High View Post Reply

[ellesmum]

I just discovered that DD has been turned down for our top 5 choice primaries & only been offered a place at High View. I'm absolutely devastated because I am not over-enamoured by the school & really don't want her to go there. DH is telling me to turn it down, but what happens if I do? She's a July baby, so I've been told she doesn't legally have to school until next September, but would I still be able to stay on waiting lists for the other choice schools if we turn the place down? I've been in tears for the past hour now. Absolutely gutted

[nwt]

We've just been offend Shaftesbury Park and we live about a mile away!!! So I totally feel for you.

Not sure what to do next. Feel cheated by the system.

[schoolgatesmum]

Don't do anything rash. If you don't accept High View it will be assumed that you don't want any Wandsworth state school. Find out where you are on the waiting lists for the other schools on your list, accept High View and hang in there. My son was 29 on Belleville waiting list and we got in (and that's when it was a 3 class intake).

[ellesmum]

We were turned down by Belleville (not a surprise), Honeywell (again, no surprise), Allfarthing (again, wishful thinking), Earlsfield (we're about a mile and a half away, but I would have preferred to have travelled) & Swaffield. In all honesty, I would have been happy with Swaffield. Some of my DDs friends from nursery are going there, so she would at least have had familiar faces, but now I face having to send her to a not-great school with none of her friends for support She is so, so excited about going to "big school" too, and I'm terrified that if she goes there and has a bad experience, it's going to kill her enthusiasm for education. The system totally sucks. The priority given to siblings is totally wrong. If the family move out of an (albeit slightly larger) catchment area, it should be a case of tough luck, either move the eldest or do two school runs. Why should other children have to suffer because some people work the system & then keep popping out babies to fill the places.

[livegreen]

@ellesmum
Which are your local, closest schools in order ?
Last years distances give the best guide to which schools you have a chance of actually getting into depending on your own location.
All primary schools have a sibling policy, and whilst it may seem unfair it is supported by most families.
Good luck and I am sure with your support your daughter will be happy in any school they attend.

[schoolgatesmum]

There was a whole debate on this a while ago - it's such a complex and emotive thing. I was in the same situation with my eldest (now 10 - secondary school the next dilemma!) and I really feel for you all and hope that it works out for you. The waiting lists do change quite quickly so don't give up hope. Fingers crossed for you all...x

[ellesmum]

We're 700m from High View & that is our closest. We're in a no-man's land for schools. Swaffield is next closest. I thought we would get Swaffield. I am not confident at all that she would succeed at High View. Only 50 of the 300 parents bothered to respond to the OFSTED questionnaire, which gives me some indication of how much outside influence there is on the children's education. I'm not having my daughter being a guinea pig for re-addressing the balance of parents who care & parents who don't at that school.

[nwt]

Ditto. I can't get over the maths of Bellville. 4 classes, 30 kids in each....

[MGMidget]

Someone posted a positive write up on High View on this site recently. Might be worth looking that up. Regarding the distances to other nearby schools, figures cited so far don't bode well for us either. We're waiting for the result in the post - couldn't be bothered to get excited about it as I know we won't get our local school! Good luck to everyone. Personally I don't favour the sibling policy either - it will be interesting to find out how many places have gone to out-of-area siblings in some of the oversubcribed schools!

[ellesmum]

Thank you! I looked it up, and having had some more input, I'm actually feeling a bit more positive & will hopefully sleep a bit more soundly tonight!
If there is anyone else who is stuck in terms of not having a primary place at all, it might be worth Googling the Bolingbroke Free School. High View is destined to be a feeder to this school, alongside Belleville & Honeywell. Seems High View may be lining up to compete against those two. Perhaps with an influx of children whose parents WANT to make the school a success, it could be?

[schoolgatesmum]

There has also been a new head recently so the old ofsted report is not indicative of how the school is now. Being a feeder to Boligbroke I think will have a positive effect on the school.

[supergirl]

I was going to say the same thing as schoolgatemum. As there is a new head it is worth you paying them visit (even if you have done ut before). And mainly TALK to the parents at the gate. I ve heard that the school is improving fast and that the next ofsted will likely being very different.

Remember Wix... 7 yrs ago when i moved in Battersea, you would have never considered Wix. Today with a team of motivated parents and teachers, a likelihood of the school becoming oustsnding and a bilingual stream, i heard a lot if parents trying to get in.

Your child us not going to be a guinea pig. If it doesnt work out you can change her in later years.

You are living 700meters from it, this is your local school you knew it when you moved there.

[ellesmum]

Actually, no I didn't realise it was our local school. Naively, perhaps, I thought that we had several "local" schools to choose from, Honeywell & Belleville included, but didn't realise that if you didn't live within spitting distance of the school grounds, you don't have a chance. In fact, even if you do live that close, you are not guaranteed a place. I feel for those parents who live on the same street as the school but don't have places. Which is ridiculous, because effectively there is no point in putting parents through the charade of having a "choice" because choice does not come into it. We get allocated a school, if we're lucky, dependent on where we can afford to live, even if it is not where we want our children to go for whatever reason. And even if we can afford to live there, it is then dependent on whether someone got their brood in there first.
My fingers are firmly crossed that High View does turn out to be on the up, because with our lowest waiting list position being in the mid-30s at Swaffield & mid-80s at Belleville, we do not have a choice. We can't afford private, we both work so home schooling is not an option, our only alternative would be to move out of the area as soon as we can, which wouldn't be for at least another two years for various reasons. My issue is that we didn't have a choice, & offering us a choice was very misleading because we never stood a chance. The other schools are not that much further, 5 more minute's walk at most, so no less "local" than High View.

[supergirl]

I understand you are upset and this is completely normal. But never forget that children yes learn at school but it us their parents commitments that has the biggest impact at primary level. Children with parents (snd im not talking about class here) whi talk to them, show them stuffs, broaden their experiences, read books with them, etc are the ones who succeed better.
You say you both work but you have the w-e, evenings and holidays together. Your child is lucky to have you as parents because you CARE, you are interested in your child.

What makes BV, Honeywell and Wix fab schools is the involvement of parents. I am sorry for the head, the teachers abd the pupils at High View because of their image and their reputation because they are not located in the posh side of Battersea. Look around, St John Hill is such a fantastic community. Wix had (snd still is for the classic stream) to fight hard their negative image. High View is doing the same, the team is enthusiast, motivated and deducated. Plus HV IS a feeder to Bollingbroke so very likely to get all the positives resources because of that.

Finally, i heard of the child of one of the campaigner of the Bollingbroke Academy will take his place at HV in Sept. The more people take their place at HV the faster it will improve.

[SoConfused!]

I am normally not a poster... more of a reader of posts on NVN!

Reading the whole state school subject with interest as it looks like we are in a similar position to Elliesmum.

Supergirl - sorry but your posts is SO patronising. I am sure that you did not intend it to be but telling us to send our kids to HV because mainly they will learn at home from their parents??? Do you send your kids to HV?

I am sorry I will only accept the whole "send your kids to HV because the school needs more parental involvement to improve" from parents who are actually doing this. And I doubt you are one of them ?

As I said - I am sorry if my post appears to be rude. I really do not mean to offend you but I just find posts like these a little annoying when clearly people like elliesmum and I are extremily worried about our childrens education ?