landsberger

News story on the Southwark news website, including quotes from the great and good http://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/harris-federation-withdraws-school-plans-for-dulwich-hospital/ Controversial plans to build a primary school next to a secondary school and a health clinic have been scrapped in the face of public opposition. The Harris Federation got the green light from the government to open a new primary free school for Nunhead, but say they were advised by the Education Funding Authority (EFA) that the only available site was on the grounds of Dulwich Community Hospital. Local residents won a hard-fought campaign to get a secondary school on the site last month but concern mounted that the new Charter School for 1,220 kids would be overcrowded if a primary was squeezed on the same land. Following a round of public consultation, the Harris Federation has confirmed this week that they have withdrawn their application because the site is too far from Nunhead, another primary school opening in the area has reduced the need and ?community?s concerns regarding the impact on the secondary school confirmed for the hospital site.? A Harris spokesperson said: ?While the EFA assured us that the primary would not impact on the secondary school, we believe that consultation shows that it would not now be appropriate to proceed with the proposal and have communicated this to the Secretary of State. We would like to thank everyone who responded to the consultation for their views and for their support of our schools locally.? Liberal Democrat councillor for East Dulwich ward, James Barber, who was instrumental in both school campaigns, said he supported Harris?s decision to withdraw the application. ?No one wants a school that no one wants to go to,? he said. ?I?m delighted that the campaigning we initiated in 2013 has successfully led to a new secondary school being approved. We wholeheartedly support it and huge thanks to all those who supported us when the council was against any new secondary school for East Dulwich.? Former MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, Tessa Jowell, said: ?This is excellent news for parents in East Dulwich and the result of many months of hard work with the help of both secondary school campaigns. I?m delighted that Harris have listened to the local community and understand its priorities. We can now move full steam ahead with what?s needed on the site ? a brancd new secondary school and multi-purpose health centre.? Cllr Peter John, Leader of Southwark Council, said, ?We?ve worked hard to deliver a secondary school on the Dulwich Hospital site, and are pleased to be moving forward with the Charter Educational Trust to make this a reality by September 2016.? ?The local community very strongly told us that they wanted a secondary school on the Dulwich site, with the space to provide a full and rich curriculum. We shared their concern that a primary school in that location would limit the space available for the secondary school.? ?The areas around the proposed new Harris school are already well served by existing schools such as the Belham Primary School, which is in the immediate vicinity of the Dulwich Hospital site. We do however have a growing need for places in the north of the borough, which is why we are investing in a programme of primary school expansions that will succeed in providing primary school places to satisfy both demand and parental choice from 2016.? ?We will be pleased to work with Academy Trusts on future projects where a need for additional school places has been identified.?

In terms of a defined catchment areas, you have to be really careful with this, and check the implications, pros and cons of each. There was a secondary school in Ealing that operated this, and the 'catchment area' missed out (and completely surrounded) a sizeable Council estate, because the school (cough) 'wanted a balanced intake' and 'there was already a school on the estate'. So, nothing to do with socially engineering your intake to boost your results, then ? Unsurprisingly, the Adjudicator disallowed it.

That's the theory confusedbyitall, the reality is quite different.

You have to ask yourself why Kingsdale offer so few places to Southwark residents. And yes, they do cherry pick students, and pretend not to, and then exclaim how good they are and what fantastic results they get...their lottery is supposed to be independent, but as far as I know, it's done by the school itself. Draw from that the conclusions you wish to... >I have wondered about the lottery system. How does it work? who pulls the names out of the hat? Yes, some schools literally do just that >Surely it could enable a school to choose the more academic pupils that have applied all under the luck of the >draw? What are you implying ;-) ? Happens ALL the time. COLA have admitted as much, and Bacons are suspected of doing this. >240 extra places a year has got to be a good thing. That's just a start. At least another 240 (and probably 300) are needed to meet demand, so there'll be another school opening somewhere soon. david_carnell's proposal is sensible and sounds like the old "catchment area" model. Proper catchment area, not the catchment area as most people understand it these days. The sad thing is that hysterical parents demand 'the best' for their child, they do not want their child educating with low achievers/E2Lers/BME people, or people (gasp) from a different social group. So they will go to inordinate lengths - under the name of "doing the best for their child" - to effect this. What I meant by ""The greatest supporters of abolishing the sibling tend to be...parents of children without appropriate siblings" was that the greatest supporters of abolishing the sibling rule tend to be people who would not benefit from it, as they have only 1 child, or too great an age difference for the rule to apply.

The greatest supporters of abolishing the sibling tend to be...parents of children without appropriate siblings. And vice-versa. It's a real pity that people can't put themselves in someone else's shoes and consider the pros and cons of a policy that may have ramifications outside their immediate personal concerns. Bacons and Kingsdale do a lottery and Harris Girls are proposing to do so. When they introduced it in Brighton, there was widespread dismay as middle class parents who had bought a house right next to St Annes of the Sacred Heart C of E Primary School for Nice Young Things (and no kids from the Council Estate up the road) JMI didn't get in, but someone a mile away with a widescreen telly dressed in a tracksuit did. I may be exaggerating for effect. So Brighton Council withdrew it, and Gove forbade it for LAs (but not for individual schools).

