Council to meet parents in Bristol school places row

The 300 Bristol families still waiting to be given primary school places for their children for September have been invited to a meeting at the Council House on Monday.

But it is not looking likely that they will all be successful in getting the four-year-olds into schools near their homes.

The Liberal Democrats, who took control of the council two weeks ago, promised that solving the primary places crisis would be one of their first priorities.

Their Labour predecessors had already begun talks with a number of schools about putting in extra temporary classes for September.

The new cabinet councillor for schools, Clare Campion-Smith, has continued discussions with schools and parents, but some of the suggested schools have said no to taking more children, meaning that other primaries have had to be approached.

The council could not confirm last night which schools were likely to have extra classes but said as much information as possible would be given to the families on Monday.

Mrs Campion-Smith, in her letter to parents, said: "On taking office two weeks ago, I and colleagues were very concerned to find that so many children had not been allocated a place at primary school. We can appreciate that you are going through a very stressful time at the moment as you wait to hear about the second round of allocation of reception places.

"As a new administration, we are keen to get the best solution we can for admissions to primary and infant schools for September 2009. The next task will be to plan for future years so that school places reflect demographic shift more closely."

She has told the families that she and Lib Dem leader Barbara Janke, with the council's interim director for children, Annie Hudson, will listen to all concerns and share information, but will not be able to tell people at the meeting where their child will get a place.

The eight schools Labour said would be asked to consider extra classes were Sefton Park, Henleaze, Little Mead, Millpond, Cabot, St Barnabas, Glenfrome and Hannah More.

Many parents at Sefton Park are opposed to a third reception class, because they think the school site would be overcrowded.

The Lib Dems have already overruled the planned permanent expansion of the school and said they intended to go ahead with a 210-place school on a site nearby known as the Brunel field.

But families in the area – east of Gloucester Road – believe a school of twice that size is needed.

There is a similar problem on the west side of Gloucester Road, where governors at Henleaze Infant School have rejected the idea of a fourth reception class.

Head teacher Pat Jones told parents in a newsletter that she had been surprised to read in the Post about the proposal.

She said on Friday: "We don't want to become a four-form entry school. It would be too big.

"The council's Primary Review was supposed to plan for admissions, but it has not addressed the oversubscription in this area."

Parent Mark Rowe, whose daughter Hannah failed to get into any of the family's three preferred schools, said two new two-form entry schools on each side of Gloucester Road were needed.

He said: "I can fully understand that Henleaze school is unhappy with the way they learned about the proposal, but equally I appreciate the council feels under extreme pressure to seek a resolution to extreme circumstances

"We have been heartened by the strong personal support offered to us by Clare Campion-Smith.

"But I would urge both the school and council to work together. Parents in this part of Bristol have been told there is no Plan B, no alternative solution other than the temporary expansion of Henleaze.

"If it doesn't happen we will be offered schools up to five miles away; we cannot take our children that distance and stay in work; and putting a four-year-old on a bus is simply wrong."