Jump to content

Recommended Posts

Still not sure how they work out admissions with a pan london catchment area when it is oversubscribed.


Surely it will be extra hard for local kids to get into their improving neighbourhood school.


I got so excited about the school, but by the time my 6 year old is doing secondary applications it might well be impossible!

Out of interest, where are local children getting into if not The Charter, Kingsdale or a faith school?


I have to admit when I applied for my daughter (now year 11), no-one wanted Kingsdale due to previously bad reputation but I'm delighted that the standard has been raised to the point that it's now over-subscribed. Clearly parents have been disappointed.


Conscious of the problems local families are having with primary school allocation now, wht's in store for those families in 6 or 7 years?

mothergoose Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Still not sure how they work out admissions with a

> pan london catchment area when it is

> oversubscribed.

>

> Surely it will be extra hard for local kids to get

> into their improving neighbourhood school.

>

> I got so excited about the school, but by the time

> my 6 year old is doing secondary applications it

> might well be impossible!


Sadly you may well be right.

This year they have received 150 appeals in the admission process.

Alec John Moore Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Would be the fast-track appeals process that

> opened a couple of weeks ago? Has anyone heard the

> outcome of that yet? Alec


We received a call yesterday saying we could expect a letter from Southwark offering our son a place. I'm not sure whether he reached the top of one of the waiting lists; he was on the sports scholarship waiting list as well as the banding one or if our fast track appeal had worked (we had not received anything regarding the fast track appeal other than a sheet telling us how likely to be unsuccessful we were!).


Whilst I think the administrative process at Kingsdale leaves a huge ammount to be desired I have to say the people we have spoken to have been sympathetic and helpful. Kingsdale was not our first choice for our son but the attitude of Kingsdale staff in the whole waiting list/appeal process has been exemplary and we will be delighted to accept the place when we receive the formal offer.


We live in Upper Norwood so not in Southwark but an easy walk for our son so, for us anyway, the Pan London system seems to work. Croydon's provision of secondary school places for boys is woefully inadequate.

MGolden Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Whilst I think the administrative process at

> Kingsdale leaves a huge ammount to be desired I

> have to say the people we have spoken to have been

> sympathetic and helpful.


This month they had a mock Ofsted and then last week a real Ofsted inspection so they have had their hands full! Gosh, if they had 150 appeals I wonder how many applications they had?

mothergoose Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Still not sure how they work out admissions with a

> pan london catchment area when it is

> oversubscribed.

>

> Surely it will be extra hard for local kids to get

> into their improving neighbourhood school.

>

> I got so excited about the school, but by the time

> my 6 year old is doing secondary applications it

> might well be impossible!


Exactly my fear! I have 6 year old boy and 4 year old girl, and we're 0.5 miles as crow flies from Kingsdale. As friends start to talk about moving to Kent for grammar schools, Kumon to pass entry exams, etc etc, I have smugly (serves me right!) been saying "we have a lovely state co-ed comp on our doorstep" - but after following various threads on this board, I have a growing sense of dread they wouldn't necessarily get in. The other option are Lewisham single-sex schools - good, but I really would like them to have a co-ed education.


Does distance really make no distance at all? Am I going to have to groom my son in basketball/ cello lessons?:o)

I remember when my children were small like yours and I looked at the entry requirements for local schools and thought about what I would need to do to get them in. I sent them to music and sport lessons for just this reason. However by the time they were old enough to go, the schools had changed their entry requirements, changed their catchment area, reputation had changed/gone down hill/results dropped, etc, or changed their intake.


On reflection I should have just sent them to Kumon maths (that's definately worth it for any selective/independent/grammar school if you start about Year 4) and saved my money and the time and effort.


I expect that by the time yours are ready to go the reputations and entry requirements will have changed again. Or you will have moved or they will open yet another new school.

  • 4 years later...

Realise this is an old thread, but currently going through secondary school applications and interested in the music scholarships offered at Kingsdale.


I've read the thread above but still puzzled - if, as I understand it, an offer of a scholarship does not guarantee a place at the school, why are the aptitude tests/auditions etc carried out when pupils are in year 6? Why not simply conduct internal auditions and tests at the start of the autumn term in year 7? Does anyone know what bearing the tests /auditions have on school places and why they conduct these pre - year 7?

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • I mean I hold no portfolio to defend Gala,  but I suspect that is their office.  I am a company director,  my home address is also not registered with Companies House. Also guys this is Peckham not Royston Vasey.  Shoreditch is a mere 20 mins away by train, it's not an offshore bolt hole in Luxembourg.
    • While it is good that GALA have withdrawn their application for a second weekend, local people and councillors will likely have the same fight on their hands for next year's event. In reading the consultation report, I noted the Council were putting the GALA event in the same light as all the other events that use the park, like the Circus, the Fair and even the FOPR fete. ALL of those events use the common, not the park, and cause nothing like the level of noise and/or disruption of the GALA event. Even the two day Irish Festival (for those that remember that one) was never as noisy as GALA. So there is some disingenuity and hypocrisy from the Council on this, something I wll point out in my response to the report. The other point to note was that in past years branches were cut back for the fencing. Last year the council promised no trees would be cut after pushback, but they seem to now be reverting to a position of 'only in agreement with the council's arbourist'. Is this more hypocrisy from 'green' Southwark who seem to once again be ok with defacing trees for a fence that is up for just days? The people who now own GALA don't live in this area. GALA as an event began in Brockwell Park. It then lost its place there to bigger events (that pesumably could pay Lambeth Council more). One of the then company directors lived on the Rye Hill Estate next to the park and that is likely how Peckham Rye came to be the new choice for the event. That person is no longer involved. Today's GALA company is not the same as the 'We Are the Fair' company that held that first event, not the same in scope, aim or culture. And therein lies the problem. It's not a local community led enterprise, but a commercial one, underwritten by a venture capital company. The same company co-run the Rally Event each year in Southwark Park, which btw is licensed as a one day event only. That does seem to be truer to the original 'We Are the Fair' vision, but how much of that is down to GALA as opoosed to 'Bird on the Wire' (the other group organising it) is hard to say.  For local people, it's three days of not being able to open windows, As someone said above, if a resident set up a PA in their back garden and subjected the neighbours to 10 hours of hard dance music every day for three days, the Council would take action. Do not underestimate how distressing that is for many local residents, many of whom are elderly, frail, young, vulnerable. They deserve more respect than is being shown by those who think it's no big deal. And just to be clear, GALA and the council do not consider there to be a breach of db level if the level is corrected within 15 minutes of the breach. In other words, while db levels are set as part of the noise management plan, there is an acknowledgement that a breach is ok if corrected within 15 minutes. That is just not good enough. Local councillors objected to the proposed extension. 75% of those that responded to the consultation locally did not want GALA 26 to take place at all. For me personally, any goodwill that had been built up through the various consultations over recent years was erased with that application for a second weekend, and especially given that when asked if there were plans for that in post 2025 event feedback meetings (following rumours), GALA lied and said there were no plans to expand. I have come to the conclusion that all the effort to appease on some things is merely an exercise in show, to get past the council's threshold for the events licence. They couldn't give a hoot in reality for local people, and people that genuinely care about parkland, don't litter it with noisy festivals either.   
    • Aria is my go to plumber. Fixed a toilet leak for me at short notice. Reasonably priced and very professional. 
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...