Primary school place shortage in Crouch End September 2015

[cgehansen]

Hi, Has anyone been affected by the shortage of primary school places in Crouch End? We put the 6 closest schools to us by distance on our form which are Weston Park Primary, Rokesly Infant, Coleridge Primary, St Aidan's, Ashmount Primary and Campsbourne Infant. We've been turned down from all of them and instead have been offered a school in Wood Green which is a 48 minute walk away. I know of at least 5 others in the same situation.

I'm trying to get a group of us together to take this up with the Council so if you are in the same boat or know somebody else in this situation in Crouch End it would be great to hear from you. Only in large numbers can we make the Council take notice.

I hadn't heard of EP school before I read this thread as I don't live in North London, but judging by the articles people have posted it seems like a huge amount of hysteria has built up around this one school!

I think EP is s bit like a microcosm of all that is wrong with the admissions system and those who try to game it. It probably also has the smallest catchment area in London so gets a bit of credibility for that. However the issues there will almost certainly be replicated at any other outstanding school surrounded by streets of multimillion town houses.

GreenEggs, agree with you that the sibling priority rule encourages this sort of outlandish behaviour by parents. I know that a couple of councils are abolishing it this year so hopefully others take their lead.

You should definitely be required to submit your last 5 years residential history backed up by evidence in order to get into any London school below a certain catchment area size.

And WPS I really have to pay £200 for a tie and a blazer even though DC has learned to speak 2 languages, count to 100 and read the alphabet in a yoghurt stained t-shirt and a nappy? What a load of...

The thoroughness with which Councils can keep a check on the system depends on how tightly their admissions rules are drawn up. In Haringey there is nothing to stop someone renting close to a school and renting out their main address to get a place. They may get caught out if their main home is left empty but if someone else is paying the council tax there it would be very difficult for the council to demonstrate that it was a 'temporary arrangement' to get a school place. The very very small number of places actually withdrawn backs this up - only 1 in 2013. In Crouch End 'C' school offered 55 distance places within 0.24 miles of the school on 'offer day' I find it very hard to imagine all those children permanently live that close to the school.

And on WPS yes according to them without the £200 blazer your 4 year old just won't be 'professional' and won't be able to 'think'. I really have been neglecting my kids by buying their clothes at H&M!

In no way defending WPS's uniform policy but it's worth noting that the logo-ed, "mandatory", items can all be bought for around £70 total. Blazer is 33ish, others items less. I'm not a fan but it doesn't have to be quite as expensive as described.

It's not just the logo items. You need to get regulation trousers, shirts etc plus PE kit and that's what adds up to around £200. All of which is completely unnecessary as there is no properly researched evidence that any educational benefit comes from wearing a uniform to school. If we have to have uniforms in our schools they should at least be affordable, comfortable and accessible which ties and blazers aren't. I suspect this is more about attracting the 'right' kind of parents to the school than anything else.

WPS (my local school ) Blazers and shorts uniform looks so uncomfortable. Having hated wearing similar 'smart' drag at secondary age with a tie etc I can only imagine what it's like wearing that stuff all day for a four year old. the 'smart' thing seems more appropriate a concern once you're in your first office job trying to look adult. (I'm fine with uniforms that are comfortable and practical).

I saw that WPS have their top layer of portacabins going in at the moment for the new year's intake. The play space seems so limited even for two classes, especially when the building work begins and presumably even more will need to be cordoned off for safety etc.

Sorry going back, I agree x1000 with all the posters re. that article by Giles Coren. So infuriating this prevalent idea that there is only one school in any area that can possibly provide an education to your children and that you're somehow 'forced' into a private school if they have the temerity to apply the admissions criteria so that your child doesn't qualify. I'm sure EP is good, but then so are all the schools in that area. They'll all have to follow the national curriculum and they'll all have large classes.

Emma Thompson recently said that of course they had to private although they really didn't want to, because they were out of catchment for Camden Girls. What a terrible miscarriage of justice that her child was denied a place at her mother's alma mater for the mere detail of living in West Hampstead. I believe there are other schools in London that other people's children manage to go to.

PS GreenEggs, sheer nosiness combined with laziness (can't be arsed to trawl through the twitter feed), but wh school is the Coren offspring going to?

King Alfred's

Im sure it's a pain to get to C from where he lives, having to go around the railway line, but surely KA is even more so?

Ah, King Alfred's.

A school to send your children to if they are unlikely to be troubled by the need to earn a living in the future......

Although KA does not have a uniform...

