Call for Parent input

Conservatives Call for Parent Input

 
Cllr Mark Ralph

“One of the most important decisions a parent
can make is to choose their child’s school.”

Reading, 2 February 2009:  Reading has a statutory obligation to consult parents on proposed changes that will impact all children entering primary or secondary education in September 2010.

Cllr Mark Ralph, Conservative Lead Spokesman on Education and Lifelong Learning said, “One of the most important decisions a parent can make is to choose their child’s school.”  He continued, “and one of the most emotive occasions a parent can experience is a failure to gain a place at their chosen School.”

Since 2005, when various primary schools were oversubscribed in Reading and the Local Authority tried to implement the disastrous ‘first preference’ scheme for Secondary School Admissions, the Conservatives have campaigned for changes to both the Primary and Secondary systems.

The ‘first preference’ scheme that penalised children trying to gain a place in a Grammar, out of Borough or oversubscribed Secondary School was quickly changed.  It was not until 2008 that Labour agreed to a major review of places and admission arrangements however.

Cllr Mark Ralph said: “For too long we have been assured that schools won’t be oversubscribed and then amid great ‘surprise’ we find they have been. The fact is, Reading doesn’t have enough Primary School and Secondary School places where they are needed.  Although the credit crunch may give us a short reprieve in population growth, Reading currently has some 500 more pupils in Year 6 (Primary) than they have places in Year 7 (Secondary).  This means that in a number of parts of the Town, children will not gain places at their first choice of Secondary school and Reading is dependent on the availability of places in out-of-Borough Schools.”

Most Primary School children hope to go to a school close to home.  Under current rules on oversubscription, most schools give priority to pupils from their designated (local) area.  Where local children are greater in number than the capacity of the school and the second nearest school is in a similar situation, we are seeing 4-5 year olds being sent to less popular schools some distance away.  Said Cllr Ralph: “This is at best inconvenient for their families and can mean more cars on the roads at peak time.  At worst however, we find that siblings are expected to be at two different schools, some distance away from each other, for the same school start-time.  For parents this is just not feasible and for siblings it means that one will have to be dropped off early and left on his or her own.”

Under the revised admission arrangements, a range of measures are proposed and, for example, whilst siblings within designated area are given priority, siblings living outside the designated area are not.  If parents wish to comment on such arrangements, they have until 28 February to do so.

“This has led to extremely stressful situations for parents in the past and we actively supported a ‘siblings first’ policy” said Cllr Ralph. “This was not supported by the other Parties or headteachers on the Board. My subsequent request for protection of those younger children in families that had moved out of the designated area through necessity rather than choice, as a result of broken homes for example, met with the glib recommendation that parents should ‘go to appeal’ – distressing for the families and expensive for the Borough.”

Commenting on the various reports on the Reading Borough Council website, Cllr Ralph said, “These are far from entertaining reading but I strongly recommend that parents with Nursery, Primary or Secondary School age children hoping for admission from September 2010 should see how they may be impacted – please send in your views to Reading Borough Council by 28 February at the latest, via the website or to the Admissions Team, Civic Centre, Reading, RG1 7AE.”

For further information contact: Cllr Mark Ralph, 0118 948 1615                        

E:  mark.ralph@reading.gov.uk 

For further information on RBC school admissions and the reports referred to by Cllr Ralph: http://www.reading.gov.uk/educationandlearning/schools/admissions/General.asp?id=SX9452-A7815E16 ),

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