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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

We didn't get any of our 4 reception choices in Hackney...

74 replies

ShaznaB · 26/06/2011 00:35

Hi everyone
My husband and I are tearing our hair out. We applied for 4 schools within a mile of our house and got none of them. They gave us a second list and the nearest one was 30 minutes walk away (no public transport connection) and now we don't know what to do. My husband made a film about the situation. You can see us walking 3 mins to our local school (it's a faith school and only take 5 open places a year but other people from our street (less than 3 mins walk away) have gotten in before. There are 9 schools nearer than the one they've forced us into (in the end, they've told us no other schools were available -some choice). One of the women at the Learning Trust told my husband we should keep paying for her in nursery another year. Apart from the fact she's outgrown it, it's a bit rich that everyone else gets a place for free!

It's difficult to know what to do next. I guess we'll end up homeschooling through her reception year. What has anyone else done in this position?

OP posts:

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bibbitybobbityhat · 26/06/2011 23:26

Well, has she clarified that Rosebud? I asked at 19:30 and haven't seen a reply. I am interested in this without wishing to be too judgemental. Am facing similar with secondary schools in my borough next year.

Blu · 26/06/2011 23:38

Shazna - I know the whole school thing can be tricky in parts of London but do you think it is the best thing to be putting this up on YouTube and making yourself so very identified on the biggest parenting site ever?

There will be families of EAL / free school meals / with SEN children / who live in flats in the area you seem to imply is outrageous that you should have to walk through...and you know, some of the children from these families might be really good friends with your dd. Nice to her, kind to her, wanting to invite her home. And your DH has said all that he has said?

Seriously, you need to think what you are saying and how it sounds to people who might end up being friends.

Rosebud05 · 26/06/2011 23:43

The guy in the video said that they knew they didn't have a chance of one of their preferences (the one I mention above - this is not one of their nearest schools and is further away than the one they've been allocated). One of the first posts says, "one of the women at the Learning Trust told us last week there was one school we "would have gotten into" if we applied for it. It's a few hundred feet nearer than 2 of the other schools."

I don't know where you are, but in London a few hundred feet is loads - it's often a whole catchment area.

No, I doubt that she's clarified that, as they seem hell bent on blaming the Learning Trust. The title to that video is AWFUL.

There are parts of London (and elsewhere) where you can put down your 6 nearest schools and be allocated a very unpopular poorly rated school a very long way away, or even no school at all. This is a horrible situation to be in.

In this case, OP has been allocated a school rated good/outstanding by Ofsted which is nearer her home than at least one of the schools that she applied for (and I think the person who said that there is a bus route between her house and the school is correct). This is disappointing to her but hardly a travesty.

But yes you're right I am being judgemental and as that video and the OPs posts (including inaccurate info about 'bad Ofsteds') got up my nose but am heading off now and hope that your school choice works out for you. Also that your dd loves school as you predict, OP.

Rosebud05 · 26/06/2011 23:44

I agree with blu. This thread and the video in particular is very revealing and I would ask for it to be pulled (and delete that awful video from the web) if I were you.

CliniqueMum · 26/06/2011 23:52

A 30 minute walk would be approximately a ten minute bike road. Plus in your video the streets looked remarkably traffic free so that would seem a reasonable option to me. My son is starting school this year and will also be walking about 25 minutes each way (admittedly with a short train journey in between but you could equally have a 5 min rest along the way) and despite him being an august birthday it hasn't even crossed my mind the distance is a problem.

Surely if you've been living in London your daughter is used to having to walk as it's often necessary to get to/between public transport. I did feel for your daughter though being dragged to school at breakneck pace, how about you leave a bit earlier so you can have more of a stroll? I am not looking forward to the school run after the laid back drop off times of a private nursery but I do have realistic expectations of the organisation and punctuality required.

bibbitybobbityhat · 26/06/2011 23:58

Rosebud - I don't know why you are spelling this all out to me. I live in one of those areas of London where you can put down 6 choices and get none of them. I live in a borough where children have not been offered a secondary school place at all.

I couldn't quite grasp what their first four choices were in relation to the schools closest to them.

Yes, their YouTube video is cringeworthyy. Lots of first time parents make silly assumptions about primary school. But I am more interested in the mechanics of their application than their questionable judgements on the schools themselves.

Rosebud05 · 27/06/2011 00:05

Because you asked

Blu · 27/06/2011 00:05

Bibbity - I think Rosebud was demonstrating that though they applied to local schools, they didn;t apply to the nearest school, that they would have been admitted to.

Your situation is indeed worrying - as I understand it there are NO secndary schools with old-fashioned admissions criteria based on proximity, as all are now academies and doing things like ballots but without prioritising people who live in the borough or anywhere nearby!

bibbitybobbityhat · 27/06/2011 00:10

Quite, Blu. I will be applying outside of our borough for dd because we have no chance of getting in to our two local schools. That's ok for dd, but rubbish for ds coming up 3 years later as I really don't want him to go to a single sex school.

