admission unfair between infant and junior schools, please advise!

[tadpole39]

Our lovely infants school has 90 places in reception, 30 of which are church places. the school goes up to year two after which the expectation is to transfer to the junior school across the road. The problem is that the junior school is a community school and there is no formal link between the two as the infants has faith places. The result is every year, parents move into the area, renting short term to get places then moving out, and parents with children in other schools move their children in at year three. Every year, there are a significant number of children left without places because of this.
The local authority will not countenance a change, and all the parents feel that this is a very unfair system as children are being seperated from their friends and having a major upheaval with often no resolution. the peo[ple taking the places alredy have school places, and I accept that there are a limited no of places for children but I really feel it should be fair, and it just isnt. kids are suffering and noone seems to be able to find a way round it. Please help if you have any experience or bright ideas, as its just not fair!

I think the unfairnes is the 30 kids having church places at the infant school. The two schools are seperate and if the junior is a community school then its reasonable that it selects kids on distance. It is quite reasonable for the school to take childen from other infant schools. The parents of the 30 church kids knew the risks when they took up the place based on faith rules.

It must be a real nightmare if one child is in a junior school the other side of town and the other child is in the infants. It is clearly a mess, but I feel the solution is to amalgate the two schools and make entry based on distance.

The setup you describe is the same anywhere where there are separate infants/junior schools and school applications apply at 7+. Why do you think it is unfair? You could equally argue that it's unfair that local children can't get into the infants because of the church places.

We have the same set up round here but parents of out of catchment/lower priority accept that they may not get into the (normal feeder) out of catchment junior and plan accordingly. If you want your child to go through school with the same cohort throughout then why not choose a different infants to start with?

it is unfair because places are being taken by children who already have places in schools, it is our only school that has a year 3 entry, if unsuccessful, parents must apply for an in year transfer at other schools and there are rarely places available, we want preference for those children who need year 3 entry.I agree that we took the risk, but at the time there were not the increasing numbers of people moving in and moving out, as the school becomes more successful, its desirability increases and the community aspect of walking to school is being lost as increasing numbers of children and their siblings are bussed in from distances.

The children who get places at the juniors probably had places at infants or primaries that are fairy near so surely the church children who are out of catchment of the juniors can transfer to the schools that the "new" children went to?

The system of 30 church places is the unfair bit of the process.

The only infant/junior school near us (most are 4-11); are linked, so children at the infants school who haven't moved out of catchment have priority. Both sites are church schools with the same admission criteria. I imagine the problem is that the admission criteria are different. I think the best longer term solution would be to petition the infant school to drop the faith criteria and have the same admissions as junior school, in return for a formal link (if possible).

Obviously it would disadvantage those who get in on faith criteria, but presumably they are already being taken to school by bus/car if live further away, so really you are swopping at yr3 religious children being ferried in for non-religious children being ferried in. It would obviously not initially be popular, but in the longer term it would give more security for those in the infants school.

Sorry you need to change your 'expectation' to just get a place because its near the infant school

If you know any cases where parents are renting short term to get a place at the junior school you should inform the LA. They should investigate and, if they find you are right, they should ensure that the correct address for the child is used.

In all other respects the school and your LA are behaving correctly.

The infant and junior school here are on the same site but are separate. Every year there is a handful of children who have been to the infants but fail to get into the junior school. Often people move into the area (genuinely - not just renting) after Reception and then fail to get an infant place. The dcs have to go to schools farther away but then can start at the junior school in year 3 as they trump those dcs who have been to the infant school but come from out of catchment.

This system seems quite fair.

In our LEA such Infant and Junior school pairings are officially "linked" so that children who have attended the infants school are given priority BUT both these schools are community schools with the same entry criteria.
Surely it would also be equally fair for the infants school to change it's entry requirements to a catchment basis ?
I am assuming that the Junior school also has a 90 pupil entry so there would be room for all the pupils to transfer across if needed. Is there another C of E Junior school that some children move to nearby ?

If you move to a new area, I think that it's fair to assume that your children will be able to go to their local school. That's one of the main ways that families put down roots in their new community.

Unless the junior school admits a lot of children in the "any other applicant" category, what you are actually requesting is that the junior school and LA allow 30 families in the school's natural catchment to be left with no priority at any school so that another 30 families can have high priority at two schools (their closest and one that is some distance away.) I can't see why "all the parents" would view this change as "fair". If I lived near your junior school, I'd hate to think that many of my new neighbours would be frozen out of their community school year after year. In my view, the LA's role is to ensure that all familes have a place at their local school if they want it and that has to take priority over allowing some families to have a good chance of success at several school.

I agree with others that the problem lies with the admission policy of the Infant school. I should imagine that if parents were regularly running a rental scam to get places at the school, then the LA would be well aware of it. And frankly, is this any more dishonest than going to church reguarly for the express purpose of getting your child into the school of your choice? I know plenty of people (esp in London) who have done that.

I agree with others and PRH47. Plus please do not assume that those living further away have employed some sort of rental scam. Children who are looked after, have SEN (where school is named in statement) or have exceptional circumstances all have priority over all others, and the school will not be able to say this to you for confidentiality reasons. Also families who split up often move out of area as well.