It's OK for people like Giles who can afford to opt out of the system. For our 2015 reception place allocation we applied for our closest school which is 170 metres away. The LEA have told us we have 'no chance' of getting in there even though we're only 5th on the waiting list. The next closest school is 450 metres away and we're a not very encouraging 27th on the waiting list for that one. There's no chance of getting into the school 500 metres away, nor the one 700 metres away. And we're 81 on the waiting list for the 3 form entry school 800 metres away so may as well give up on that too. Instead the council proposed a school 1.5 miles away as the crow flies (which we can't so we'd have to make the 2.5 mile ground level journey). So we have a choice between a C of E education (we're not religious), Whitehall Park School with it's £200 package of ties and blazers, or travelling 2.5 miles to school.

Green Eggs, nooooo, I did not predict that one. Giles Coren is, despite those articles, vvvv clever and I'd have thought would have wanted somewhere more academic.

And a right pain to get to.

Sorry CGE, that's very frustrating for you. Hope it all works out eventually (which it normally does, though not without a huge amount of stress in the interim). You'd be amazed how many people hold onto state places with no intention of using them. I remember seeing at least two pegs in reception with the names of children who I knew were going to private schools.

thankgod, I guess the child has to do tests to get into academic schools though? Maybe it's easier to get into KA?

Anyway, am bored of GC.

Yes CGE, I do feel for you. I wouldn't discount church schools though, particularly C of E ones. They still count as a local school choice so it's not necessarily sensible to avoid them. I think how religous they are depends on the governors. I think all schools have to have a broadly Christian act of worship, even community schools. Apart from EP which has opted out, and maybe yet one more reason why it's so popular?

Anyone know how schools opt out of the christian act of worship btw?

does this link to it?

I would be interested in an update on the EP situation. My recollection is that this is a one form entry school, which being much sought after has a small admission radius. In 20 13 there was a problem created by parents using short term rented addresses to apply from to get in. There is a statement on the EP website about this, which I think is good and worth cutting and pasting.

QUOTE STARTS

Eleanor Palmer Governors' Admission Statement October 2013

Last year’s admissions was very difficult as several of our Nursery children did not gain Reception places. There was disquiet around the school and in the local press as some parents were alleged to have manipulated the admissions system to gain a place in Reception. As a school we have no say about admissions: the system is set and run entirely by Camden.

The Governors and Headteacher want to be clear and open about the school’s view. Eleanor Palmer is a school for the local community. Its strength and why staff love working here is that it serves all our local children and has always been a true comprehensive. We do not want to become a school that is the preserve of those who can afford to ‘buy’ a place in whatever way that is achieved. We also know that all our local schools are good and would not wish to undermine them by being complicit in the misguided notion that we are the only desirable school.

From 2014, in response to 2013 admissions issues, Camden is rightly tightening the legal process and will have far greater powers to investigate possible fraud, in particular where families own or rent out another address in Camden/Islington that has previously been a home address. For 2014 admissions and beyond, we want to be upfront that we will report to Camden any cases that we believe might be addresses being used solely to gain a place in our school.

ENDS

So, two years on, does anyone know what is happening?

So my practical suggestion would be, that if what Camden has done has proved effective, then Haringey ought to be asked to do it, also.

Good article in the Standard here:_

www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/revealed-the-legal-loophole-letting-pushy-parents-rent-the-best-state-school-places-8878941.html

The adjustment to sibling priority imposes a rule if you move further than 800 metres from the school after your first child has got in then you lose sibling priority and have to apply on distance instead. Temporary renters would instead have to become long term renters which would probably put a lot of people off from doing it in the first place. Vulnerable children who are moved between temporary accommodation should qualify for Looked After or Exceptional Cirumstance criteria which has priority over and above siblings anyway. Therefore, this rule should serve only to stop parents temporarily securing a school place for the whole family with a one-off lease.

nlondondad - I believe Haringey are coming more into line with what you suggest.

Also it's well worth keeping an eye out for proposed changes to the admissions systems when councils open their consultations in the autumn. Residents have an opportunity to put forward the type of views seen all over this thread. I don't actually have direct experience of it (so would be good to hear of anyone who does) but will be offering some thoughts - to say the least.

*Sorry, first paragraph should finish...

Therefore this rule should purely be beneficial in that it will prevent parents securing a school place for the whole family with a temporary one-off lease.

Limiting siblings by distance is a step forward but there's still the basic problem that when allocating a school place on distance the circles don't always overlap. So some people get a choice of 2 or 3 or more schools in some cases and other people just get allocated what's left. If we had catchment areas then people wouldn't be denied access to local schools because they fall out of the distance circles.

A catchment system would at least ensure everyone got priority for one local school. Where in a location where you can't get into any local school. The shortage of places is a money issue. If money were spent on expanding schools it would go a lot further than what's happening now where money is being spent on free schools where they aren't always needed. Expanding an existing school is cheaper in many cases than building a new one.