New row over Brighton and Hove schools lottery (From The Argus)

"trouble with his motor skills"..... I know kids in Bevendean start driving early, but 10 years old?!?

he was quite rightly given falmer as that is his nearest school. why should he take a place at a school miles away, which could be given to a child more local. if his parents were to consult falmer school, they may well get the individual pe tuition they desire, but they have to talk, not run to the paper and complain. i think that this allocation of his nearest school makes sense, as he will be close to home, and his parents can easily pick him up if he falls ill. i can't see why the council are required to give out this information anyway. who needs to know how many families are appealing. it is of no concern to anyone. if only 3.4% didn't get ANY of their options, that is a very low figure, compared to the 96.6% who did.

what would be of interest is where are these children living? for example if 100 parents appealed how many are living very close to a poorer school? and how many are in council housing? why are the council holding back the details? sounds like there is a something the council want to hide?

mark by the sea wrote:
what would be of interest is where are these children living? for example if 100 parents appealed how many are living very close to a poorer school? and how many are in council housing? why are the council holding back the details? sounds like there is a something the council want to hide?

the only thing the council want to hide is the number of children they are sending all over the city for no reason, at taxpayers cost. any child who is placed at a school more than 3 miles from their home, has their travel paid for by the council. what i can never understand is why kids from patcham travel to hangleton(BM or HP) yet patcham high is not fully subscribed. the same goes for kids travelling to patcham from bevendean and moulsecoomb to patcham, when falmer isn't full. if someone was to do a survey in the mornings of where kids travel to, they would get a shock! what does it matter what sort of housing they are in? quite simply, you should go to your nearest school! once that is full, then the next nearest. in most circumstances there is no need to travel more than a mile or so to your nearest school, unless you are unlucky enough to live in whitehawk, where the council took the decision, quite wrongly, to close the school nearby. this problem will occur every year, yet with a little thought and planning, i.e making some effort, this could, in the main be sorted. every year, the education dept know how many children are due to change schools, and where they live. if, for example, there are 300 kids living in patcham, and are due to move to secondary school, then if patcham high has 300 places, that is where they go. if there are only 280 places, then the 280 nearest go there, and the remaining 20 to the next nearest, which will probably be varndean. it is not difficult to work out, or administer, but the council create this problem themselves by offering three choices. the option form should show your 3 nearest schools, and you should indicate your choices in 1,2,3, order. why should anyone in east brighton get the option of blatch or hove park. it is a ridiculous state of affairs, and the council can, but won't, sort it! of course, all schools should be of the same academic standard, again, something the council can sort out. after all, there is a national curriculum, and all schools teach the same subjects.

davyboy wrote:

mark by the sea wrote:
what would be of interest is where are these children living? for example if 100 parents appealed how many are living very close to a poorer school? and how many are in council housing? why are the council holding back the details? sounds like there is a something the council want to hide?

the only thing the council want to hide is the number of children they are sending all over the city for no reason, at taxpayers cost. any child who is placed at a school more than 3 miles from their home, has their travel paid for by the council. what i can never understand is why kids from patcham travel to hangleton(BM or HP) yet patcham high is not fully subscribed. the same goes for kids travelling to patcham from bevendean and moulsecoomb to patcham, when falmer isn't full. if someone was to do a survey in the mornings of where kids travel to, they would get a shock! what does it matter what sort of housing they are in? quite simply, you should go to your nearest school! once that is full, then the next nearest. in most circumstances there is no need to travel more than a mile or so to your nearest school, unless you are unlucky enough to live in whitehawk, where the council took the decision, quite wrongly, to close the school nearby. this problem will occur every year, yet with a little thought and planning, i.e making some effort, this could, in the main be sorted. every year, the education dept know how many children are due to change schools, and where they live. if, for example, there are 300 kids living in patcham, and are due to move to secondary school, then if patcham high has 300 places, that is where they go. if there are only 280 places, then the 280 nearest go there, and the remaining 20 to the next nearest, which will probably be varndean. it is not difficult to work out, or administer, but the council create this problem themselves by offering three choices. the option form should show your 3 nearest schools, and you should indicate your choices in 1,2,3, order. why should anyone in east brighton get the option of blatch or hove park. it is a ridiculous state of affairs, and the council can, but won't, sort it! of course, all schools should be of the same academic standard, again, something the council can sort out. after all, there is a national curriculum, and all schools teach the same subjects.

