Chestnut Lane School, Amersham, Bucks - No Places Available for Catchment Children

[GenB]

Chestnut Lane Infant School, Amersham - 2011 Allocations

Primary school allocations for Buckinghamshire have just been announced and I have been allocated a school for my daughter seven miles away from our home town of Amersham. I put down three preferences for schools in Amersham - my first preference was my catchment school which is 0.4 of a mile from my home. There are seven schools in Amersham my daughter could potentially have attended - but apparently no spaces for her.

Buckinghamshire Admissions have confirmed that there are 19 children who have not been allocated a place at Chestnut Lane, Amersham and who are being forced to travel distances of up to 8 miles to attend a primary school outside of Amersham.

I would like to hear from anyone in Buckinghamshire who has had a similar experience. I would particularly like to hear from the 18 other families who have been affected by the lack of spaces at Chestnut Lane Infant School, Amersham.

Thank you x

there has to be a limit to catchment, I can understand your concern however if kids education was important wouldn't one have moved closure to your perferred school?

I know that in Buckinghamshire in particular this becoming a growing concern not only with infant school placements but also secondary schools. As Jowatts points out, many people who can afford to, move to areas that are perceived to have better schools according to Ofsted reports - something extremely problematic in Bucks due to the grammar school system.
Problematic for parents of children who have lived and worked in these areas for many years and perhaps not having the hefty salaries that this requires and also for the councils when trying to plan for demand. We cannot support this influx any longer.
GenB, I can sympathize for you even further as you are very close to the school in question and I hope that your daughter will do well at any school - I was in a similar predicament with my eldest son whereby he did not get into any of my preferred places and he ended up in a low scoring school according to Ofsted. Despite a grand fight for the first year I took him off the waiting lists and kept him at that school which this year has one of the highest rankings in the area - he has achieved wonderful things and is looking pears fattening a grammar school this year.