thinking about my daugther's first school makes my heart ache

[rumkem]

we're in camden. my daughter will be 5 in march, so the reception class will begin in january.
for the last few years there have been new families moving into the area. i could almost say 50%of my street and its vacinity have now occupied by families with young kids. however camden faces a problem with not having enough spaces to take up kids. we live 4 blocks away from the local school but don't get a space. now camden is thinking of opening up a temporary reception class to take kids who are now without a place. it involves a walk to train station, a few train stops and a walk to the school.

i like the idea of walking to school. now it is not happening. i have to admit i and my daughter don't like taking a train at rush hour.

the temporary reception class might set up there if the decision(by whom?) made and teachers and key worker will be recruited(when?). this new place is supposed to open in time for the intake class this september(at least we're not the first group of lab rat. my daughter will go there in jan).

since we don't get in to the local school reception class, we stand little chance to get in year1. camden says they will try to find a school for these stray kids. they might try to opening up a new primary class every year as it goes along to take the surplus kids.

i see no security in these, going to a reception class with kids from other parts of camden under the same problem. the friedship might not last because some will probably try to find a different arrangement for thier kids. then what happen when it's time for year1,... moving to another unknown place. i can't say it is an excitement. i'd rather say it is a worry for me to send my daughter to a completely new place that will be constucted out of necessity. how could they get the teachers ready? who is going to be running the show, outlining the structure of the school? and so on and so forth..

if all these hassles went to sending her to a good school, it would be different story. reality is we're going to the unknown by a rough route. what worry me most is my daughter is not very sociable kid. she might find it hard with all the changes.

i don't know what i want out of my post. i guess my heart is aching and i thought this might give me other insights to what i am facing. thank you

Home ed kids mix with loads of other kids these days. The internet is brilliant for finding out what's on in your area.

There's a North London group near you with various activities going on throughout the year. H.E kids socialize as much( if not more) as school kids do.

There's Education Otherwise who also can put you and your dc in touch with other families near you. My dc have friends from all over the world, it's great for us. I appreciate that most people think that our kids are shut up in the house on their own doing homework but nothing could be further from the truth.

I was just thinking that H.E might be a way for you to take more time to find out about other schools without being pressured into anything too quickly.

Anyway, all the best with it,

hester - so the issue the absence of "good" as opposed to, in your words "crap" schools with places, rather than faith schools per se or even the shortage of places.

I wonder if faith schools were no longer faith schools or other voluntary aided and controlled schools no longer had particular foundations running them whether they would indeed remain schools that people wanted their children to go to.

If the goal is to increase the number of places in excellent local schools then eliminating the little bit of diversity in the system which might provide this in the form of VA schools is not IMHO the solution.

zanzibarmum - for me, the main issue is around equality of opportunity and choice. I'm not taking issue with children of a particular faith being able to have access to schools that embrace that faith. But when faith schools are so numerous that they dominate the local education system (as they do in some areas, not all) then it is a real problem. In my area, if you are not rich or Christian then you have pretty much had it. The schools system is supposed to uphold parental choice, but some parents get way more choice than others (because the schools are, in effect, choosing THEM).

In my borough, four out of the five secondary schools are Catholic. I do not think it is any way anti-Catholic to suggest that that can't be right.

And at primary level, our excellent local primaries (which are faith schools) are crammed with children who travel from miles around, whereas my child will in likelihood have to travel miles to get to a school. I also don't think it's wrong to suggest that the state system should support a general presumption that children attend local schools.

I know that my area is in many ways untypical of the rest of the UK (it is Kensington and Chelsea) in the huge chasm that exists between rich and poor. That chasm is starkly played out in primary school admissions, where both catchment areas and faith criteria preserve the best schools for the wealthiest families. I may be sounding chippy about this, but I promise you it is true - and absolutely scandalous. The local churches should be ashamed of their role in perpetuating this.

Hi, rumkem, just wondering how your DD is doing now? Have you find any place for her? We will face this problem now.

Could you home educate her until you manage to find her a place in a suitable school?

We home ed her for the time being and take her to social groups regularly.

I have no idea how a suitable school will come up. We're still searching.

However i have to say that i like home education more and more. We are very happy. It suits us very well... Probably that is what meant to be.