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Primary School nightmare
Anyone else trying to get their child into a decent primary school this September? I'd be interested in hearing the experiences of other parents. We live on Upper Tollington Park and we've been allocated Tiverton Primary, deep in Tottenham, for our daughter. What gives? I love this area, but can't stay if that's the best Haringey Council can do. (Hubby is a teacher, so London will be losing a key worker, too!)
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It's just rubbish that we're given the illusion of choice about where our kids are educated, when in fact it's a private system by another name. Those that can afford the £1m+ homes near Coleridge and St Aidan's etc get in, while the rest of us have to send our kids halfway across the borough to a school that has historically struggled to keep hold of its headteachers and staff :-( Doesn't exactly make you feel empowered.
However, have now heard of a few people that don't even have an offer of a place, while others got one offer via letter and another via online applications service. All sounds shambolic to me.
If we get a place at SG, dion, I look forward to meeting your lovely son (unless he's tired or hungry, that is!)
Calls to Haringey Council just seem to confuse the issue, too. I couldn't get a straight answer as to whether, if I declined the place at Tiverton, that would mean they'd not consider us for nearer schools if a place came up. One minute I was told we wouldn't be considered, the next I was told we would. How are we to understand their crazy system if they don't?
My experience of the school has been very positive and my daughter is mostly happy - she's dyslexic so she struggles, but her best friend is mega-bright and is also doing really well and making really good progress. The school has always been willing to help and to make time to see me quickly when I need to see them.
In terms of applying, I am in the secondary sector, we are currently taking applications from parents who did not get their first choice of secondary school, so I imagine it is probably the same for the primaries. You could give the school a ring and enquire and say Tabitha's mum recommended it!
Regardless of whether you accept the place offered, you should definitely tick the relevant boxes to stay on waiting lists for schools you did choose, as there's a fair bit of movement over the summer, people moving out of London etc.
Not ideal I know as you want to know, but you may rise up the list pretty quick.
When we applied (eldest now in Year 3) we didn't have SG on our list but she was offered there, so we accepted and stayed on the list at St Aidan's (our nearest). She did a year at SG and then got a place just after term started and she had gone into Year 1 so we moved her.
Granted Tottenham isn't a great school run if you have to start there, but it may not be for long.
The other thing to consider is to go out of Borough and try a few schools the other side of Blackstock Road as they don't come under Harringey, and still has to be better than going to Tottenham.
Also worth looking at Ashmount, I know a few who moved there, seem to be doing really well, and there's plans for a new site too.
It is a complete lottery and the choice seems to be something to fill up the form only...
Good luck
Good to hear that CTK supports children with learning difficulties - my hubby is dyslexic so there is a chance one of my two will be. It's also heartening to hear of people who have managed to get in to good schools through the waiting list. St Aidan's is our first choice (in part because of their ability to help kids that may struggle with parts of their education).
And yup, I understood that the schools took over the waiting lists, come Sept, but when I rang St Aidan's yesterday, they told me Haringey was taking over the whole system. It's hard to know what to do when you're told so many different things, but it is really helpful to have recommendations from parents who have been through the system. In the meantime, I have my fingers crossed for tomorrow.
We also applied to Parkwood, just over the other side of FP in Hackney. We didn't get a place there, either.
I've always found it odd though, that even before we moved our eldest to St Aidan's, I always saw parents coming from much further away to take their kids to St Aidan's.
Fundamentally, I think the whole system is screwed. Good luck with Ashmount and whatever you accept, stay on the lists for the ones you want just in case, because in the first couple of years, it's not a big drama to move them. And whichever school the first goes to, the second gets guaranteed entry - hence our moving the first.
Yes, we really want to get our first into a good school so we don't have all this hassle with no 2!
If you're on Tollington Park, think you need to be realistic about St Aidans though.
my mum heard two women talking about it in virgin active in crouch yesterday. how this woman's kid had been put down for a tottenham school and not a crouch end one and she was livid.
so i wonder if that was either you or you are not the only one. sounds a complete joke.
good luck, i hope you work something out. Im very interested to see how it goes.
bridget
1. Special needs
2. Siblings
3. Rest of the general public
I know when my youngest started St Aidan's (as a sibling) this year, there were 2 places given to special needs (a third upon appeal) and 11 siblings I believe, leaving only 16 places for the wider community, and the furthest child away that was offered a place was something like 0.014 miles from the school, which is pretty much opposite.
There is definitely, and has been for some years, a shortage of places in Haringey. This may be partially eased when the new Ashmount site opens, but probably not.
The other major annoyance is that once places are all offered and parents have accepted to stay on the waiting list - list implying something you can move up - will be bumped down if at any point, a parent who lives closer than them and just decides they want to be on that list even if they hadn't before, or someone who moves into the area - asks to be put on it - they will be pushed above you.
When our eldest started at Stroud Green, we were told she was 3rd on the list for St Aidan's - I rang a month later to be told she was 5th.
The system needs to be overhauled, clearly.
No, we got none of our six choices (applied in Islington and Hackney, too).
@katiejane, we're on Upper Tollington Park, so closer than straight TP, but still not within the 0.18 of a mile we needed to be in.
It all makes me wonder, though. If we take St Aidan's as an example, there were 15 places awarded to siblings, none to children with special needs and 15 to others. Can there really be 15 children of reception age that live within 0.18 of a mile of the school? Or are there people renting addresses on the doorstep?
Anyway, we've turned down Tiverton and are waiting for further news......and in the meantime we're exploring our options of moving out of London altogether. Nice village, close to family and, importantly, a village school that actually takes children from the village.