School Admissions Consultation - Belleville Post Reply

[cynic]

monaco,

With respect I feel you have quoted quite selectively from that paper in focusing only on point 31. Indeed the very next point in that paper states:
"32. An admission consultation is currently being undertaken on various options for managing admission to Belleville Primary School. As mentioned above, it is proposed to permanently expand Alderbrook School, SW12 (Balham) from 1 to 2FE from September 2011. Ward projections indicate that this will be sufficient to deal with the small number of places that may possibly be needed in Balham ward and also in neighbouring Bedford ward in PA4A, outlined above in paragraphs 29 and 30."

Overall I think from any reasonable reading of all the points in the paper from 28-32 (PA 4A & PA 4B) it is clear the council are considering the PA 4A & PA 4B projections together.

So when you talk about "consider P4A alone", I must point out there's an offsetting surplus projected for PA 4B over the same time frame (if of course the Alderbrook expansion is passed).

For PA 4B (including the Alderbrook expansion)
2011/12: 57 surplus
2012/13: 41 surplus
2013/14: 33 surplus
2014/15: 38 surplus
2015/16: 44 surplus
2016/17: 48 surplus
2017/18: 52 surplus
2018/19: 54 surplus
2019/20: 52 surplus


So for PA 4A AND PA 4B TOGETHER (including the Alderbrook expansion) we have projections of:
2011/12: 13 place surplus
2012/13: 2 place deficit
2013/14: 5 place deficit
2014/15: 4 place surplus
2015/16: 14 place surplus
2015/16: 22 place surplus
etc

Now of course these projections are simply based on a birth rate model in relatively large Planning Areas, so by the time one gets to applications to reception classes at particular schools it is more complex BUT the key point is that this modelling IS what the council base their decisions on.

[monaco]

Cynic

I highlighted point 31 because you chose to highlight only point 32 in saying that Alderbrook would cover demand in area P4B

I don't disagree with you on the additions of the numbers of P4A and P4B.

It's interesting though to see the huge deficit in P4A and as probably many people may not read the documents, I thought it was only fair to provide them with another view of the numbers.

[rcourtney]

Hi,

When do we find out the result of the consultaion etc ?

Anyone got any idea?

[cynic]

Belleville Consultation Results are out

This is the results paper that will be presented to the Education Overview Committee on Wed 12th Jan.
http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/moderngov/ ... x?ID=12783

It's a complicated read-through, but in essence 55% of respondents have voted FOR the first GPA and 51% of respondents have voted FOR the second GPA.
However the Council intend to ALTER the area of the second GPA from that which they proposed in their consultation!

The Council now intend to create an additional zone from south of Broomwood Rd down to just north of Thurleigh Rd and include this zone in the second priority area proposed.
Here is the NEW map showing the "two-part" second priority area.
http://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/moderngov/ ... x?ID=12799
Note distances will still be measured from the Belleville site!

I am quite gobsmacked by this change of plan and would make several points:

(i) During the consultation the serious issue of school access for residents south of Broomwood Rd came to light. It was discussed on this forum and the council were seemingly not as aware of this as they might have been. They are now clearly so concerned about their statutory obligation to provide school places to those living in this area that they have adapted their planned changes for Belleville, in effect prioritising that concern above any concerns of Northside residents.

(ii) Addresses in the streets in this new zone south of Broomwood Rd are, in general, closer to the Belleville School main site than many properties in Northside second priority area (especially those to the east of Elspeth Rd).
Both zones are deemed to be in the Second Prority Area and as within a Priority Area admission will still be based on distance, this geography means that much demand for places from the Broomwood/Thurleigh Rd zone will likely take priority over most addresses on the Northside, especially those close to the Forthbridge school site
(this is of course being the absolute intention of the new zone)
(Thus the Priority Area around the Forthbridge site will become IN EFFECT a THIRD priority area!)

(iii) More importantly these recommendations mean
the Council are now going to implement a change in admissions policy that they did NOT actually consult on!

As well as the sheer unfairness of such an action, this undoubtedly this raises a clear, serious concern about due process!


The Council's Education Committee on Wed 12th 730pm is held at Wandsworth Town Hall and there is a public gallery.

The more people we can get to attend this meeting and show our shock at these "recommendations" the better.

The Shaftesbury Ward Councillor Jonathan Cook has promised to speak against these plans at the meeting.

[herogirl]

Can those who are advocating the new school in Bolingbroke not see the injustice of this. Would you want that site to be an expansion of BPS (sorry BPS)? That is the precedent you are setting. It might come back to bite you.

[schoolgatesmum]

Herogirl. I'm not sure why Bolingbroke and Belleville expansion always have to be linked. I don't think it's the same group of parents advocating both is it?

My children are at Belleville - I don't live BTC, I live on Northside (my eldest is Y4 - the catchment has changed vastly since we got in). My feelings about the expansion are mixed. I wasn't against the Belleville site being expanded. I felt that if more places were made available at a successful school like Belleville that could only be a good thing.

