championofthehill

I also have nothing but praise for Matthew and his team. They are very reasonable, as well as being efficient, tidy, polite and very pleasant and easy to deal with. I have used him for a number of jobs and he would be the first person I would call if I needed any further work doing.

Gubodge Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Lily, the same letter has been given to me at > Goodrich (twice now) including at a meeting about > secondary school transfers, so directly targeting > the yr 5 parent whose children could form the > first cohort at the new school. I was also > buttonholed outside the school today about it, and > did not receive a particularly friendly response > when I said I supported the nodal point being on > the school site. The letter has also been emailed > to all parents by the PTA. While it is not the > school itself that has been lobbying, the claims > that there has been no organised campaign for an > eastern nodal point are, to be honest, bullshit. Trine Adams, how do you respond to this? I think you need to re-look at the nasty accusations you have been making about DKH school and to the councillor who has obviously rattled your cage so badly. I also enjoyed *Bob*'s comment about East Dulwich station.

Thank you, LondonMix, for clarifying some of these emotive issues. I have a few more questions - for anyone who cares to answer. What exactly is SPACE Southwark? All I can come up with is "a group of East Dulwich schools"? Which schools are involved? There was (still is?) a campaign to move the nodal point for the school to near the Actress Pub? Is this really not true? I heard on pretty good authority that it was? When the OP calls for unity, what does she mean? That we all get behind the Charter School's proposal? And by community, does she speak for the whole of East Dulwich? And if so, surely that includes DKH school? I have just had a look at the link to DKH's website, and really can't see what they have done wrong? Children at this school have a very small chance of getting places at secondary schools of their choice. Surely it's right for the school to encourage parents to get involved in the consultation process when a school is being built on their doorstep?

I am of the opinion that the OP has a bit of a personal axe to grind. It reads to me not so much as a call for unity, as a call for one section of the community to keep quiet. The original people proposing an alternative/additional nodal point off site seem to have realised that they are fighting a losing battle. Their argument was that there would be too much overlap between the catchment of the two Charter Schools. The new push seems to be that the nodal point should now be shifted from Jarvis Road to some other on-site point to the centre or the south of the site. At the consultation meetings it was made clear that the Jarvis Road point was picked to minimise the overlap between the two Charter Schools. I would like to make it clear that the area around the Dog Kennel Hill Estate and the Champion Hill and Cleve Hall Estates are currently largely excluded from Charter Red Post Hill's catchment due to its shortest safe walking route policy. If the new Charter's nodal point is shifted to the south of the proposed point in Jarvis Road, these children will, once again, find themselves disadvantaged in the school's admissions policy. I do not have children who will benefit from this, mine are all older so I have seen at first hand how difficult this process is for children in my area. I am not "in it for myself" and that accusation leaves a very bad taste in my mouth.

Perhaps that is why Charter 1 does not want to change its policy.

I took my child to the hospital in East Dulwich Grove several years ago and she was seen by Dr Hu.

Also there were a lot of upset people in February who said they wouldn't have wasted an application to the school if they had known about the earlier ruling at the time they had filled out their applications last autumn. As the furthest distance offered by the school seems to be shrinking each year, any other factors might be relevant.

It would be useful if the school would put the map up in time for people to use it if they're considering applying this year.

I just looked at Charter's website and there doesn't seem to be a map. Why are they delaying putting one up after this ruling?

Well Curmudgeon, you may be surprised to hear that several children of the Champion Hill Estate have not got places at Charter this year, though I have heard of one from Cleve Hall Estate who has. This tells me that the Wanley Road ruling has been effected, but that the catchment for this year is even smaller than it was last year. In a couple of weeks, when the waiting list information is released, this distance will be made public. I have heard rumours that there were lots of sibling places this year. I would imagine (and hope) that the children from the Champion Hill Estate will be very high up the waiting list. And if you are so close to the school I would expect that the children round you would be too. The reason why this was not mentioned by anyone at the school in October was because the head was dealing with this dispute by refusing to acknowledge that there was a problem or to speak to any members of the Campaign.

Have just had a quick read through this thread and it brings back the horrors we went through last year. My daughter was not allocated a school that we were happy with, and she was not alone. Only a minority of children in her class were given schools they had put high up on their lists, and many were despairing. After a hideous few months of appeals and waiting list movement though, most children ended up at schools they and their parents were happy with. It is an awful system, and one of the worst elements for me was the lack of communication from Southwark Education Services. From what I have read above, it seems a bit better this year. It took a long time for Kingsdale to release its waiting list information and there was confusion over banding - they have seperate waiting lists for each band and another for scholarships, so movement can be slow. We tried really hard not to let our daughter be aware of our stress, and it was hard for her to see her friends gradually get places they wanted and go off to induction days. And on the last day of the summer term she was offered a place at Kingsdale (which had been our first choice) where she is now blissfully happy. It's very hard to believe at this stage, but March is early days and there is a lot of movement over the next few months. Also, many children I know are now very happy at schools they didn't initially want, and wouldn't change even if a place came up. Don't panic!

Well said. Squirrelmc. Also, to add, last year the school's maximum distance was considerably less than 2000m. It is on their website that 2000m is the furthest they have ever given places. Last year my child sat on the waiting list and I jotted down some of the distances the school told me: in May the furthest distance was 1664m and by the end of June it went up to 1738m. If you live just the wrong side of Wanley Road your walking distance from the school is roughly 1100m and your driving distance (which the school was using last year) was roughly 1800m. A year or two ago children from the Champion Hill area were all given places, even with the inflated distance. As Squirrelmc says, there is absolutely no guarantee of a place however close you are,. Places are first allocated to siblings, children in care and children with special needs, before the surplus is given out, to the nearest first, and the number between you and the school is very variable. Having lots of children from your street going there is not, and never has been, a sign that your child will get a place.

I would agree with all the above posts that the secondary admissions process is a nightmare. Having been through a stressy nightmare ourselves - not allocated a school we were happy with - despite being very confident we were in the catchment for Charter as many children from our area go there, with a significant number walking right past our house (Curmudgeon). Only a minority of my daughter's friends were lucky enough (initially) to get school they wanted, and the atmosphere in the playground was grim, even the lucky ones suffering from survivors' guilt. The message I would like to send out is that almost everyone eventually got something they were happy with. Be it as a result of an appeal, waiting list movement, going private or even taking a chance at something they thought wasn't great, but which turned out to be fine. Hang on in there. And try not to pass the stress on to your children.

The Charter School states very clearly on its website that it does not have a catchment. After places are given to siblings, children in care, and children with SEN, the remainder are given out to children living closest to the school. This distance varies quite considerably from year to year. Anyone 'well within the catchment' as Curmudgeon puts it, will still be very likely to get a place. The Secretary of State's decision to ask the school to correctly follow its own admissions policy will not affect people unless they are towards the edge of the distances previously accepted. These people could never have been sure to have been offered a place, due to normal fluctuations. A few years ago children from the Champion Hill area were offered places at the school, despite their inflated home-to-school measurement. The council's support of the status quo is hardly surprising as they were party to this practice until 2010 when the school became an academy. Quite a few individual councillors (from across the parties) did support the Campaign though.

To answer Curmudgeon and Jumble Queen's question, it is unlikely that anyone applying would have done so in the understanding that the admissions policy was not being administrated correctly. The question about children who were exluded historically from gaining a place because of this issue is an interesting one. It would seem to be fair for the school to reorder its waiting list taking this decision into account.