you are correct. however we have a large influx from London, who do not want their kids educated with the local riff raff, although they claim to be socialists/ greens. In London it is the norm for children to go on long journeys to school. They have bought this practice down with them

davyboy wrote:

mark by the sea wrote: what would be of interest is where are these children living? for example if 100 parents appealed how many are living very close to a poorer school? and how many are in council housing? why are the council holding back the details? sounds like there is a something the council want to hide?

the only thing the council want to hide is the number of children they are sending all over the city for no reason, at taxpayers cost. any child who is placed at a school more than 3 miles from their home, has their travel paid for by the council. what i can never understand is why kids from patcham travel to hangleton(BM or HP) yet patcham high is not fully subscribed. the same goes for kids travelling to patcham from bevendean and moulsecoomb to patcham, when falmer isn't full. if someone was to do a survey in the mornings of where kids travel to, they would get a shock! what does it matter what sort of housing they are in? quite simply, you should go to your nearest school! once that is full, then the next nearest. in most circumstances there is no need to travel more than a mile or so to your nearest school, unless you are unlucky enough to live in whitehawk, where the council took the decision, quite wrongly, to close the school nearby. this problem will occur every year, yet with a little thought and planning, i.e making some effort, this could, in the main be sorted. every year, the education dept know how many children are due to change schools, and where they live. if, for example, there are 300 kids living in patcham, and are due to move to secondary school, then if patcham high has 300 places, that is where they go. if there are only 280 places, then the 280 nearest go there, and the remaining 20 to the next nearest, which will probably be varndean. it is not difficult to work out, or administer, but the council create this problem themselves by offering three choices. the option form should show your 3 nearest schools, and you should indicate your choices in 1,2,3, order. why should anyone in east brighton get the option of blatch or hove park. it is a ridiculous state of affairs, and the council can, but won't, sort it! of course, all schools should be of the same academic standard, again, something the council can sort out. after all, there is a national curriculum, and all schools teach the same subjects.

Why do you keep going on about Patcham kids going to HP or BM? This just isn't the case. And Patcham IS now fully subscribed due to the new catchment area (and the fact that it's the fastest improving school in Brighton and Hove).

Charismatic Andrew wrote:

davyboy wrote:

mark by the sea wrote: what would be of interest is where are these children living? for example if 100 parents appealed how many are living very close to a poorer school? and how many are in council housing? why are the council holding back the details? sounds like there is a something the council want to hide?

the only thing the council want to hide is the number of children they are sending all over the city for no reason, at taxpayers cost. any child who is placed at a school more than 3 miles from their home, has their travel paid for by the council. what i can never understand is why kids from patcham travel to hangleton(BM or HP) yet patcham high is not fully subscribed. the same goes for kids travelling to patcham from bevendean and moulsecoomb to patcham, when falmer isn't full. if someone was to do a survey in the mornings of where kids travel to, they would get a shock! what does it matter what sort of housing they are in? quite simply, you should go to your nearest school! once that is full, then the next nearest. in most circumstances there is no need to travel more than a mile or so to your nearest school, unless you are unlucky enough to live in whitehawk, where the council took the decision, quite wrongly, to close the school nearby. this problem will occur every year, yet with a little thought and planning, i.e making some effort, this could, in the main be sorted. every year, the education dept know how many children are due to change schools, and where they live. if, for example, there are 300 kids living in patcham, and are due to move to secondary school, then if patcham high has 300 places, that is where they go. if there are only 280 places, then the 280 nearest go there, and the remaining 20 to the next nearest, which will probably be varndean. it is not difficult to work out, or administer, but the council create this problem themselves by offering three choices. the option form should show your 3 nearest schools, and you should indicate your choices in 1,2,3, order. why should anyone in east brighton get the option of blatch or hove park. it is a ridiculous state of affairs, and the council can, but won't, sort it! of course, all schools should be of the same academic standard, again, something the council can sort out. after all, there is a national curriculum, and all schools teach the same subjects.

Why do you keep going on about Patcham kids going to HP or BM? This just isn't the case. And Patcham IS now fully subscribed due to the new catchment area (and the fact that it's the fastest improving school in Brighton and Hove).

andrew, yes it is the case. there is a bus laid on, the number 96 i believe, which takes them! after leaving patcham, it continues through westdene, and on to blatch and hove park. i have driven this bus on many occasions whilst employed at the bus co, so i have experience of it. none of the kids need to go to BM or HP, as patcham is nearer.