I'm not sure that having a satellite site is the best solution - it seems to have caused more problems that it has solved. Failing expanding the Belleville site, I would have preferred a new school to have been set up on the Forthbridge site. But that is obviously not the decision that has been made.

The Belleville head is a very successful head who has been running Belleville for 10 years now. He has turned it around and already helps heads of other schools. So I imagine that the council thought he'd be up to the job of expanding the school. BPS has only been out of special measures for a couple years - the head has a big enough job as it is without expanding the school (and don't forget that there are surplus places at BPS). So I'm not sure that expanding BPS would really be a viable option.

[cynic]

For clarity, may I very respectfully suggest we could perhaps please keep this thread for discussing only the current Belleville admissions consult?
(for which there is this very important council meeting this wednesday 12th at 730pm)

I believe all the Secondary school issue is being discussed at length in another thread

[cynic]

AS A REMINDER TO ALL

The Council's Education Committee tonight 730pm is held at Wandsworth Town Hall and there is a public gallery.

The more people we can get to attend this meeting and show our shock at these "recommendations" the better.

I believe someone from Belleville Governors will also speak to the Committee

[herogirl]

I think it is important to look at this precedent and all the implications. I do not believe that asking people to exclude mentioning the new school is appropriate. The point of sites like this is to have the freedom to express opinions. We should not be told that our views are not pertinent to a thread. Sorry cynic, I am really not with you on this.

[custardy]

Did anyone go to the meeting last night? I couldn't make it but would be very interested to hear what was said please!

Thanks.

[cynic]

yes it was great

The committee in effect threw-out a controversial new admissions scheme proposed.
Instead the committee has asked Wandsworth Children’s Services Department to go back to the drawing board and investigate other arrangements that may satisfy the concerns of residents near to the school site on Forthbridge Rd.
This second site will be used for expansion by the popular Belleville School (based at Webbs Rd) from 2011. Residents near Forthbridge Rd have been campaigning for almost a year for a right of access to that site for local children.

On Wednesday evening the Committee was presented with the results of the second consultation within a year on the matter. This included a recommendation from Children’s Services for two ranked priority admission areas for the Belleville School.
The committee heard deputations from Ian Hamilton, representing a group of residents near Forthbridge Rd and from Kate Amis the Chair of Belleville Governors, who both objected to the scheme.

All three Shaftesbury ward Councillors - Cllr Guy Senior, Cllr James Cousins & Cllr Jonathan Cook - were present and then spoke passionately against the "unfair" and “complicated” plans. These, the latest in a series of council proposals, could have seen children living over a mile away gaining places at the Forthbridge Rd site ahead of children living next door to it.

It was Education Committee member Cllr Cook who tabled the crucial amendment.
All five speakers and the vote itself were met with applause and cheers from a packed public gallery.

[MGMidget]

Thank you Cynic. I am somewhat surprised that given the majority of those responding to the consultation had voted in favour of the proposals for priority zones they were disregarded. It will be interesting to see what the council does next. My understanding was that they would be doing a second consultation or did I hear wrong?

Not everyone in the public gallery was there to represent the Forthbridge Road group, I wasn't one of your group for example and neither were some others. However, certainly you were a vocal group along with the Councillors from Shaftesbury ward who were present and between you you made your voice heard to the committee. Interestingly, the committee seemed to pay little attention to some of the recommendations of the report put before them (despite the best efforts of the council officers, and Councillors Peter Dawson and Kathy Tracey to draw attention to the report and consultation results).

Incidentally, I did take offense to remarks from your group regarding all the four wheel drive cars that everyone in the Northcote area supposedly owns! We don't all drive such cars!

One other thing tabled for that meeting was a proposal for bilingual provision at Shaftesbury School for anyone interested in that.

[livegreen]

My understanding is that there will need to be another consultation and as a result the current admissions to Belleville will remain in place for the time being/foreseeable future.

I wonder how much the consultation cost and if there really was any benefit to any local families or just points scoring and name calling.

[custardy]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

So - there will be another consultation?! Isn't this the third one? Just on the priority zones or on the sibling policy as well does anyone know?

It seems to me that the Council is running out of time if it is going to have something in place for the academic year starting Sept 2012. But if they rush then chances are it will be another botch job, this last consultation was a waste of time and money.

If this proposal really has been thrown out, looks as though nothing is going to change until Sept 2013...

[herogirl]

Sorry, but still a little confused about what the council passed and did not pass. Please bear with me. Is it the case that the Vines will still be an extension of Belleville (passed) but the proposed admission procedures are not as was put forward (not passed). Assuming that is correct, did anyone indicate what is going to happen in September 2011 regarding admissions? There have been a number of posts from people who say they have already been promised a place there. Again, not sure quite how that works either as the places in Wandsworth generally have not been allocated yet. I am probably missing something obvious and if so, I am sorry but I would be grateful for clarification. It might be that the children promised places at the Vines are those who are already in the extra class that started in September. If that is the case, how will this decision affect them? Will there continue to be an extra class at Belleville for that year's intake?
These may be questions for the "drawing board" of course.
Thank you.