1 in 6 Children missed out on their 1st choice school last year.
Today was the day when parents started to find out which schools their 10 year olds will be attending from next year. As the headline said, not all got their first choice, but theoretically you can't extrapolate that from the forms submitted because you are not under any duress to place your first choice first. That aside, there are ways of increasing your chance of getting your child into the school you want. It's a mixture both of following the rules and also knowing how to use them to your advantage.
Unfortunately, tomorrow, both the primary school and secondary schools will have parents turning up to complain about placements. And often it's the fault of the parents for not doing things properly.
Each year, as the children go into Year 6, M's headmistress holds a meeting for all the parents to explain what they need to do to get their child into the school they want. About a third of the parents don't bother to attend. It is explained, very clearly, that if youmwant your child to go to a church school you better be in church every single week from now, and you should really have been going for the last two years. For a church school there are two forms to fill out, not just the main one. Don't be late submitting the form(s). Put down al 6 choices. Make them realistic, not half way across the borough unless you really do want them in that school. Having an older sibling at a school no longer gets you up the queue.
Tomorrow will see the parents turn up who didn't do what they were told. Some didn't send back the form and their children will go to any school anywhere in the Borough that has a place left and it won't be top of the league tables! It's not really fair on the kids but it has to be the parents responsibility. And it's not for the want of the school reminding parents what they need to do.
The is always talk about how it is unfair that the rich get to go to all the best schools but sometimes you have to make the best of a situation you are in. You might not be able to send your child to a private school but at least care enough to fill out a form correctly particularly when their is a school full of teachers willing to help you.
5 comments:
Being relatively new to all this (having young children) I was amazed at how early we had to fill in the forms to get them into infant/primary school - about two years before they started.
Luckily, Mrs M is on the ball with all that. If it was left to me, they'd probably be in separate schools halfway across town from each other, instead of just down the road.
Yesterday a friend on mine was told that her elder sprog has been successful in achieving her third choice of school. That's a measure of success? Third choice?
According to the same bulletin 25% of children don't get into their first three choices. At least with the 11+ the grading worked by academic ability rather than some random admin system in an education department , i.e. pin stuck randomly in map.
Well I'm sure you have other uses as a parent.
When my daughter started school and, indeed, throughout her educational career, we walked to the nearest schools. I suppose I must have registered her at the first one, at least, but have no memory of doing so. Life has become so complicated!
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