Education

School run 'impossible' after children not given first choice places

By Hugh Fort
May 18, 2012

A mum from Hanworth is facing an “impossible task” of dropping her three children off at two different schools set two miles apart.

The woman, who asked not to be named, has two children in The Pines School in Hanworth Road.

However, her application for her four-year-old was rejected and now she faces the “impossible task” of delivering her children to two different schools at the same time.

Her other child has been offered a place at Great Hollands Primary School in Wordsworth.

She said: “It’s going to be a nightmare for me.

“I’ll have to deliver kids to two schools, which are a reasonable distance away from each other and have to get to work myself.

“I’ve heard of people having one sibling in one school and one in another but never one who has two kids in one school and the third being sent to another school.”

She confirmed she has appealed the decision with Bracknell Forest Council.

Another mum, who also asked not to be named, contacted the Bracknell Forest Standard, after her child failed to get into any of their choices.

The woman, from Harmans Water, applied for her son to go to Harmans Water Primary School in Wellington Drive.

However, her application failed and he has now been given a place at Crown Wood Primary School in Opladen Way.

The school is a 20-minute walk from her house and she faces a problem as her younger child is at a nursery in Harmans Water.

She said: “I’ve got to get them to two different places at the same time – and I don’t have a car.

“I just don’t think it’s fair how the council does it.

“I know of other mums who live further from the school than we do who have got a place.

“It’s disappointing, but I don’t think I’ll appeal as the council does not seem to consider where younger siblings are.”

The council declined to comment due to the ongoing appeal process.

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Most recent user comments 3 of 3

The Council need to sort this. It should be that if you have a child in a school the siblings automatically get a place at the same school. I would hate to think how many children arrive at school stressed due to all the rushing around they and there family have to do.

No wonder we have such bad traffic in the mornings when parents have to drive all over the place because they can't walk their children to the local school. It's pretty much the case that the bad traffic is down to the school run because during the school holidays driving to work is a breeze.

If BFBC want to be an environmentally friendly council then they need to make decisions that help keep the air clean. Just think of all the extra emissions all the cars held up in queues trying to out of estates make. First things first bring back catchment areas for primary children so they can walk to school like I did. It will keep them fit and the fumes will be reduced.

Marjo
19/05/2012 at 10:33

All good points, Winstanley, but the response you will get will always be "it's not our fault, it's theirs"! The failings of the system are endemic and self-propagating. It is the same in business and in often in customer service. When things don't go to plan, it is always someone else's fault, up until the blame gets sufficiently dissipated to have lost all meaning and recompense. Until such time as someone says "It might not be my fault, but it is wrong, it isn't working, and here's how *I* will fix it", there can be no solution.

mavdo, Wokingham
18/05/2012 at 13:26

Politicians of all hues - national and local - have completely shafted the state schooling strategy in this country - I'd argue it's now as bad as when I was at school in the 80's when politicians and teachers were more concerned with fighting among themselves than delivering a quality education. From my own experience (briefly) as a parent governor at one of the schools named in this report I'm confident in stating that the quality of education being offered to our children comes second to civic posturing and turf-wars between the governors, staff, and LA.

We need a return to local catchment areas and be done with it. You go to your local school, end of story. Ensure all schools follow a standard curriculum so that every school is teaching the same set of core subjects. Maintain grammar schools for those children who have the ability, and if you're well off enough to pay for private education than you're free to pursue that option.

Remove the ludicrous degree of choice - this has led to a two-tier state system with your pointy elbow parents on one side, and those who are left confused by all the choice, or are not as well equipped to respond proactively, on the other.

Utter shambles and the three major political parties, along with local politicians and civic do-gooders should hang their heads in shame at how miserably they are failing our young generations.