Primary school place allocation chaos has started!

[prdarling]

misticnutmeg

I find your posts very unpleasant and antagonistic.

How dare you say that I am never happy unless I am stressed...what an idiotic comment when you haven't a clue who i am. Terribly sorry if you think that not getting into my 6 closest schools across 2 boroughs is not alarming and I should just get over it.

I have seen some of your previous posts and many of your comments and snide, sarcastic and downright rude.

Your comment above to Toast about showing respect is ludicrous in light of your comments to other people on previous threads I have seen.

You are making an unpleasant situation worse and you seem to delight in annoyoying/upsetting people. Please just don't bother

[prdarling]

barry we all know the bloody Village school is outstanding but massively oversubscribed, but we all know you can't get in unless you live metres away from its front door in DV, which none of us does.

We all know that Fairlawn is outstanding and MASSIVELY oversubscribed. Many of us on the ED/HO borders have applied and are on the waiting list and indeed have been banging on about it for the entire thread.

I simply don't get the pooint you are making....do you think this is new information????

[barrybrains]

Not strictly true, prdarling. A friend's daughter was allocated a place in January this year and lives on Lordship Lane (and is a non-believer too).

[prdarling]

OK OK fine. I accept that if you live on LL (prob near the library?) you have a fighting chance of a place. Great stuff.

Many of us here barry are around Forest Hill Road near-ish the Herne Tavern. Zero chance of the Village. Yes possibly an outside chance of Fairlawn. We've all applied there and we'd all dearly love to get a place.

However as many have pointed out, it's not really about getting in an 'outstanding' school it's about getting in a school that's a short walk away rather than one which is not Goodrich is only 'satisfactory' on paper...it's clear that it's not being snubbed for its OFSTED status

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

statutory distance

[intexasatthe moment]

If anything can be concluded from this thread it seems that residents in certain East Dulwich areas ,like Ryedale ,Forest Hill Rd are unlikely to get a reception place at Goodrich or Fairlawn .

I don't think that this is the system screwing anybody ,it's a question of demographics. East Dulwich is popular area for people with young families ,partly because like attracts like .

If primary schools like Rye Oak ,Bessemer Grange ,still have some capacity it seems unlikely that Southwark will support a campaign for another school in this area .

But it might be worth a try - local parents were behind the the school ( now Charter ) that replaced the failing William Penn.

Other than that ,let people be aware that there are some areas where despite living close to a school ,it's not going to be a certainity about getting a place .At least forewarned is forearmed .

And I'm not unsympathetic - I know from personal experience how hard it is .

A decade ago we too couldn't get a place at Goodrich ,despite living only 450 m.( as the crow flies ) away.

And the secondary school transfer was the same ,which is why I have a teenager travelling an hour each way to school...

[snowboarder]

This does all sound like a nightmare - I totally feel for you toast/prd/tor and others involved - and very much understand your point about it not being about goodrich per se - it'a about going to a school within walking distance. I am now worried that in 3 years time we won't get into Heber which is 210 meters away - I just checked - so might start thinking about a contingency plan. I really hope that the appeals process gives you all something better.

[Alec John Moore]

I agree that the demography of ED plays an important part. According to LA officers, there is an unexpected reduction in movement of families out of the area. They cited broader economic circumstances etc. I just wanted to say that it is about work/life balance, too. We moved to Ed from Camberwell a few years ago and kept our son at Lyndhurst because we like the school and did not want to disrupt his education - the move was disruptive enough. We now have quite complicated logistics at the beginning and end of the day - why aren't the buses going down Lordship Lane more frequent in the morning? - but our kids cope well with it. I now work at the Elephant & Castle so the school drop off is on the way and my employer is flexible about me starting later than my colleagues. We negotiate arrangements with our childminder quite easily and effectively and we found a "nanny" on this forum for the days the childminder doesn't work. I suppose, on reflection, one of my main points is that the kids cope with this aspect of their lives a bit better than I do. I'd love to be able to walk round the corner, drop them off at the school gate and then get in to "work mode" but life's too complicated for that.

[prdarling]

snowboarder - my friend lives in the Brackenbury area of Hammersmith, is 200m from her school and has not got a place. Not wishing to be alarmist but it's definitely something to bear in mind

intexas - you have depressed me further! It's just so frustrating when my next-door-but-one neighbour (going away from Goodrich) got a place in the school last year, as did her friend who lives on Dovedale Rd over the other side of Forest Hill Rd.

