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Talkback: More first-choice primary school places set to be missed

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  • This happened to us last year and we were not allowed any of our 4 choices. We got put in a school that was in a fairly poor area and had a bad reputation because of that. I was horrified, appealed but parents should be prepared that due to class size laws, the chances of winning are slim when classes are full to the brim. My advice is give the allocated school a go. It may not be so bad and you may realise that it's just snobery making you panic about it. This has turned out to be the case for me (I hold my hand up) as my daughter's school is excellent and she absolutely loves it. Life goes on...
  • What area's are you in, in Surrey we get to put down three choices. In my local area there are a few schools, but my sisters area there is one that is oversubcribed.
  • Same here Charmaine - 3 choices here in Sunderland. There's quite alot of schools locally but from what my midwives told me there was quite alot more babies born in 2007/8 than previous years which did get me abit worried about oversubscribed schools. I hope everyone gets the school they want, and if not their 1st choice I hope like Pili Luna it works out for them too.
  • In fairness though the sibling policy makes sense - can you imagine taking kids to two different schools each day? Here, someone I know had a daughter in a junior school, younger one didn't get into the linked infant but got a place in a primary. Said primary finishes at the same time as the junior on the other side of town so she has to be 10 minutes late for one EVERY day! Okay some people may be taking the mickey but it's not like a decision to move house is taken lightly so that must be a minority not a majority.
  • Of our 6 "choices", we missed out on our top 5, only getting the 6th because nobody else wants to send their children their - & neither do we, but the "choice" is that or nothing. It's an awful situation exacerbated by the fact that the sibling policies in our area ensure that about 95% of the intake at the "good" schools are younger brothers and sisters - many of whom no longer even live within the catchment area. So children are missing out on schools on their own doorstep because parents are securing school places for their eldest & then moving out of the area, safe in the knowledge that all subsequent children will get in there too. The system is incredibly unfair, both on children & their parents.
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