I asked op to tell us all re. proximity and her choices. I didn't need a lecture from Rosebud on the difficulties of finding school places in some areas of London.

Blu · 27/06/2011 00:18

Fingers crossed for you Bibbity. It is an outrageous situation.

Fifis25StottieCakes · 27/06/2011 00:31

Sorry you didnt get into the chool you wanted

But

Since when is a 30 min walk to school a long walk. Most people who live outside of London or large cities do this daily. I used to do it pregnant with a toddler and a dd in reception.

Rosebud05 · 27/06/2011 07:19

bibbity, sorry if I came across as lecturing you - as I said I don't know whereabouts you live or what your situation is and that certainly wasn't my intention.

I know OP's area very well. As she seems to have disappeared, I was trying to explain that saying the Learning Trust is 'making children cry' is inaccurate in this case.

The Admissions Booklet shows that, based on the distances she supplies in one of her first posts, the last child allocated on distance in 2010 was considerably closer to all her preferred schools than where she lives. I looks like there were no open (ie non faith places) allocations in the faith school in that year and possibly before that too.

There was a 'safe' option of an Ofsted rated 'good' school very near this highly desirable faith school. This is most likely the one that the LT person said that they would have been offered a place at. For whatever reason, they choose to use their 4th preference on a school .8 miles away that they had no chance of getting into rather than putting the 'safe' option.

It's a great shame this has happened, but it's not fair to blame the Learning Trust when a more realistic approach to the admissions form could have avoided this. Albeit within a fundamentally complex and inequitable system.

This is different from being in an area where kids don't get offered school places (let alone at a good/outstanding school less than half an hours walk away), which is the context within which I find OP and her partner so bloody irritating.

Rosebud05 · 27/06/2011 07:20

Thank goodness the video has been removed.

snalespace · 27/06/2011 07:51

I've just read the thread but the video had already been removed - which school was the OP allocated (initials)? I live in Hackney and if it's the one I'm thinking of (M?), I know a few parents who send their children there and have nothing but praise for it.

It was certainly daft to even bother putting L down as a choice.

Rosebud05 · 27/06/2011 07:52

In response to OP's question about what others do in this situation...

A friend of mine is in a very similar situation for similar reasons (ie only put down schools that she 'wanted' and didn't put down one of the available 'safe' options. She's been allocated a school about half an hour away that she didn't want).

She's accepted the place and is on waiting lists for other schools. HE isn't an option for her, not least because she's 8.5 months pregnant, so she's going to make the best of it and hope that a place comes up somewhere.

Rosebud05 · 27/06/2011 07:54

snalespace, yes, it's M which is about 0.6 away from their house.

L was a daft option as was St J and St J, so they effectly pissed 2 choices into the wind.

Northernlurker · 27/06/2011 08:17

I think this is the issue that annoys the op most. They were told they had a choice. They weren't told they had to pore over the admissions booklet and make a tactical choice. They were told they could choose which schools they preferred so they did.

Riveninside · 27/06/2011 08:18

Was it just me watching the video and house shopping? Id never be able to afford it. Ut would love to live in Hackney. Dh is a Londoner but cant afford to live there.
Saw a fair few in the vid i liked

Northernlurker · 27/06/2011 08:21

I've just tried to send the OP a PM but she's deregistered which seems a shame.

Isitreally · 27/06/2011 08:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rosebud05 · 27/06/2011 08:59

No, applicants aren't told that they have a 'choice'; people are told to state preferences. This is different.

The Admissions Booklet publishes how many people have applied in previous years, how many are admitted under each criteria and last offer distance cut off and advise parents to take this into account when they make their preferences. It's very unfortunate that it appears that OP chose not to do this, and that they didn't put the amount of energy into researching the realities of the system as they have into slagging it off. They wouldn't have been admitted into any of their preferences the previous year, so it's a long shot to hope that they would this year.

My view is that there should be more nurseries/pre-schools running workshops to help parents with this complex and intuitive process, as many people seem not to work it out before it's too late and end up in an undesirable and avoidable situation.

Isitreally · 27/06/2011 09:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Rosebud05 · 27/06/2011 09:11

Yes, Riven. I know those streets well and those houses are worth well in excess of half a million pounds.

A pleasant stroll away through monied back streets. It's hardly the guetto, is it?

Rosebud05 · 27/06/2011 09:16

isitreality, that's one of my issues with OP. They clearly have had access to lots of playground gossip - that area is a notorious headache for schools and horror stories abound.

For whatever reason, they chose not to think realistically about their situation when they had the opportunity to. Many people don't have the option of a good/outstanding school just over half a mile away if they don't get their first preferences. They do. Many people don't have an option of any decent,very local school (let alone one rated good by Ofsted on their door step). They did. That's why their victim mentality pisses me off so much.

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