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

[rumkem]

this is to add that she has a few close friends in the neighborhood who all have moved out of the area.
i was hoping that going to local school, will give her a chance to make more friends in the neighborhood....welll stop rambling!

[telsa]

Rumken - sorry to hear of your woes. Camden, like a number of other local authorities, has really messed up - and it is rotten. We withdrew from Camden and made the choice to send our little girl (who is starting in September) to a Westminster school. There do seem to be places in some really nice Westminster schools and it sounds as if it might be just as easy/difficult a trip as to your allocated school in Camden (a bus ride maybe?) - we'll be using a bike. But, truth be told, every child should be able to go to their local school of choice. So sympathies to you.

[telsa]

I also want to say that I think the council and the teachers will try to do their best by the children - so don't fret too much about that (and don't worry that your daughter will have a hard time - you never know, she may be more adaptable than you think). Maybe the best thing is to get in touch with the active parents who were without a place - like the one who has been very vocal - Dr Liz Taylor, who is leading the campaign for a new school in Belsize, after her son was placed 2 miles away from home. There are some feisty parents who will make sure that their children are not hard done by - you could be one too. Acting collectively as a pressure group is much more effective.

[rumkem]

telsa, thank you very much for giving us your opinion so quickly! i will be exploring the option.
we use bike too. i will see if i can make it to that area on bike with 15kilo on board.

[AppleandMosesMummy]

Is there no chance at all you could go private ? Honestly I'd sell a kidney to avoid the senario you're describing I cannot believe the LEA think it's acceptable.

[rumkem]

AppleandMosesMummy, your reply brought me a smile though. that is a thought,mmm

[frogs]

I've been following this story in the local paper, and it gives me the shivers, tbh, though it's not our immediate area. Whereabouts are you? There are schools in Islington which generally have spaces, and not just failing schools either.

On a cheerier note, don't underestimate how common it is for spaces to come up in even v. popular schools, so make sure you put your dd's name on the lists for all the nearby ones, and keep phoning up to hassle them.

[rumkem]

frogs, can you recommend good school in islington? i am now exploring other alternatives.

we are in west hampstead. from camden record, there are 10 kids without a place in west hampstead. it's happened since nursery. when we went to visit the nursery, the headteacher even recognized us because dd's cousins have gone there before. she said there'd be no problem since we are so near. when the time actually came, there was not enough space for us at the nursery. the headteacher told us to try reception class later and there shouldn't be any problem. of course we didn't get in. tbh the local school is not a very good one either. it is just this year that demand is much higher than supply

[hester]

I am very, very sympathetic, rumken. I know Camden's been particularly badly hit by this, but schooling is a worry across London.

I live several miles from you, and dd doesn't start till next year, but I'm already feeling very down about primary schools. We have a good community school just 0.2 miles from us, and the headmaster has assured me we won't get in because we live too far away. 0.2 miles! The next three schools nearest to us are hugely oversubscribed faith schools with very tight admission criteria, so we won't get a place at them. Then there's another community school with a very strange catchment area - long and thin and wiggly, rather than a radius, so deftly avoiding any streets likely to contain working class children - so even though we're twice as close as some living within the catchment, we're not eligible. The nearest school where we are likely to get a place is over a mile away, but has a terrible reputation and is 90% boys.

The council say we are likely to be offered a place at the other end of the borough, where the schools are ropey. This means 40 minutes on the bus every morning and afternoon, in the opposite direction from my work.

I've had this rant on Mumsnet before, but faith schools are a big part of this problem. I don't have much of a problem with faith schools per se, but in many parts of London they really warp the school situation and deny kids the chance to go to a primary school within walking distance. I get a red mist descending when I think of the taxes I have paid over the years to support my three local schools that MY child will not get into, when children are driven in from miles around (including David Cameron's daughter, who lives in the other end of the borough, but obviously won't be using HER local schools). I am surrounded by good local schools but will in all likelihood end up having to take my dd by public transport in the rush hour miles away from her community to go to a failing school.

I am not a grasping middle class elitist who only wants the best for my dd. I just want for her to go to a good enough school with a decent social mix within walking distance from her home. In London, apparently that is too much to ask.

[katiestar]

OMG I feel so mad for you.How can this mess have happened.Surely , through nursery funding etc they should be able to figure out what 4 yr olds they have got and where they live.Pure incompetence.

[frogs]

rumkem, if you go to Islington schools admissions page there's a link on the right hand side to a document showing schools which still had places as of May.

