Richmond Borough Primary Applications

[Eleusis]

I know it's not 9:00 yet, but if you go to the website you can get your application results now. I just did, and I am so so so so glad we got in to the school of our choice. Ok, WE didn't get in, DD did.

Yippee!!!!!

kslatts: I don't think HF was one of the schools offered to those 230 of us with no places. Those schools are in Hampton north and Ham south.

Oxo, do you mind if I ask what the montessori costs? And what grade does it go up to? I mean, could you potentiall end up with a yr 1 or 2 child who still has no school place?

planned giving is signing a standing order form with your monthly donation to the church, so they can "plan" and so they can get tax relief on it too.

my point was that if you just turn up to get your form signed the week before school admissions, you won't have done this. most people do planned giving rather than trying to remember to bring money to put in the basket!

Ele: £1550 a term. it goes up to yr 2.

Amida: so, it really is all about money then? I thought it was a 'sin' to buy favours from the church (isn't it called 'pecuary' or something). Must dig out my Chaucer's Tales as I'm sure it features quite stongly in that. Whatever it is, I am strongly opposed to any form of money/ donations being taken into account in school allocations.

going blind reading articles on schools admissions/ new school selsction criteria from Dept of (non)education. am coming round to Brighton's idea of a lottery which, by the way, will apply to primary and secondary schools from sept 08 admission. The policy is in force since feb 28th 2007.
suggest we get real, cut out the middleman and spend the mopney we have all spent on buying schools in decent catchment areas on lottery tickets

xoxo, I just read determined admission arrangements on the council website and in there it says the distance thing will still be used, not the lottery.
Where have you read about lottery for RuT?

xoxo, no it is not about money at all. the point is they do not take into account any planned giving.

i think they should. not because it depends what you give, but that you give at all, it can be £1 a week. how else do you stop the situation where 2 months before school admission time the church becomes full of 4 year olds which are never then seen again, yet people who do go to church regularly have no chance of sending their children to catholic school. it all becomes one big game.

Paranoid, the "cut off" distance from home to school of the last child offered for Stanley Infant Primary this year was 1650m. This is one of the longer distances....

The other school you asked about isn't on my list, so it must be a church school. I think you need to speak to the school itself about its admissions criteria

I am a dedicated churchgoer. I don't show up every Sunday, but I do tech Sunday school once a month and I am most certainly intersted in the Christian aspect of the school. Yet, I don't do planned giving, so I'm not sure the theory holds true. To get into AC on the churchgoer criteria (a foundation place) you need to go to church at least once amonth for the last 12 months. And, of course, the vicar needs to sign a form saying you have done this.

I think it really is just down to the vicar/priest saying yes, I know these people they are real churchgoers and didn't show up last week with the aim of a foundation place at the school.

Paranoid, the lottery is operating in Brighton (and few other areas), not Richmond.

I bet the cut off distance for a non-foundation place at AC was about 6 meters. Nursery kids get priority. There are 52 kids in the nursery and 56 reception place. So, assuming everyone from nursery goes to reception, then that opens 4 places for others. Sybling get priority. Say there are no syblings who aren't in the nursery. So still 4 places. 70% go to foundation. 30% going to proximity. Since you can't split a child in two, that is 3 foundation and 1 proximity. So, the 1 child who lives closest to AC gets in. Nursery is the way in. And of course, church involvement is the way into nursery.

I don't actually have a problem with the system. I want my kids to go to a COE school. And I want them to go with other COE children. But, I can understand that if my religeon didn't happen to be Christianity, then this system might not serve me so well.

paranoid re: lottery. I have been reading the DfE's guidance on schools admission which was adopted by Gov on 28th Feb and MUST be applied to all admission from Sept 08.
In this they state that there can be no selection based on catchment (clause 2.34) as this would prejudice people who could not afford to be in the catchment of most popular schools, and that the lottery nethod (now adopted in Brighton) is a fairer approach.

This delightful tome can be read on line. I have it if anyone wants it pls CAT me and I'll send a copy.

Can I ask a controversial question: do my taxes also fund church schools or are they privately funded? If my taxes are funding these schools then how can they devise selection methods that exclude my children? I don't mean to be argumentative - I''m not from here and this is baffling me. It's an honest question.

Yes, oxo, your taxes fund roughly 90% of church schools. But, if they weren't church schools, then your taxes would fund 100%. So the way I see it, you saved 10%... but many people will disagree with me.

You better go start another thread, because this topic is liable to explode into a big mumsnet hoo ha.

hoo haa, poo haa.

so - I saved 10%. but theres no way my kids can go to those schools? I'm trying to think of other things I pay for but am specifically excluded from using to set this into context.

any ideas.

and where does the other 10% come from?

xoxo: The other 10% come from the church, that's why you have to attend particular churches, not just any CofE (or Catholic respectively) church to be considered for a place at a particular church school.
The actual money probably comes from the 'planned giving' or other 'voluntary donations'.
At least I think it is like that?

So will it really be Lottery everywhere from 2008? Everyone talks about Brighton, nobody about the rest of the country. Slightly confused now, still skimming the dfes text.

Kslatts - that's really good to hear. All I had heard of the school was from reports of locals (I admit not parents of Hf children) and the 2001 Ofsted report (being the only Ofsted report available), none of which painted a favourable picture. On the basis of this information alone, I felt uncomfortable about sending DS there, but I appreciate that I should research more thoroughly. Has the school seen a big turnaround under the new head?

To be honest, my main beef is less with the fact that we've been offered HF and more with the fact that we have not been offered a place at our church school.

Lods of things, Oxo. How about council houses for peop are able but unwilling to work? (I'm okay with a wefare system those who are genuinely unable to work). How about NHS services that vary depending on where you live (but your NI tax rate doesn't vary based on the level of sercice in your local PCT). What about pensinons of the elderly which you are funding. What about illegal immigrants who show up at maternity wards in labour and then the ward is full and has to turn away people who are actually registered to go there (this happens at Queen Charlotte). What about how some people have free NHS denistry and other have to pay, or worse can't get one and have to pay for private.

I think the list goes on...

Also, if you could not get places through church affiliation, then it would be to just distance from school. And the result of that would be that rich kids in big houses will have good schools. And the schools in poor neighborhoods wil be crap. So, good state education for the wealthy. I am SO not for that scenario.

I think the problem here is not enough school places being available, and not the criteria by which they are awarded.

Decaf - The head who is there now has been the head since my dd's started, I think the school has improved since the 2001 ofsted report.

The school is having an ofsted inspection this week so there should be a more up to date report avaliable soon.

Decaf - did all the children in the nursery at the catholic school get in to reception, even though they had to re-apply?

bump. Any news?

No news from Richmond. They will try to get back to us 230 'displaced' by end of April. I have appealled etc and am badgering but no news expected for a while. The nearest school is having a mtg on MOnday re: taking a bulge class so I'll start hassling the head and govenors mid next week.

I'm turning into the horrible pushy sort of person I hate

Good luck, Oxo!!!! (((sending positive ass kicking vibes for you to personally deliver to the Richmond LEA)))

PS Hey, I wonder if those schools you were "offered" have filled up now?

xoxo, if you are clever enough to start an e-petition thingy going I will sign

Bet there will be no bulge classes in Barnes, but one somewhere else might shake up the waiting list for DS1

What is a bulge class? Is it when they add an extra class to say reception? Then, do they continue that class throughout the education as those children progress?

yes - it's an admin pain because you need an extra teacher per year each year and then not again iyswim.

I heard today that our local school (which has a 90 intake) had 57 siblings! That is extraordinary - almost two thirds of the intake.