 places available, 15 went to siblings but many of these siblings lived further away from the school than we did.

I think you may well feel otherwise if your dd was a sibling idlemum

siblings should always get priority over distance imo, with both primary and secondary.

Would be a ridiculous situation if parents had to take children to potentially very distant different schools.

Sibling policy right IMO, though it may well count against dd with primary place for January, as she is an eldest child and there are lots of siblings this year.

Though I suppose it's less imperative at secondary level... Still more practical to have all your children at one school/within spitting distance of each other (local primary/local secondary).

A problem a friend of mine has is that her children go to different schools andthey have different term dates - very tricky for holidays.

I still can't believe they have introduced a scheme where the nearest walking distance school is not a guarantee.Also I think the appeals are going to be endless and people will be trying all manner of things to get into their favourite.There are 2 in our catchment one better than the other so I think people with apply to the less favoured one in the hope of getting in and it will be oversubscribed so the better school won't!It is a disaster as we need another school as all the 'less advantaged' kids who are now in our catchment live really far from the school and so walking home together and going to friends after school won't be so easy which is what my ds's school life has been all about.