Parents Forum for School Admissions in Lambeth

5th Meeting on Thursday 11th June

We will no longer be meeting at Elmina as we would have to pay for the room, as such we agreed to rotate the meetings around our houses, the next meeting will be at 97 Thornlaw Road at 7.30 on Thursday 11th June.

Objections on the Kingswood move

Info concerning the new Norwood Park site for next year 2010. I have received this Proposal document (attached) from Jackie Meldrum, which asks for comments and objections on the Kingswood move to be sent to Lambeth by 10th July. I am planning on writing a letter to comment on the following points; 1. I will raise why the section on 'transfer to a new site' is not completed?2. Will the catchment be measured only from Norwood Park as this is where the 4 year olds walk to (cant be community school if you cant walk) 3. Will the catchment be measured 50% from each site?4. Comment on the proximity to Elmwood and Paxton, i.e. 90+30+30 in that area, whereas Norwood Park only has Crown Lane (30) and Julians (6 next year) not really a fair spread in the area. (discounting Rosendale and Hitherfield as too far)5. Shame its not a new school completely but understand that it might take longer to set up and then we won't have anything for next year! I will draft a letter, but I wanted to check that this wouldn't clash with any work/strategy you as a group have started. It would be best if they received 100 letters all saying the same thing, so I am happy to share my copy with others if they can sign and post it separately. I cant make the meeting this week as we are all ill, but let me know your thoughts. Tori(Mum to Laura 3, reception 2010)
Moderators: jhara25, Susanne

the proposal

Moderators: jhara25, Susanne

4th Meeting on Tuesday the 2nd June

DOWNSTAIRS AT ELMINA, JUNCTION OF LANCASTER AVENUE AND NORWOOD ROAD, ON THE HIGH STREET. AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE TO ATTEND PLEASE.
Moderators: jhara25, Susanne

Lambeths "planning factor" is VERY poor.

It was noted that the national recommendation is for a 7% vacancy rate in primary schools to manage population shift, at a 25% vacancy rate schools are investigated and closure is considered, Lambeth's vacancy rate is currently 1%. This is known as the 'planning factor', thus even thought they say they have allocated all children their planning factor is very poor.
Moderators: jhara25, Susanne

3rd Meeting was on 26th may.

We had the second pressure group meeting on Tuesday, about 12 people attended, we agreed strategy for the pressure group and this has been emailed to all the parents.WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE, THEY WILL LISTEN AND ACT IF WE SHOUT LOUD AND LONG ENOUGH - GET INVOLVED
Moderators: jhara25, Susanne

Is this primary admissions criteria ?

PRIORITY AChildren in Public care [Looked after Children] PRIORITY BChildren for whom there will be a sibling in attendance on the admission date at the preferred school. PRIORITY CChildren for whom the school is the closest Community or Voluntary Controlled School as measuredin a direct line. PRIORITY DChildren who live closer to another Community or Voluntary Controlled School as measured in a directline. To be considered under the above criteria parents/carers must have named the school as a preference. Under the above criteria all preferences are considered equally. If a pupil qualifies for more than one school they will be offered their highest preference as stated on their application form.In all cases, distances will be measured in a straight line from the front door of the child’s home address (including flats) to the main entrance of a school. Measurements will be determined using the Local Authority’s GIS computerised mapping system.If under all the above criteria any single category resulted in oversubscription, those living closer to the preferred school would receive the higher priority.In the event of a school being oversubscribed where the applicant for the final qualifying place(s) available within the admission number is the parent/carer of twins, triplets or other multiple births the authority will breach the admission number to allow these children to be offered places. The exception to this arrangement would be where a school has Infant Class Size issues. In this situation the authority would offer the place(s) up to the admission number and the parent would be asked to identify which of their children would be taking up the available place(s).
Moderators: jhara25, Susanne

Solicitors Admission Appeals Charges

We realise that it is important to you to be able to budget for the costs involved in challenging the admission decision. Consequently we offer fixed fees for admission appeals, and have set out the ranges below. The final charge depends on the seniority of the person handling the case and will be discussed with you before we start work.These charges do not apply to cases involving special needs or disability discrimination.Assessing your papers and providing written advice on the arguments which should be raised and possible chances of success: £200 (£100 will be refunded if we later draft your appeal documents)Drafting appeal documents to set out all the important points: £425 - £675Up to 120 minutes telephone support throughout: £150 - £250Representation at one hearing within 1.5 hours travel time, provided we have also advised on the papers: £275 - £500(Travel costs not included)We can provide representation further afield, and will provide an estimate for this on request.VAT at the standard rate will be added to all bills.
Moderators: jhara25, Susanne

St Julians School

Dear all, Good to meet you all last night. I just wanted to clarify a couple of > points with regards to Julian's. To expand to a full 2 form entry the > school will need to be rebuilt - however this does not mean they could > expand in the short term as the site is quite big (although hilly). > The argument council officers will come back to you with is that in > order to rebuild the school they will probably need to decant the > school to a different site, the more children attend the school the > more difficult that will be. I think however that with good architects > and proper planning this does not necessarily need to be the case.>> If you want to chat about anything in advance of tomorrow's meeting > please give me a call on 07901 580015.>> Best wishes,>> Suzanne>>> Cllr Suzanne Poole
Moderators: jhara25, Susanne

Allocation in Lambeth

You may find this useful for tonights meeting. If anyone would like any more information, please do not hesitate to get in touch with me and I will do my very best to help. 020 7926 1708.Jackie Cllr Jackie Meldrum Councillor for Knights Hill ward Labour Group Office London Borough of Lambeth phone: 020 7926 3000 / 020 7926 1166/ 020 8671 5595 fax: 020 7926 2844 email: jmeldrum@lambeth.gov.uk website: http://www.lambeth.gov.uk 1st floor Lambeth Town Hall Brixton SW2 1RW
Moderators: jhara25, Susanne

a bit more, er, appropriate?

Hello- I've just registered for the forum. I'm new to this kind of tool, so it will most likely take me a while to figure out how to use it. But about the image on the banner......do you think we could have something a bit more, er, appropriate? I'm concerned that we might not be taken too seriously with the pixie/fairy graphic. Thanks for setting this up Todd. Bill
Moderators: jhara25, Susanne

This weekend has been the worst weekend of my life :(

11.59 on Friday night, we had electronic access to confirmation of the primary school that my son has been offered and we didn't get any of our preferences. To top it off, we were devasted to find out it's the worst school in the area :mad: Slap bang on the middle of a chav council estate, specialising in children with learning difficulties and ASBOs, where they enjoy a "very high" turnover of staff and pupils alike (due to exclusions).Whilst we are going to appeal, we have been told that it's highly unlikely the appeal will be upheld.We have some savings and are now torn between using this to move out of the area or pay for him to go to private school for a year whilst we remain on the waiting list for one of our preferences.Anyone ever successfully appealed for a change of school? Would be really interested to know how you got on.Full thread http://bbs.scoobynet.com/archive/index.php/t-750074.html
Moderators: jhara25, Susanne