Petition for more primary places in Bristol

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Children in the St Werburghs area of bristol are being sent to many different schools in totally different communities while people are driving in from other areas to their school. Children living 200yds from the school are not getting places. There is a shortage of school places in Bristol and we are campaigning for more local school places for local kids so our children can be educated in their community. Please support this aim by signing our petition www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gopetition.com%2Fpetitions%2Fcampaign-for-additional-reception-class-for-st-werburg.html&h=f56a6

If you look at the admissions criteria for popular, oversubscribed, secondary schools in Bristol you will find that they give children living close to the school priority over siblings living out of catchment. I think there is a strong case for doing this for primary schools as well.
As for the parents driving in from other areas. They may have chosen that school when it was less popular and catchment area was much larger. Also some of them may wish to move their children to other schools near their new house but that local school could also be full so it may not be as simple as you thought.
I do think a closest distance of less than 200m is very small and I hope the Council reviews provision at all schools in Bristol with this sort of figure with a view to providing extra places.

Yes, I agree , there should be a distance limit on the sibling rule - what has happened here is that there is a very good nursery, and people coming to that from out of the local area have moved older children in through 'in year' admissions to ensure a place for siblings to enter reception in a year when everyone knew primary places would be short. This has effectively kept out local children - there were only 7 places left after sibling placement.
The consultation period for admissions is January so each year they just go forward unchanged.
On the plus side there is some discussion open re providing more school places in the area which makes it even more important for everybody who feels children should be educated in their local area to sign the e-petition! The more the better!

Yes, I agree , there should be a distance limit on the sibling rule - what has happened here is that there is a very good nursery, and people coming to that from out of the local area have moved older children in through 'in year' admissions to ensure a place for siblings to enter reception in a year when everyone knew primary places would be short. This has effectively kept out local children - there were only 7 places left after sibling placement.
I have no problem at all with parents who have done this...the admissions rules allow it; the ideal of course is that all local schools should be of the same high quality and there would be sufficient places in the right areas. 1 in 12 primary school applicants did not get any of their preferences in Bristol which indicates the LEA has a bit of a problem with forward planning school places!
The consultation period for admissions is January so each year they just go forward unchanged.
On the plus side there is some discussion open re providing more school places in the area which makes it even more important for everybody who feels children should be educated in their local area to sign the e-petition! The more the better!

So it is a faith school (judging from admissions practices)?
Authorities are under obligation to provide a school place in the borough- I don't believe there is a compulsion for it to be the closest school.
My children cannot attend their 2 closest schools as they are faith schools.
It is sad that they cannot be educated in their own community, but there you go.

No , it is not a Faith school, just an ordinary local inner city primary. There is a huge bulge in several areas of Bristol, which LEA must have known about but have only planned action for 5 yrs time when this bulge of kids will just about be ready to leave primary school!
It is interesting how different policies work against each other - some 10 yrs ago this area received Neighbourhood Renewal funding , which achieved the effect of making it a good place to live and bring up your kids. It became a vibrant, close, well functioning stable community, but splitting all the kids from that community up and sending them all over town to the school places no one else wants won't do much for community cohesion!

HI, I will sign your petition when I get home (can't access Facebook at work). Although I don't live in Bristol I am in a similar position with no space for my child and a massive shortage of spaces locally.

I am not sure if in year sibling moves are causing the issue here (possible) but the high number of faith schools is for sure, none of them offer any provision for local children until after all of the religious criteria has been fulfilled - for one school we were criteria 9, they were full at criteria 4 but the last child admitted lived 3.47 miles away, we live 0.4 miles away ...depressing, over 50% of the schools here are faith schools and they need to start serving their local communities better. I didn't think religion was about discrimination last time that I looked..

Catherine

Thanks Catherine! It seems there are problems in many parts of the country. I cannot understand how this takes LEA's by surprise....surely they know how many kids they have to provide places for and where! Populations don't shift that much. Good luck to you!

Are you talking about st werburghs nursery and school? My dd went to the nursery even though we didn't live in the area because it's an excellent nursery but I never even thought about trying to get her into the primary school (didn't think it was that gd a school atch)

They've just built a new school up by the college though surely st werburghs children can get in there?

Will sign the petition but it's not showing up as a link? And I can't get to it from my ipad

Yes it is St Werburgh's. I agree , nothing that special about the school, just an ordinary local primary, but 120 odd applicants for 28 places! A lot of the local kids have been sent to different schools as between the catchment area of any schools , and of course as they have not got their preferences have been put into the schools n one else wants. My twin grand-daughters have been placed over the motorway at Millpond..enough said!
Will repost the link or you can search for 'local schools for local kids ' on facebook www.gopetition.com/petitions/campaign-for-additional-reception-class-for-st-werburg.html. Thanks for your support!

Yes it is St Werburgh's. I agree , nothing that special about the school, just an ordinary local primary, but 120 odd applicants for 28 places! A lot of the local kids have been sent to different schools as between the catchment area of any schools , and of course as they have not got their preferences have been put into the schools n one else wants. My twin grand-daughters have been placed over the motorway at Millpond..enough said!
Will repost the link or you can search for 'local schools for local kids ' on facebook www.gopetition.com/petitions/campaign-for-additional-reception-class-for-st-werburg.html. Thanks for your support!