Calling all Hampton children with no primary school place

[nicsa]

There is a real problem, again, this year for primary school places in Hampton Middlesex. I feel the only way to make some headway with the LEA is to find out how many Hampton children are either not being provided for or are having to go out of borough - if you are in a similar situation maybe we could all get together and make a case for s bulge class somewhere

have they offered you anything? My understanding is that they have to offer you in borough.

Not only Hampton. There is a real problem in Twickenham too. Initially some poor families were offered nothing yesterday, only to find out unofficially today that there is to be a bulge class at St Mary's. Formally they are to hear tomorrow.

I have also heard a bulge class is going to chase bridge.

The council are obliged to give you something and they will. Lots of Richmond families have a state and Indi place and will give up their state place. Freeing up state places for those who want them. It is dreadful though. A real mess

No not necessarily. There are 190 children with no school place at all and more - like us- who have offered outside borough. The school we have been given was our 6th choice and has recently been given a satisfactory Ofsted report. The LEA has said if we don't accept this place we will in effect not be considered well. If we accept there is still a chance thatcwecwill move up the waiting lists of other schools. But they don't have to provide a place until the term after your child turns 5 - in our case year 1. And that could b anywhere. Speaking to other mums there appears to be a real problem forcthose south of the railway line in Hampton - so please respond if that is you - I think if we can show there is lack of provision for a section of the community in Hampton we may persuade the LEA to do something.

last year the LEA were short in total of 300 places and so ten bulge classes were put in place around the borough - the problem is largely at this end of the borough - Hampton/Teddington/Twickenham.
They will have known for some time now that the demand this year would outstrip the places they have and they should have established bulge classes already, if they were going to put them in place. I am convinced that they need to offer you a place in borough, so it might be worth checking on that.
Also, you need to establish with them whether accepting an out of borough place reduces your likelihood to get an offer of a bulge class. Whatever you accept ,you can go on every waiting list so do that and then phone to find out where you are placed in a few weeks time, once everything has calmed down a little.
I know it is a hugely stressful time but for most people, these things will get sorted, it just takes time. We were in a similar position in 05 with my DS and it took until early May for us to sort the school we really wanted. Can I also just ask - did you put all your local schools down? Did you fill all 6 places on the application?

Looks like this is a problem affecting many areas of SW london. Same position in Merton.They have no obligation to offer you in borough and merely give you the contact sof other boroughs.

oh sorry nicsa - I missed that you got your 6th choice. The LEA will consider that it has done it's work unfortunately. The best option is for waiting lists.

As far as pressurising the LEA - they have known for years that they haven't invested enough in expanding schools. Hence the continuing expansion now of Stanley, St.marys and St.Peters, etc etc.

I think that local ward councillors may be worth approaching.
I've had plenty of dealings with the Education dept as a school governor and they are extremely hard to deal with however, I do think that all pressure is good pressure.

Good luck with your campaign and with hopefully a school offer you are happier with.

Thanks all
innertiger - we are def going to pressurise local councillor. The LEA have told us that if we accept a place it won't reduce our chances of getting a school in borough. ..... But people that have been offered no school have been told they will be looked at closely and are a special case. so we feel very much that by placing a school out of borough / on the advice of our borough -- that we may be left with reduced chance of getting into any later offered bulge class. And to be honest the LEA say there are no bulge classes to be made.

Grr - always thought I would say c'est la vie to this school thing - but I think that is impossible

All Richmond Borough parents need to be aware that the council is looking to make some significant changes to Secondary Schools over the coming years, which could impact existing schools, so check out the thread: "New Secondaries for Richmond Borough" and join the debate. The council will hopefully listen to parents' views, but we can only engage in the process if we know what's going on.