Call for ban on catchment areas

[hoppybird]

Here

If this were to happen , the immediate effect would be yet more children being driven to school instead of walking.

somehow, i just don't see this ever happening.

SO how would an oversubscibed school choose?

Yes, quite Milliways - I don't see them suggesting an alternative!

Oh, I hope that they do this. They've instituted a lottery system in Brighton, Milliways, although admittedly the way they have arranged it means that it won't make a difference to most working-class areas.

Basically, parents apply to the over-subbed school, names are put in hat, names are drawn out of hat, those who were unsuccessful go on to their second choice.

It would be utter crapola, children whose parents didnt drive not being able to get into their local school because someone else knew the governers or the PTA or something and wanted their child to go there.

No way should it happen. The only times a child should go to a school that isn't in their catchment area is because of SN, because they are cared for by someone who lives close to the school, not including paid carers though, like childminders(ie their catchment area would be for nans house if she had them whlst parents were at work) or if the child or its siblings are already at that school and they move out of the area.

Great if you have twins!

Umm... school buses, anyone?

People oftrn lie about Granny Care.

DD's friend had a live-in Granny who cared for her, and another Granny in posh catchment area.

On her application she said, Granny cares for X, Granny lives in Y. Not a lie - but 2 Grannies!!. She got in though

True Milliways, but maybe it should be checked up on?

As for school buses,my Dd is seven I am not willing to put her on a school bus.
Secondary school, fair enough, but not primary.

Also, school buses cost money.

But the situation atm is totally unfair - basically private education by another name in a lot of areas: children of rich parents automatically gaining access to the best schools. I can't believe that you think that the current situation is preferable to - ! the horror that is school buses.

Good on you hatrick (I mean that genuinely not sarkily). Where I live (working-class area) the local secondary is shite (bordering on special measures). Three miles away is a comprehensive that is one of the best in the country - in the top 20 of the league tables. A 3-bedroom family house in the latter catchment costs about 100,000 more than the same house in this catchment. It might as well be a private school.

I agree with hatrick, and unfortunately a lot of the reasons schools are 'bad' is because of the pupils that go to them, if a class is full of disruptive pupils then it's going to get bad results, and those parents that don't care as much which school their children go to will end up with children shipped out to even worse schools whilst all those that do care will be doing anything they can to get into the 'good school'.

It would make schools worse IMO.

VS: why should the children of the 'don't-care' parents be penalised?

Why should children of rich parents - who already have so many advantages - have exclusive access to most of the best comprehensives (paid for with everyone's taxes)?

Why should my well-behaved, motivated children be penalised because I can't afford to live in Richville?

The parents who really don't give a crap won't bother applying to the really good schools anyway, so this change won't make much difference to them.

Bt plicywonk, it would just ebcome worse if this was to come into place, the children whose parents didnt care about which school they went to would be put in the school that already isn't that good, it wouldn't increase the amount of interested pupils going to the bad school, just the amount of uniterested.

Sorry x-post

The better school would be over subscribed and you can bet your bottom dollar it would not be the less fortunate children who got to go.

The less fortunate pupils would lose out, not the more fortunate.

But all the children of motivated parents who didn't get into Boden Comprehensive would go to Froot Shoot Comprehensive instead. The idea is that the intakes would mix thoroughly over time.

How would they lose out on a lottery system? The whole point is that places are allocated at random.

Catchment areas definatley need to stay, but I do think they need to be looked at again/revamped iyswim.

We would like ds to go a welsh language school. But the one that is in our catchment is further away than the one outside our catchment.

I know that there have to be borders, but someone really should've looked at a map before deciding who can go where!

I think catchment areas are good but then I live in an area where it generally all works well. Children can walk to school, and if the primaries have some class bias to them it's not an awful lot and it certainly turns into a healthy mix at the high schools.

Maybe it would be for the best in some urban parts of England. haven't really thought about that