St Joseph's, St John's upper Holloway and Ashmount are all good schools quite close to the western side of the Heath and all tend to be undersubscribed as people go in search of the more fashionable schools. Brecknock is a reasonably nearby Camden school on the 393 bus route (or whatever that bus is called). Places do come up at Brookfields quite often, too.

Hester, I hear what you're saying, but many inner london church schools really don't cream off the m/c kids. Some do, I know, but many are fab schools that are just not considered desirable because they have too many non-white dc/dc with SN / dc off the local estates.

But none of the above are that close to West Hampstead, admittedly. Huge sympathies with your situation, rum. Do stay on all the local lists near to you and keep nagging. Belsize is the other area that's been really badly hit.

[1dilemma]

I have sympathy for you too (we have no school from our LA) no useful advice over and above what has allready been said (except perhaps the sell a body organ bit )

Hester like frogs I hear you but is it really religious schools making the problem in London? I have about 15 primary schools within walking distance of my house many of which are not religious, some are and highly 'desirable' and at least 2 of which are awful!
I think DC and GB children were always going to get in wherever they applied (have loked at website of DC choice of school very interesting I think it does latin if I remember correctly!)

[rumkem]

i know i am late dealing with my situation. the more i explore other alternatives, the more i get confused. how do i find out about school in other borough? ahhhhhhh i only know that we're going to state school because my partner believes in it.

okay i admit i am at a lost. i am trying to gather the names of recommended schools(as long as it's not on the moon), i'll check them out. preferrable non religious please

[jujumaman]

poor you rumken, the situation with schools in London this year is ridiculous. Without going in to details we have been very badly stung by it. Explore the other boroughs' that posters are suggesting. Good luck.

[katiestar]

Do try and think positively and most importantly talk positively about the situation to your DD.She will probably find the train journey fun.They will have attracted lots of new funding and hopefully have lots of new equipment and resources and at the end of the day it is the calibre of teh teacher which makes teh classroom experience good.By all means look for alternatives but don't automatically assume that this school is going to be a disaster because it could just as easily turn out to be excellent.

[zanzibarmum]

I don't see how you can blame over-subscribed faith schools. If the kids going to these schools were to go somewhere else there would be no overall addition to places available. Voluntary-aided schools some of which have a religious character are a well established feature of the state system.

[hester]

But zanzibarmum, it means that children are travelling long distances for state-supported faith schools, which can effectively wipe out any local choice. Yes, there are school places available in my borough, but they're crap schools and a long journey away. At least if they were crap schools within our community, my dd would get to have friends living locally, I could get to work ok etc. Distance DOES matter, especially if you don't drive.

[cherryblossoms]

By the way, boffinmum has posted a piece on "Pressure on school places" in "Education". It's wide-ranging, and is (undoubtedly) prompted by the fact that this is an issue for a lot of people.

Rumken - good luck. My best wishes to you and your dd.

[Kayteee]

Rumken,

You could refuse the place and keep her at home until you have found the right place.

All you have to do is state, in writing, that you will be "home educating" her and off you go

Home ed is a perfectly legal option, you don't need "permission" and don't even have to follow the NC if you don't want to.

This would give you all the time you need to find out your optiona, without the pressure of a September deadline looming, iyswim.

Just a thought

[Kayteee]

options

[msled]

Rumken goes to work. Which means home educating is NOT an option.

[Kayteee]

oh ok.

[Kayteee]

Although, if she had someone to help it's a possibility. I do know home ed families who have parents who work but they have help from either friends or family members.

Haven't had time to go through the whole thread so maybe barking up the wrong tree here again.

[rumkem]

i've thought about home school a while back, before i am in this situation. i believe i can do it well both in art and education. however i want dd to meet other people by herself, making her own friends.

i mentioned 2 of her close friends in the neighbourhood who moved out of the area. we've met them on the street and became friends right away. it was not from an arranged social group. i likes kids mucking around in the neighbourhood playing out on a street and making friends. that was the past for my area. now i feel like my family is the only one who is out and about on the street running around playing with puddle and all.(we of course have a garden) mmm, i don't know how to put it... it is just my immediate neighbourhood, i guess.

i fear that homeschool will limit her chance to make friends on her own. however we think that we might give this reception class a try if it doesn't work out we just take her out.

this is probably not relevant but i just want to mention that i have lived and worked in many countries mainly new york, spain, amsterdam, bangkok,...i like the kids scene there. i like their freedom and friendliness.