Brighton school lottery "vindicated" (From The Argus)
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Brighton school lottery "vindicated"
9:44am Friday 12th September 2008 in News By Andy Chiles
The new admissions system for Brighton and Hove's secondary schools has been hailed as an even greater success than first thought.
Brighton and Hove City Council, which came up with the network of catchment areas and lottery decider system, said new statistics revealed this week showed the move to the scheme had been vindicated.
The figures showed that the number of children "directed" to a school which was not one of their parents' three preferences had dropped to a record low of 38.
Councillor Vanessa Brown, the cabinet member for education, said: "It is a really good result. It shows that the system is working, but we will continue to keep it under review and look to make improvements."
The catchment and lottery scheme is the first of its kind being used in the UK.
When the first wave of school allocations made by the new system was revealed in April the council celebrated that the number of directed children at that stage had been reduced to 83 from the previous year's 150.
Now it has been announced that the drop has been even greater, to 38, because a number of children have since got into one of their parents choices on appeal, while others have left the area or gone into private education.
The council said the figure showed they had achieved one of their key targets for the new system, which was to get more children into their local schools.
The old system allocated places at the most popular schools to children living the shortest walking distance away.
Comments(6)
Acheron
says...
10:18am Fri 12 Sep 08
Charismatic Andrew
says...
10:46am Fri 12 Sep 08
That's not to mention a remarkable conversion to Catholicism in some areas on the City.
I can see why the Council are so proud.
By the way I seem to recall that another of the council's "key targets" was to ensure "a more comprehensive intake to all schools across the city". Strange how the council seems to have conveniently forgotten this key target.....
Andy R
says...
11:12am Fri 12 Sep 08
Charismatic Andrew
says...
1:40pm Fri 12 Sep 08
Andy R wrote:With regards to my 1st point - that's just common sense - surely no 'proof' required here?!?
Some actual proof for the anecdote and supposition contained in these two posts please???
With regards to my 2nd & 3rd points - I'm just repeating what was mentioned in the article - presumably Andy Chiles has the proof you're after.
With regards to my 4th point, unfortunately I've been unable to obtain sworn affidavits from those parents who became Catholics in order to get their children into Cardinal Newman. You've got me there.
With regards to my 5th point - take a look at the Council's own Free School Meal figures - they show quite clearly that FSM children have not been spread throughout the City's schools.
Thanks for your question.
Acheron
says...
3:33pm Fri 12 Sep 08
OK, given that you want some proof, try the following link. Governments advisor, Mike Tomlinson, ex Ofsted Chief on the lottery admission system.
There is also the fact that there was also an increase in the number of children not getting thier first place option from 17% to 22%, so nearly 1/4 not getting thier first choice!
If that's not good enough, please feel free to do a quick search on the internet. There's plenty more once you get past the council and government propaganda. It's all I did!
Acheron
says...
4:14pm Fri 12 Sep 08
Anyway, it was advice given back in February of this year!
There's even something now on the BBC local page where the national parties are distancing themselves from the policy!
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