If the sibling rule goes, will that inconvenience other people? People just look at their own position and don't consider what hardship it would cause. One of the other suggestions has been to put a limit on sibling distance - say 1 mile - to counter people moving into the area for 6 months to get all the kids in the family into a particular school.

It's taken additional forms of entry since 2012, and years 4, 5 and 6 are 2FE rather than 3, so there's certainly room for another bulge class, if not 2, as the school will be being built out as a 3FE school all through.

I'm a regular visitor to this part of the world, and it's an intriguing mixture of the cultures of all the area - and, if you play it right, one of the friendliest places in that locality. Yes, rents and purchase costs are unbelievable. This has a number of knock on effects. Over 50% of the workforce do not actually come from Lux (mainly, though not exclusively from Luxembourg province in Belgium and Lorraine in France, both economically depressed areas). This has the effect of making much of the commercial area - shops, restaurants, hotels and the service industries Francophone, so brush up on your French if you want to go shopping ! If you speak German, you will understand the local lingo, which isn't a million miles away, and most native Luxembourgers (with the caveat above) can understand and speak perfect German (and French, and sometimes English). Reading the local newspapers (which are mainly in German, with a few columns in French!), you would think almost nowhere was safe, whereas the truth is that, compared to London, there are very, very few edgy or difficult areas (the only areas I wouldn't live would be the Quartier around the Gare Centrale, and Hollerich - which *are* a bit edgy), and the area around Grund, because you have very little in the way of facilities there. Bonnevoie is quite a big area, it gets nicer the further you are from the station. Velorenkost and Limpertsberg are the same, the latter is quite exclusive, as is Belair. Lots of people want to live in Clausen, which is heading west. If you can find somewhere reasonable to rent Kohlenberg and Gasperich are also very pleasant, although they are South West rather than West. Any questions, let me know.

There are 4FE primaries underway in the borough - Ivydale and Phoenix, the former of which are VERY popular. Why not Bessemer Grange?

Which I think probably suggests no change - thankfully.

This is an advertising pitch disguised as a survey. It needs to move to the advertising thread.

Personally, I think unless you are an incorrigable snob or social climber, private schools are a complete waste of money.

And be aware latecomers/late applicants (by law) need to be treated as if they had made an on time application. This is why the list goes down as well as up. People set their heart on a school, and refuse to consider alternatives, that's what I find so perplexing, personally. I have even known people try to blackmail the LA, by saying they will refuse to send their child to school, unless given a place at a particular school. As if the LA cared about this (clue: they don't, infact you're actually making their job easier by withdrawing). Every year, the Evening Standard/SLP/local press runs an "O Why, O Why?" piece about admissions usually with a no-hope parent applying and being refused. About 5% of the cases actually have any merit.

Look at the Value added data on the DfE Performance tables.

Sorry - better URL - this for the 29th June 2015 http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advancedhandler?type=advanced&location=East+Dulwich&date=24%2F06%2F2015&toc=All&earlier_cp=&later_cp=&timespan=fullcustom&time_start=&time_end=&show=all&order=wtt&stp_wtt=1&stp_var=1&stp_stp=1&stp_can=1

They should probably expand and offer the Bessemer experience to a wider group of parents.

Who says children will necessarily pass the entrance exam? Private schools, in the main, are only interested in high achieving children. Which is why they get good results, not having SEN/low achievers/E2L children to deal with.

18 is marginal for getting a place, 76 is extremely unlikely. I would look elsewhere, to be honest

Change the date to the post timetable change http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced/EDW/2015/06/24/0000-2359?stp=WVSC&show=all&order=wtt

Hard to say - bear in mind that late applicants do not come further down the waiting list as yourselves - they are assessed in the same way as you and will receive the same or higher priority if they are nearer or have siblings/medical priority, so it's not a 'waiting list' as such. I would not be setting your heart on a place, although it's perfectly possible children will move away/find another school that's not in ED/etc.

Check out realtimetrains.co.uk

I've just looked at the proposed timetable for East Dulwich and they are showing London Bridge trains at 51, 06, 21, and 36 alternately from West Croydon and Beckenham Junction.

It could also of course be that (cough) "aspirational" (read pushy) parents are applying for schools in areas where they don't have a hope in hell of attending. This is particularly true of the many parents who apply to Bacons from the south of the borough. Whose fault is it if they don't get their 'first' choice. Ask how many parents put all 6 choices down ? How many outborough kids applied to the school (for Kingsdale - read - the majority). My guess is that less than a third of parents put 3 or more choices down, and if they are completely unrealistic, what can the Council (or indeed the schools) do ? There are *15* secondaries within 2 miles of the centre of East Dulwich - do we REALLY need more than the ones listed below and the new Charter School on the East Dulwich site ? The Charter School Kingsdale Foundation School St Martin in the Fields High School for Girls Evelyn Grace Academy Haberdashers' Aske's Hatcham College Harris Academy Peckham Harris Boys' Academy East Dulwich Harris Girls' Academy East Dulwich Deptford Green School Forest Hill School Sydenham School Prendergast Ladywell School Prendergast School The St Thomas the Apostle College The Elmgreen School

Er, they can only publish if they're given that number in the first place, civilservant. Which I am told they are not. They ARE told in the case of primaries. See page 18 in the attached. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/6403/starting_primary_school_in_southwark_201516

Frankly going to such lengths to get a school place is utterly pathetic.