Anger over wait for Bristol school places
Anger is mounting over Bristol City Council's decision to make hundreds of children wait a further two months for an offer of a primary school place.
The Bristol Post revealed last week that more than 300 families have not been successful in getting their four-year-olds into the schools they want – the city council has made 3,940 offers and received 4,247 individual applications.
-
Parents had been expecting to receive letters allocating them a school but instead they have been asked where they would like to go on the waiting list.
The council today gave an assurance that everyone who had applied for a reception class place for their child for September would get one – but the authority could not guarantee it would be in one of their three preferred schools.
Many families say they are unhappy at being left in limbo and they fear that, when they finally receive an offer of a school at the end of April, it will be much too far from their homes to be a practical option.
Liz Haydon-Turner, one of the affected parents, said: "We are distraught not to have been offered a place for our son at any of our three local schools.
"We want our son educated in our local community and thought that having three schools within 750 metres of our home would mean we would not have problems getting in. Instead we find ourselves among many families in the area who are in limbo."
Mrs Haydon-Turner, from Bishopston, said 30-40 families in her area were involved.
The problem has existed in some parts of Bristol – notably St Paul's and Easton, St Andrew's, and Henleaze and Westbury- on-Trym – for several years but this year it seems to have extended to districts that have not been severely affected before.
Last year, the council put temporary classrooms at two schools, Sefton Park and Millpond, so each could take an additional reception class, but it has not confirmed it will take a similar step this time.
There are doubts Sefton Park can have three reception classes rather than two for September because the council wants to rebuild the school to increase its long-term capacity – although this is being opposed by many parents there.
Millpond is also due for rebuilding and expansion, but no decision has yet been made over whether it can have two reception classes this September.
Head teacher Susan Eriksson said: "We have had 89 applications for – currently – 30 places. Our parents are very worried. We really hope we will get the extra classroom."
Sauda Kylambuka, the chairwoman of the St Paul's schools, children's and families task group, which has been campaigning hard for more school places, said: "It is a nightmare. There is no satisfactory short-term solution. The council will have to do something fast."
The city council said in a statement: "Every child in Bristol whose parents or carers apply for a school place for September this year will be offered a place.
"So far, we have allocated 93 per cent of applicants a place at one of their preferred schools. However, we can't guarantee all places will be at preferred schools, and in some cases, places will have to be allocated at a school that is further from home than children could reasonably be expected to walk.
"In the short term, we are working to increase capacity at a number of schools, mainly in central areas, so we can offer as many children as possible a school place close to their home.
"Budgets are limited and sites are constrained, so we know we cannot hope to provide all the additional temporary places we would wish for.
"We will therefore provide free travel where children need to go more than two miles to school and are working with community groups to identify better ways of supporting families, including shared transport.
"In the medium- to long-term, one of our objectives as part of our major review of primary education, is to ensure primary school places are available where they are needed. We have plans in place to expand a number of schools to help ease the current pressure on places."
28 Comments
View all
by Sophie, Henleaze
Sunday, February 15 2009, 9:02PM
“I am writing to strengthen the voice of the many people that I know that have not been allocated a school place for their child. I can't understand how the council's so called 'strategic planning' can be so un-strategic. It doesn't take a genius to look at the birth certificates of 2004/05 to see today's problem brewing but clearly it takes more than the genius levels at the council to be pro-active about the problem and to start catering for the increased school numbers!
We live well into the Henleaze school catchment and yet did not get a place for our child. To me this makes a mockery of the system when it seems that it 'catches' some children that do not even live in the area due to older siblings who either enter the school at junior level or move out of the area once they have aquired at place. This means that it does not always 'catch' all the children that actually do live in the area!
I wish the best of luck to all the families that are now fighting for their child to have what I see as a basic human right - their child attending a local school!”
by Stephen, henleaze
Sunday, February 15 2009, 7:55PM
“I really feel for these 300 families. We narrowly escaped being part of their number 2 years ago but were saved by the lower number of siblings at Henleaze infants that year. If it was a one off it would be understandable but this problem seems to have been occuring for years. The council's statement that "budgets are limited" is a poor response and clearly requires challenging !”
by liz, Mild Mild West
Saturday, February 14 2009, 2:19PM
“Katherine - I totally understand the concerns about Sefton Park but if we end up having to schlep our kids elsewhere there's no way they'll get a chance to be transferred back here next year....BCC would love middle class kids from Bishopston in their failing schools, it might improve grades.”
by Katherine, Ashley Down
Saturday, February 14 2009, 1:31PM
“Sefton Park is already a dangerously congested site. It currently has 60 more children than it should have. Adding another 30 children would be grossly unfair to the new children and the ones already at the school. It would probably be against Health & Safety Regulations and certainly against all current guidelines. You would end up with 480-510 children suffering in cramped conditions instead of 30 children suffering because of the distance they need to travel. I know it sounds horrible but it's a bit like the sinking lifeboat scenario - another few passengers and the whole lot go down.
I would rather give my children a chance at a school further away now and pressure the council to build the new Brunel school quickly so they could transfer in a year or two.
To add more children to Sefton Park just increases the number of children's lives that are affected.
It has been blatantly obvious for several years that the Brunel School is urgently needed. If more parents had argued that their children's education is more important than Gloucestershire County Cricket Club's car parking then we might not have this problem.
It seems to me that the only viable option is for places to be allocated outside of the community now but to make sure the council builds the Brunel School immediately and undertakes to accept a transfer of this year¿s intake when it is ready to open.”
by Jim, Bishopston
Saturday, February 14 2009, 11:07AM
“Liz - it's a difficult situation - what makes it more annoying is that many of us have been lobbying the council for over a year to build the new school at Brunel as previously planned. A large segment of the community have remained quiet simply ignoring the situation and assuming that the council actually has a plan to deal with teh shortfall in places.
Now I guess everyone can see what all the fuss is about.
The new school at Brunel must be given the go ahead now so that this situation does not reoccur in the future.
Meanwhile - I agree - it is completely unfair to ask kids who are taking their first steps into education to travel ridiculous distances to schools outside their immediate area.
If another class at Sefton Park is the only option for this situation then I guess there is no choice.
Well done BCC - due to your incompetence and lack of care and planning you have not only caused distress to the parents of new reception year children, you have also endangered the well-being of children already in the system.
Roll on the next change in administration!”