School lottery system divides Brighton and Hove (From The Argus)

School lottery system divides Brighton and Hove

9:30am Tuesday 12th May 2009 in News By Andy Chiles

DILEMMA: Ruth Gottlieb faces more than three hours a day on the school run after failing to get her son into her chosen school

Lotteries for school places will always be contentious, as anyone living in Brighton and Hove for the past few years will know only too well.

The use of random selection to decide secondary school places for hundreds of children in the city since 2007 has prompted both joy and deep unhappiness in large numbers of families.

You could not expect anything less. By its nature a lottery produces winners and losers and for the unlucky ones it can seem cold, cruel and inhuman.

Parents care passionately about their children's future and it can be bewildering to have such a crucial decision taken automatically, when they are unable to affect it themselves or hope for compassion from someone else.

How it affects children is a different issue.

Several parents of ten and 11-year-olds have reported that there has been teasing, and in some cases bullying, in primary school playgrounds between children who have been given the "winning" option and those with the "losing" alternative.

Some said their children have suffered depression as a result.

However others have reported that once children have moved on to their "losing option" secondary they have settled in and had few concerns.

In any case that kind of impact is unlikely to be felt among three-year-olds. They will have little or no understanding of their school allocation, merely going where their parents tell them.

Their families will be the ones who feel the sense of injustice and have to deal with the consequences.

The reality is that where the city's primary schools are concerned the lottery is merely a symptom of a widespread problem, rather than the main issue.

It has only been introduced by two Catholic primaries because they are swamped by applications for places from eligible Catholic children and need to find the fairest way of making allocations.

They, like Brighton and Hove City Council, which handles admissions for all of the non-faith schools, have had to find a way to deal with a booming population of young families, which has further complicated long-standing issues of the city's complex geography and demographics.

The current problem seems to be spreading outwards from central Hove and Fiveways in Brighton. Hundreds of families have flocked to the areas, bringing more children than can possibly get places at the good schools which have drawn them there.

As a result some tactically apply for places further out, knowing their chances of winning places at the popular schools in those areas are slim.

In turn the next "wave" of surrounding schools is also filled, and other children displaced.

What this ultimately means is families in central Hove or Fiveways who do apply for their nearest schools and are unsuccessful end up allocated the only other alternatives left – schools on the outskirts of the city which are unpopular because they languish in the lower reaches of the league table or have bad reputations.

Scores of parents have now complained of ending up in this situation.

Among them was Paul Schafer, who lives in Third Avenue, Hove, and quite reasonably gave his three closest schools as his preferences for his daughter Tegan, four.

He missed out on all three, St Andrew's Primary, Davigdor and West Hove Infants, and the nearest alternative the council could offer him was Whitehawk Primary, in Whitehawk Road, Brighton, four miles away.

Mr Schafer said: "To be sent to the other side of Brighton is just not right, it's practically impossible for us."

Many have criticised the council, saying they knew the population figures and should have provided extra places.

If there were more spaces available in the areas with the most acute problems, the knock-on problems elsewhere would also be eased.

The council has acknowledged the situation and spoken of a desire to build a new school in central Hove but progress has been slow. No site has been identified and it has been estimated it would take at least two years for a school to be established.

Di Smith, director of children’s services at the council, said planning for places was taken seriously.

She said: "We use GP registrations, the best indicator, to assess numbers of children and constantly re-assess and analyse this data to gauge local trends.

"We have acted on this in recent years by creating 60 new places at schools in central Hove but need to be convinced that increases will continue at the same rate while we plan further work.

"The fact is that a huge number of families with young children have moved into a small area of Hove in the last few years causing unprecedented pressure on some schools. We have created the extra places and are looking at other ways to create more."

Councillor Vanessa Brown, the council's cabinet member for Children and Young People, added: "We understand that parents want local schools, especially for small children - we do too – and we are working hard to satisfy this. In the meantime we will financially support those who have to travel some distance.

"We understand the disappointment that some families have but it is very likely that more children will actually get one of their preferred schools before September because some parents will subsequently choose other options for various reasons."

That will come as some comfort to families but as the population increase shows no signs of slowing, people will be watching careful for a longer term solution.