We have the added difficulty of being further away from Goodrich than Dawson's Heights, in which there must be dozens of children all basically qualifying for a place from the same address.

I know there is nothing we can do about it but it doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Tor, Toast et al I spoke to Southwark this nmorning who said that I will receive a call between now and Friday with details of where we are on the waiting lists. Tor you're going to be at leat 1 place above me!!

[Trish]

prdarling/Tor/Toast etc. - good luck with the waiting lists. I hope you're in a good position that offers you some comfort and hope that a place might become avaailable.

[bawdy-nan]

Just to say that if you're having trouble with Southwark call centre, who this morning were quite officious, keen to tell me about their procedures and lacking information, it might be an idea to email Anita Hawksley (at the email on the rejection letter). When I emailed her this morning she replied swiftly and with really precise detail. Not great news for us but being spared the hell of admin fudging and bureaucratic nonsense was a real relief and it felt like someone, a human being, was taking responsibility for their repsonse. So - thank you very much Anita Hawksley.

[tor]

bawdynan - would you mind posting her email address on here? i'm at work and i don't have the letter with me.

thanks!

[toast]

Thanks prdarling

Have not called southwark as was worried i might bite someones head off, still fuming over the post election deley. Spoke to Lewisham and they were aware the southwark deley has slowed the whole thing down, will take about a month. Was able to find out our place on the lewisham list!.

The scrutiny strongly recomended that the admissions team work with Lewisham and chase up people holding places in both boroughs, (some families living overhill/ underhill) the extra admissions staff were hired inpart to help with this. Fingers crossed.

Sorry your having this stress, we had known this might be an issue, it must be awful if it was so out of the blue. A few friends who thought they were home and dry as had put Heaber as first choice were also quite upset.

[prdarling]

toast i've PM'd you

[bawdy-nan]

sorry should have done that anyway it is [email protected]

good luck

[toast]

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

[Fuschia]

barrybrains Wrote:

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> Not quite ED but still in the catchment for lots

> of residents: Dulwich Village infants (SE21) and

> Fairlawn (SE23) are outstanding,

AS I said, none of the schools in ED are deemed outstanding

[James Barber]

Overall in Southwark 82.9% of this years admissions have been given their 1st choice. Last year it was 74%. In total 94.4% have been given one of their four choices. Last year it was 81.2%. Last year 474 applications were fulfilled by a non chosen school. This year 175. This is stunningly better than last year.

Please see attached.

For East Dulwich ward we have 5 of those 175 not allocated a preference:

? Rye Oak School (1)

? Gloucester Primary School (1)

? Goose Green Primary School (1)

? Grange Primary School (1)

? Peckham Park Primary School (1)

Of course, many of these parents will get a preference as things shake down as people decide not to accept an offer as they've made alternate arrangements.

In the mean time I've asked where in East Dulwich ward these applicants live.

If you're one of these five please get in touch so I can try helping you.

I've had the breakdown of all 175 by postcode as follows:

Post code Area Count of Students

SE14 1

SE23 7

SE16 12

SE19 1

SE21 8

SE22 21

SE24 10

SE26 1

SE17 13

SE11 3

SE5 29

SE1 22

SE15 47

Total 175

But again during the shakedown the vast majority of these will change to a preference as per the original application.

[misticnutmeg]

mtc

[tor]

good news for us - i've just been told we're 2nd on the waiting list for goodrich.

panic over!

[The Nappy Lady]

Great news Tor - thought those two streets away would be ok after shake down.

Toast - Ivydale is lovely, my daughter is in Year 1 there and thriving/very happy.

Molly

[toast]

It was our fave and the one we thought we might get when we moved here, we figgured now that it was very popular and Nunhead was having its own population boom it was no go. Could see our son being really happy there, if we did not have to play the nearest school card we would probably have put it first. There is a room full of snakes and robots, my sons idea of heaven!

The Nappy Lady Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------.

> Toast - Ivydale is lovely, my daughter is in Year 1 there and thriving/very happy.

>

> Molly

[The Nappy Lady]

Ah yes, "Bugman Jones"....our daughter keeps asking Daddy if she can have a snake now - he is less than impressed with the suggestion!

[anna_r]

Thanks for the information James - very helpful. Do you have the same data for Peckham rye ward which I think is more relevant for those of us living in the 'black hole' around forest hill road? Thanks

[ryedalema]

Sorry - I'm being thick. Where's the link to the website telling you the exact distance from one's nearest school? Now getting v. anxious too.