Primary school place allocation chaos has started!

[prdarling]

Ryedalema - a friend of mine in Cornflower Terrace got in to Goodrich which must be more or less where you are??

[ryedalema]

Yep - directly opposite. :))

Is there a way of finding out how far away you are? or does the school tell you?

[intexasatthe moment]

This is a good site - as others have said I think - for measuring as the crow flies.

http://www.walkjogrun.net/

[Fuschia]

Re distances: http://www.lewisham.gov.uk/EducationAndLearning/Schools/SchoolAdmissions/PrimarySchoolAdmission/AdmissionCriteria/

[Fuschia]

http://www.upmystreet.com/findmynearest/childcare-education-and-employment/local-authority-schools-listings-in-uk.html

[intexasatthe moment]

ryedelma - was it the link to Southwark site quoting distances for children allocated ?

If so ,it's page 24 /25

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/downloads/download/1162/introduction_and_how_to_apply

[James Barber]

Hi anna_r,

I'm afraid I don't have the Peckham Rye ward data.

Presume the whole is still SE22. Only 5 in the East Dulwich ward part of SE22. So that would leave 16 kids in the Peckham Rye ward and College ward parts of SE22. Not sure this helps.

[hpsaucey]

Yay - Ivydale is, indeed a really lovely school - my eldest is in reception. We looked at about ten schools including St J&C/Goodrich etc and actually found ourselves liking Ivydale best because although not getting the most amazing OFSTED it is normal, very caring, the children and staff really seem to like each other, has a brilliant children's centre etc etc.

Good luck with the place, and good luck to everyone else waiting for it to be sorted out!!!

H

toast Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Just found out we are quite high on the list for

> Ivydale, a lovely school, if southwark they had

> put distance on the letter as Lewisham did i might

> not have had such a meltdown.... Grrrrr

[VikkiM]

I understand that the figure for Peckham Rye is 17. I have asked where they live and am keen to see the geographical spread of those allocated their 4th choice. However, I would hazard a guess that most of these are located around the junction of Forest Hill Road and Colyton Road.

The change over of administration is making it difficult to get clear advice or information - apologies. However, the best advice I have in terms of the immediate few days is probably what you are all already doing:

Contact the admissions team and establish where you are on the waiting list - this information is available from today (yesterday now....) You can also find out the distance of the furthest child admitted and how many children were admitted under the siblings rule as well as your distance from the school. This will give you a bit more information to help you assess how likely you think it is that you will secure a place. I would then keep in regular touch with the team to see how the waiting lists are moving.

I'd be interested to know if anyone has had an improved offer from Lewisham given that parents should have accepted or rejected by 5th May? Any 'shake down' of Lewisham places should hopefully help our area.

Several parents have posted specific queries on here or sent them to me via email. I have passed most of these on and will get back to you but am keen to prioritise getting the best advice to parents for the coming days and weeks and to see what the council can do to get the waiting lists moving.

Victoria.

Labour Councillor for Peckham Rye ward

[email protected]

T: 07535932318

[Fuschia]

Just to warn people that it is possible to move DOWN a waiting list as well as up, if children join the list who fulfil the criteria bette than you do (families who were in nursry but missed the application deadline, siblings who didn't state they were siblings, families who have just moved, that sort of thing)

[James Barber]

Victoria,

Why would the change over of adminstration make getting this information difficult?

The officers know how to get the info and know who the councillors are. Candidates know the standing down councillors who should be mentoring the new councillors and all candidates attended the scrutiny meeting and met the relevant council officers.

The Lewisham shakedown will probably be less than last year as they have 19 bulge classes serving nearly 600 reception kids. More Lewisham parents will probably stick with what they have.

Hi Fuschia,

Worth reiterating that.

As people move into the area and apply for a school place/s they make better meet the admissions criteria and join waiting list higher up knocking others lower down. Equally if you accept an offer its locked in.

[Smiler]

James / Vikki,

Further to the information that James has provided, it would be useful to see a similar breakdown by postcode but with the number of people in each area not allocated their first, second and third preference.

[Renata Hamvas]

May, I introduce myself, I'm Councillor Renata Hamvas one of the newly elected councillors in Peckham Rye Ward. Vikki Mills, Gavin Edwards and I were all elected last week in the local elections. I have lived in the area almost 12 years and am involved in several local community groups.

The figure that Vikki gives above for Peckham Rye children being unsuccessful in securing a place at one of the schools of their choice is correct, at 17.

The breakdown of allocations is

Hollydale (Nunhead) 6

Camelot 2

Rye Oak 8

Peckham Park 1

Hollydale and Camelot both have been rated as good schools by Ofsted. Rye Oak has recently been Ofsted inspected and this report will be published soon, it is an improving school with an excellent children's centre. Peckham Park has a new head teacher. It is likely that as the shake down of primary school allocations occur in the next few weeks in both Southwark and Lewisham, (particularly as some parents are currently holding places in both boroughs)that many of the 17 families will be offered a place at one of their prefered schools. If you need my assistance in this matter please pm me. I would suggest that you go and visit the school you have been allocated. If you 3-4 year old has a younger sibling, Hollydale does not have a nursery class but there is an excellent pre-school, St. Mary's, 3 minutes walk away on St Mary's Rd. This takes children from aged 2.5.

