Any Parents out there refused places at St Mary's Leith

[soo22]

Hi, I'm trying to get other parents out there who have been refused a place at St Mary's Leith to lobby the Council for additional teachers/space to allow children the right to attend their local catchment school.

[jackedin]

Been offered Hermitage Park - good school but not my local catchment, denominational. Don't suppose you heard of anyone who has not taken up their place? I believe letters accepting places had to be back by today...?

[Groovee]

Anyone who was refused their first choice out of catchment, have you been offered anything else. Quite a few people this morning at sports day were saying they've been offered St Joseph's primary at Broomhouse rather than their catchment Non Denomination schools.

[K999]

I fail to see what you can do about a parent who had their child baptised but is not a Catholic themselves? And how do you prove what you think are their motives?

[soo22]

Hi jackedin, did you write to Malcolm Chisolm and the Councillors? Do you know of any other parents we could get together with to add strength to argument? If you need more info on parent who baptised their child as a Catholic and is not a Catholic, PM me.

[rubyhorse]

OK - well, as I see it your child is in catchment for the school and is a baptised RC, so according to all the rules the CEC have laid out should have been given a place - it seems to hinge on how much importance is placed on you having missed the February deadline. What a muddle - hope it gets sorted for you.

[jackedin]

certificate ^

[jackedin]

Rubyhorse Thanks for info. I got the letter in Feb and was late with the bap certain but they had it in Nov at original enrolment so I didn't think anything of it until I got letter in Apr saying DS didn't get a place. I think it's a bit of a mess really. I have sent off letter of appeal so it's a wait and see situation now.

[rubyhorse]

I can also confirm that there are definitely non-baptised Catholics with siblings already at the school who have been offered a place.

I know that the Council asked for a second form to be completed in February, and at that point you had to send in a baptism certificate. There was a closing date - did you get the form in before or after the closing date?

If you're planning an appeal, it may help you to know that there were a group of people from St Mary's who were asked to send in that second form a second time, as the Council thought that a batch of them had gone astray. HTH.

And by the way - the advice I've heard is to get a group of disappointed parents together and work together on it. Could you do that?

[ratspeaker]

In Edinburgh each area will have 2 schools one RC, which will often have a bigger catchement, and one "local" school
The RC school will give priotity to RC baptised children, this is the law as it stands at present.
Some schools are oversubscribed, the council seems very slow to address this issue, it's been happening for years all over the city
OP you have my sympathy that you didn't get into the school you wanted but the council will probably stick to their guns stating they have given places to all RC children within catchement without looking into why they are having to refuse children places

If its any consolation my children had friends who didn't go to the same school who they still met up and played with
If there' more than one stream in a school there's no guarantee that children who are friends will be put in the same class

[jackedin]

soo22 I got nowhere with pupil placements. Said they are working hard to get DS place but I was late sending in baptism cert. Said that some nursery kids may get deferrals, all places may not be accepted (yeah right!) Also spoke to HT but as you said hands are tied. Now sent off email to local councillors and Malcolm Chisholm - who should be in a good mood and willing to help!! Also have put in appeal. Feel a bit frustrated with it all but I don't accept arguments about there being other good schools and children making friends elsewhere. We all know that but they should be allowed to attend their local school (what happened to choice?)and if some schools get portacabins, extensions and extra teachers etc then all schools who are constantly oversubscribed should get the same too.

[pippitysqueakity]

massive classes, and teachers cannot get jobs...joined up thinking, not really.

[soo22]

ratspeaker, my DD is not a baptised Catholic. It is the closest school to our house, all her friends are going and she may end up at a school further away where she will know no-one.

[kaumana]

I have a contact in the Evening News that has been a great help in the past. I don't want to put her details up here but if you want to pm me I'll pass them on. Saying that , be aware that going to the press can back fire, not necessarily from the journalist but from the readers wandering why you you won't consider other schools. Just a heads up not a judgement.

[ratspeaker]

soo22 is your DC actually baptised and did you send a copy of the Baptism certificate in?
Or are you wanting a place at St Marys for a non Catholic child?
Just trying to get thing clear in my head

[soo22]

Keep me posted jackedin, as I say, I do know quite a few non-catholic children who have been given places. I think some investigation needs to be done!

[jackedin]

soo22 I'm sorry I don't know anyone else, my DS doesnt attend the nursery due to work committments but I will try and see if the parent council have had any feedback from parents. Will also email those councillors too. Thanks for the names.

[soo22]

What I feel is particularly unfair is that I know of one parent who baptised her DC as Catholic and they are not Catholic! I think CEC needs to deal with this better, particularly when the DC suddenly got baptised after the original application went in.

[jackedin]

AMML - thanks for all that. We got letters in Feb asking to resend baptism certs as they knew then the competition for places was going to be fierce. I send this and thought no more of it. I've been told that DS is 1st on waiting list but I heard someone else been told this too. I was also told that the only enrolments were baptised with siblings and baptised with no siblings. I am going to phone placements tomorrow again and will post thereafter. They told me categorically that no non catholics with siblings have places so if that's true....!!!

[prettybird]

Good luck with the appeals.

I know it is Glasgow, so not relevant - but ds' school has a planning capacity of 297, a working capacity of 288 ('cos, for example, the P7 class is only 22) - yet the head teacher said that next year she will have to try to fit 308 into the school. She's juggling classes all the way through the years - so, for example, even though there are two (full) P1 classes, next year she will have a P1 class and a P1/2 class in order to accommodate the 38 kids (Catchment plus siblings - that's all she can take) - which means in turn that she will have to create a P2/3 class...... and so on.

We made the mistake of asking how she was at the Parents' night earlier and go the answer "keech"

[AMML]

They do have 2 teachers but they're both part time (one works Mon/Tues and the other is Wed-Fri).

They did have 2 full time teachers in P1, but that was because they had 30 DC in the class. P2 up to P7, they'll only have one teacher (or 2 p/t).

[soo22]

Yes but don't they have 2 teachers

[AMML]

No, there is only one P3 (currently the P2 class) and they already have 30 DC in that class so no room for any P2's to join them in August.