“Catchment In Crisis” has been set up by a group of parents living in Worcester to widen awareness of the plight of our children, none of whom have been offered a place at any school within our community.
We desperately want our children to remain a full part of the community they are growing up in, are already active in and have friends in.
The issues we face have serious consequences for the wider community, particularly those hoping to place their children in schools over the next two years, as well as home owners in particular post codes which have fallen into a “catchment black hole”.
I am a parent of one of the 15 children who have been denied a place at one of our 3 local schools. I cannot express how shocked and upset I am at this news.
Since the birth of my 2 daughters we have regularly attended many local parent and toddler groups and have been very active in a number of ways within our community. I am devastated that she will be torn away from her friends, neighbours and local support network who all mean so much to us.
Not to mention the difficulty in getting over to Pitmaston. My little girl is a great little walker but the distance for her would still be issue. The poor thing will be worn out before the school day even starts!
I really hope that local residents support what we are doing and the local authority not only listen to our plight but give our children a place at their local school which they are entitled to.
As another parent whose child has been effectively isolated from the whole of her community I would like to echo Sunita’s comments.
We moved here from London because we wanted our children to grow up within walking distance of local schools which were supported by a strong local community. We thought Worcester offered us that – we love out local community and have worked hard to become a part of it.
I did not expect to necessarily get my preferred choice of school but really thought we would be able to gain a place at one of the schools local to our area.
To find out this has been denied to us, and that as a result of high demand, insufficient provision and catchment boundaries we never had a chance of gaining it is devastating.
Frankly, this is the basic nightmare scenario for any parent with children of, or approaching primary school age. These parents have followed a system imposed on them, and have been badly let down by inept management, and extremely poor planning by Worcestershire LEA. I am truly amazed by the provision made for these poor parents, and the many other parents within the county who are in similar positions. It is unacceptable! Keep fighting, and our support is with you all.
As a parent of a child who has got into Red Hill School you all have my complete sympathy. I would not know what to do faced with your situation. It must be awful for you all.
It is terrible that a problem that seems to have been apparent to the council for some time has been allowed to get to this. It is certainly not practical to drop off/ pick up your children from that part of town every day – especially if there is the added problem of a sibling elsewhere at the same time. I really hope a more sensible solution is found for you. Best of luck.
I am one of the 15 parents faced with this problem. When i first read the offer of a place Pitmaston Primary School my first reaction was ‘there must be some sort of mistake’, not that i have a problem with Pitmaston school itself, (infact i have heard it is a very good school) but for the simple fact that we have 3 local schools, 2 virtually on our doorstep and we were not offered 1!!! For me, to get my daughter over the river at peak times & then return to this side to take my younger daughter to pre-school before continuing to work would just be a logistical nightmare. My husband leaves for work at 7am to return after 6pm so his help in this ‘school run’ is not an option. This should be an exciting time for us as parents and our children! I haven’t been able to bring myself to tell my daughter that she will not be going to any of the schools that her friends are going to because i know it will break her heart, i just pray that something can be done to help us to keep our children in their local community.
Hi to all, firstly I need to say congratulations and respect for the great website. It is really heartening to see such a great response to this shining example of how our taxes are completely mishandled. We are also affected parents and the more we have read and tried to understand this issue the more confusing we have found the proposed solution? The most obvious question is do we know how the Local Authority calculated that 45 (known) children in a catchment area would fit neatly into 30 places? Perhaps the proposed extension to Red Hill (if it hadn’t been covertly declined) should have included a new council strategic thinking centre? I am sure learning the skill of ignoring basic issues could be well used in all of our personal and professional lives.
Is it just me? or would common sense say there are 2 simple solutions,
1. Increase the number of places at the school
2. Change the catchment areas and consult with affected parents prior to doing this to understand their views on where they feel it would be best for their children to be educated?
The inspired strategic solution appears to have been a third option of “lets just squeeze these kids in wherever” and hope no one notices or is prepared to voice concerns – 5 stars for ingenuity and creativity…….shame they hadn’t banked on this area having a very clear sense of community. Well done to all involved that we haven’t had the very great pleasure of meeting yet, lets keep fighting!
Thanks Simon,
Regards your comments:
“The most obvious question is do we know how the Local Authority calculated that 45 (known) children in a catchment area would fit neatly into 30 places?”
They predicted that for 2013 not this year. I am not sure if they dropped the ball on the dates, or whether this means an even bigger problem looming next year.
Regards your suggestions points 1 and 2, exactly! Either of those would have been fine with us.
There is still a misperception that we are whining about not getting into a particular school which is absolutely not the case.
We would have been just as happy to see the catchment re-drawn and send our children to one of the other local schools.
This problem has been on the increase for years. Two years ago I was faced with a similar problem where my Son was allocated Stanley Road, this was not even a choice for us as we believed we lived in catchment for Redhill. I was able to fight the system and finally got my Son offered a place at Redhill School following a detailed review and scrutiny of the schools admission policy document. Keep strong and keep fighting the system that so obviously has failed local residents and most importantly locall children. I would suggest some sort of protest could be arranged at County Hall to gain further press coverage and judging from the amount of traffic generated from this site I would anticipate a large number of local residents would support the cause. Good luck you have all my backing. Dean
Thanks Dean,
We have a few things lined up regarding events and media, but ultimately everything has to go through the appeals process.
Regards the site, it has had a surprising number of visitors especially considering it is not even a week old, its proved a really useful way to get in touch with people and let others know what is going on.
Thanks again for your supportive words