State primary schools Summertown Oxford - St Barnabas Jericho

[ViktoriaT]

Hello, we just moved from London to Summertown, Oxford with our 3 kids (2 in primary, one in last year nursery).

Oxfordshire schools admissions placed one child in one top choice - Phil & Jim, but refused to place our middle dc in any of our chosen schools (b/c there are no places in Y4 in any of them).

The offered us a place in St Barnabas primary in Jericho - which OFSTED just rated needs improvement. We've appealed on the decision but they'll only consider the appeals in Sep / Oct and unclear what we're meant to do till then.

Would love any context/ reassurance on St Barnabas - how much should we be worried about the rating? the report says mostly it's about standards of education..

What other options do we have? Homeschooling?

We tried Dragon and Summer Fields but both are saying it'll take them half the term to assess our son and then decide on admissions..

Thanks so much!!!

but refused to place our middle dc in any of our chosen schools (b/c there are no places in Y4 in any of them).

they didn’t “refuse” fgs

You moved

a fortnight before the start of the school year

You just expected in year admission availability for popular schools in the area.

and now think the council are “refusing” to give you a place at one of your preferred schools

they can’t magic up the place op

You could of course consider other schools which have vacancies if you don't like the one you were offered. Do ask locally about the traffic situation if that would be a factor in getting kids to several schools. It can be very bad in certain areas at some times of day. As you may know, Oxford City Council has been phasing in several schemes intended to reduce traffic through residential areas, which pushes it onto main roads instead.

There is quite an active home education community in Oxford, so if you went down that route either in the short term or the long term, you wouldn't be short of activities or potential friends for your child. Assuming your middle child will be at least five years old by the end of August, legally you will have to home educate from the start of term if you don't send them to school. (This would not be the case if you had asked the council for a school place and they had been unable to offer anything at all. But in your situation, declining an offered place means you'd be electively home educating.)

@ViktoriaT how old is the ofsted rating? It could completely irrelevant now. My daughter’s primary was “outstanding” and over subscribed etc etc when she started but by the time she left 7 years later it was unpopular, undersubscribed and people removing their children - but “on paper” it was still an “outstanding school”.
Have you joined any local facebook groups? That can be a good place to ask for opinions.
Obviously having children in 2 different schools is a pain in the backside but it might be better to accept the St Barnabas place and if the school isn’t right for your child you can take them out. This is better than having no school place at all.

@Needmorelego thanks for replying! the Ofsted rating is from 2023...

I joined several local groups and nextdoor, but no luck yet. which ones would you recommend?

@Poorlilthing I applied in May and received a "refusal letter" from the council last week.

appreciate they can't magic up a place, yet having 3 kids in 3 different places is not manageable, and they are able to create a 31st place in a class in special circumstances.

@Saracen thank you on the tips for homeschooling, appreciate it 💖 will explore!

@ViktoriaT oh dear about the Ofsted. Unfortunately I don’t know the Oxford schools. I grew up near Oxford but the schools were all different then (Oxford had the 3 tier First-Middle-Upper back in my youthful days).

And this isn’t “special circumstances”

it would likely be for a child placed under LA care and I think you’ll agree that would indeed be special circumstances

So you’ve been living there since May or earlier?

Phil and Jim followed by Bishop Kirk. Those were the days 🤣

@Poorlilthing we got the tenancy agreement in May, but moved in the summer.

Despite having the tenancy agreement, If you were living elsewhere then you weren’t entitled to even be considered until you’d moved in

@Poorlilthing why are you being so aggressive to the OP. People move all the time - not always to where they want to be and not always by choice.
Children are entitled to an state education and shouldn’t be denied one because their parents have had to move.

Just read the Ofsted inspection of St B's. Nothing at all wrong with the school...it sounds lovely. They just got caught while they were still updating things to theatest hopes the government have us jumping through. Very unfair really. I couldn't see one thing wrong with that schoolmistress. Just they hasn't finished updating curriculum. That's all of us.

The latest hoops and school. Damn predicted text.

Hi, I'm a parent and teacher in Oxford. St B's is in a state of flux, it's fair to say, but it's a good school with strong community links. Don't discount it just because of Ofsted.

@CommanderShepard and @AuroraCake thanks so much, really helpful!

@Needmorelego thank you💛

The "Oxford Community" Facebook group has 27k members and is fairly busy.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/322781604462762

Far too much time is spent trying to please ofsted!
I know early years is different, but I viewed a few different child minders for my DC and I'm SO grateful I did so early, as lockdown came just after.
If I hadn't been able to go in properly, I'd have gone with the "best on paper"... that one had me in tears when I left at the thought of leaving my baby there!

There were 3 women working together in an outstanding childminding setting. I was excited by that as thought it would mean they could offer a wider range of experiences.
When I visited though, I only saw two if the children receive any interaction at all (and one of them was eating, the other was the CMs own child!), significant lack of supervision, break in safeguarding policy (telling me too much about other children).. awful! But when ofsted had turned up, their paperwork was excellent and no doubt they actually spoke to the children!

The one I did go with was "good" but had previous improvements required and didn't sell herself well in the online directory. I only went because of location but really didn't have high hopes. She was wonderful!

All that to say, Ofsted reports are not worth the paper they are written on. But also, schools usually work quickly to address and recommendations in the report so it is likely things will be improving already anyway!

@CommanderShepard , could you say more about how it's in a state of flux? We are moving to the area and know that it's likely we'll be able to place our dd there, but not Phil and Jim's. I'd love to hear more. Thanks!

I moved my DC from Phil and Jim as it wasn't all that wonderful. It's an okay school though, similar to St Barnabas. To be honest the latest OFSTED report for Phil & Jim is not that glowing either (and based on my own knowledge of that school that my DC attended for two years, this school should get 'requires improvement'). I do not think these two schools are that different. You can also try St Aloysius. I believe they have spaces, including in nursery and it's a lovely school.

I hope everything worked out@ViktoriaT and that your children are happy at school. For anyone else reading this thread and wondering about St Barnabas, I can say hand on heart that it is a wonderful school. My son started in Reception in 2022 and is now in Yr2. From the start it was a warm and welcoming school with a strong community, but it has a new lease of life under the new head Beccy Harris and a number of new staff who joined alongside her in 2023. Its a school where everyone knows everybody else and every child is valued for who they are. My son is certainly an 'individual' and he is 100% accepted and supported by staff and fellow pupils. Academically the school is also going from strength to strength and achieved terrific SAT results in 2024. There are also a ton of new developments including new forest school/play equipment and an outdoor classroom due to be built in May. We love St B's and would strongly encourage anyone considering it to apply.