Your chance to have a say

Welcome to a new term and a new venue for this blog. It has moved to the education section of thisisbristol, where I hope it will generate lively discussion.

Education Examiner is a forum for everyone interested in education – students, parents, teachers, governors, and the wider community – to have their say.

There's no shortage of subject matter, as you will know if you follow the stories on Education Plus or in the paper.

The first week of term was dominated, just as last term was, by the continuing saga of the shortfall of reception class places in many areas of the city. There are 293 families due to find out today where their four-year-olds have been allocated a primary school – and in dozens of cases it could be more than two miles from home.

The council's legal obligation is to provide a place somewhere in its city, which it can, of course, guarantee to do, given that many south Bristol schools have dozens of empty desks. But realistically what parent would travel from Henleaze to Withywood twice a day? Most likely the journeys offered will be a little less extreme than that – but Bishopston to Avonmouth is still a long way, especially if a child forgets his or her lunch or is taken ill during the day and dad or mum needs to dash to the rescue.

Once temporary solutions are found for this year, it is crucial to start looking straight away at more permanent answers. It's encouraging to hear that a report is going to an all-party group of councillors in May, rather than waiting until after the local elections in June. Much of the anxiety suffered by families this time could have been avoided or eased if the problems had been tackled earlier.

Council taxpayers are entitled to ask how the authority got it so wrong – and why the controversial Primary Review last year, designed to cut surplus places and provide additional ones where needed, seems to have failed to do that.

The hundreds of parents affected by this crisis have had an unwelcome introduction to their children's school lives – and they can expect more minefields over the next 13 years. Education in the 21st century is a rapidly changing environment and however young a mum or dad you are you will find schools in 2009 very different from those you attended. Who knows what they will be like by 2022?