Wait is over for Bristol primary places
Three months in limbo have come to an end for scores of families in Bristol, who have at last been allocated school places for their four-year-olds for September.
The city council has sent out its final 295 letters, meaning that all 4,491 applicants have now been offered a school.
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Wait is over for Bristol primary school places
Officials say that fewer than 10 children have been given a place more than two miles from home, although they concede that many have been given schools a fair distance away.
This includes several dozen in the area of Bishopston, west of Gloucester Road, who have been allocated places at schools including Badock's Wood, Upper Horfield, Cabot and Shirehampton.
Twelve schools have agreed to take extra pupils to help the council meet the unprecedented demand for reception class places and talks are continuing with another primary in the hope of helping to ease the problems in Bishopston and Henleaze.
Annie Hudson, the council's interim director of children, young people and skills, yesterday repeated the authority's apology to the parents affected and pledged again that lessons would be learned from the crisis.
She said: "We know we didn't get this right, Systems and communication did not come up to scratch."
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by McNulty, Bristol
Tuesday, April 28 2009, 5:25PM
“The wait is not over in that a fair number of people have been offered schools a long way from their homes, which they are not likely to accept.
The only people benefitting from this fiasco will be those in charge of independent schools, to which many will flock rather than face an inconvenient commute out to a school in very difficult circumstances.”
by Sarah, Bristol
Tuesday, April 28 2009, 1:29PM
“I don't understand why the Bishop Road governors would agree to this at all? It's already a physically small school on a site that surely can't expand any more - so where are they going to fit in the extra pupils? Aren't there other primaries on bigger sites that would be better equipped to expand?”
by Andre, Bristol
Tuesday, April 28 2009, 12:31PM
“they won't just be 120 reception kids, it'll mean a 'bulge' year all the way thru' the Sept 09 intake's schooling and it's a BIG school already with overcrowding in the playgrounds.”
by anon, henleaze
Tuesday, April 28 2009, 9:47AM
“it's a shame that the admissions team at the council do not seem to be aware of any of this information that keeps appearing in the media! as a henleaze parent without a place at henleaze infants, I feel that the lack of communication and help from the council is disgusting.”
by Chris, Bristle
Tuesday, April 28 2009, 9:36AM
“Which ancient archive did that photo come from???”