Renata

[Smiler]

Renata, any chance of the further information mentioned above (information about the proportion of people in ED and other areas of Southwark allocated their first, second or third choice)?

[James Barber]

Hi Smiler,

This information has been requested elsewhere on the forum.

I promised to obtain it at a later date and suggested about four weeks time.

The officers who would provide it are also dealing with queries from parents and I'd hope they could be left to concentrate on those more pressing queries first.

[tallgirl]

Hollydale is reported to be good by parents whose children go there.

[toast]

Southwark said that they were re-allocating as places came up, e.g. they could call you before the deadline for returns. Really glad they are doing this fast.

[prdarling]

I have to say that so far I have found the admissions team to be helpful and on the ball with their responses..

just need a place now.....

[James Barber]

Request made asking me to find out the level of 4th preferences in East Dulwich ward.

Council Admissions Officers has reported the following allocations for East Dulwich ward residents:

Preference Children

1st 112 84.2%

2nd 13 9.8%

3rd 2 1.5%

4th 1 0.75%

Manual allocation 5 3.75%

Total 113

So for East Dulwich 96.2% of applications received one of the choices they made.

I'm hopeful that those 5 will shake out into a school they actually wanted and again if I can help them in any way please if you're one of those families get in touch.

NB. Another 13 late applications have been submitted for the SE22 area which includes East Dulwich ward, bits of Peckham Rye/College/Villages wards with offers being sent out after 21 May but before the end of May.

[toast]

4th 1 0.75%

I dont understand this statistic, does it mean only one family got 4th choice? I know of several.

[anna_r]

Those statistics are for East Dulwich Ward only as that is James Barber's ward. I believe the statistics would be worse for Peckham Rye ward which includes the area around Forest Hill Road. A map of the various wards can be found here:

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/downloads/download/2246/parliamentary_constituencies_and_ward_boundaries

[toast]

Thanks anna_r,

All the areas which have had problems over the last few years, e.g the Gardens and Dunstans are now part of Cambelwell and Peckham ward. So who will parents of next years intake need to lobby?.

Always one with good news (not) but this year with a bulge at Heber we only got into out 9th nearest. 12th on the list for our nearest. Without the bulge we would have been 31st for our second nearest and 50th on the list for our third. This area has no primary school provision. All the local schools to this area have been bulged once,.....

The new council need long term solutions and might want to get the ball rolling asap! Probably too late for us but they need something in place for next year.

[James Barber]

Hi toast,

The Gardens and some parts of Dunstans Road are part of Peckham Rye ward.

East Dulwich ward has four primary schools that are providing 285 reception places between them for the 122 East Dulwich ward resident applicants.

Overall Southwark has 200 spare reception places.

The problem is not a local shortage or borough wide shortage of reception places but a lack of perceived attractiveness of some of our schools. All schools in Southwark are improving but the general view of a school seems to lag behind a schools improvement by around 4-5 years. Hence why Heber School has spare places in years 5 & 6 dating from when it wasn't as popular but had already been turned around.

I'm hopeful Goose Green has already been turned around. It certainly has talking to its parents.

[prdarling]

James can I ask whether these late applicants will receive preferential treatment and jump the queue or will they be allocated places which are left?

Frankly if it's the former, that makes a mockery of all us parents who apply on time. Why should we bother if it makes no difference whatsoever whether we apply by January or we just stroll up in May?? Why should I be in effect 'punished' because someone hasn't got their act together? Could you please let me know how this does in fact work and whether I am winding myself up for no reason?

It seems that the area around Forest Hill Road has become a black hole for schools and I fear this will only get worse next year when Heber doesn't have a bulge classe.

The problem is not a local shortage or borough wide shortage of reception places but a lack of perceived attractiveness of some of our schools.

James, the problem IS a local shortage. I live 465m from my closest school, or 4 minutes walk in layman's terms, and I can't get in. It's not a question of me perceiving a school in say SE15 or SE5 in a negative light, it's the fact that I simply can't get there, drop my baby at nursery and then get to work on time, all on public transport. I need a LOCAL school to be just that

[mrs.lotte]

prdarling I understand totally that you are feeling raw but it's not a 4 year olds fault that their parents cant get their act together so why should they suffer?

I'm not being critical of you, I felt exactly the same last year when dozens and dozens of people didnt get ANY of their 4 choices the fact that only a small handful of people are in that boat this year and that the debate is now largely about being cheesed off at not getting 1st or 2nd choice seems to me to demonstrate that the early bulge allocations pretty much did the trick as best it can bearing in mind you cant fit every single child into Heber or Goodrich.

I do hope your situation is resolved soon and you are allocated one of your 4 choices, I feel sure it will be. Last year was a nightmare, much, much worse and it worked out for everyone (and would have done much sooner if there had been pre-arranged bulges as there has been this year)

Best of luck