New policy at over-subscribed Northampton secondary school is ‘fairer’ parents told
LITTLE opposition has been expressed by parents to proposed changes to admission criteria at one of the most over-subscribed secondary schools in Northampton.
At a meeting at Caroline Chisholm School last night dozens of parents who live in the Wootton Fields and Grange Park area of the town listened to a presentation by headteacher Tony Downing on how the new admission policy would work.
Mr Downing said the governors had tried to create a policy that followed the ‘guiding principles’ of community cohesion, family cohesion and continuity with the feeder primary schools; Wootton Fields, Preston Hedges and Woodland View.
Under the new policy, which would be introduced in 2013, children who live in the catchment area, attend a feeder primary school and have a sibling in the school would have the greatest chance of getting in to Caroline Chisholm.
Mr Downing said the new policy would stop the Simpson Manor area of Wootton Fields from being penalised under the current tie-breaker admission criteria which gave places to the children who lived furthest away from the nearest alternative school, in this case Abbeyfield School.
Mr Downing said: “No matter what we do there are not enough spaces for everyone who applies. We have decided on three principles that are community focused.”
Mr Downing said the governors had decided to put the ‘sibling’ criteria further down the list as they felt it was more important to foster a sense of community by having children who live in the area and attended a feeder school.
The only parents who voiced opposition to the plans were those with children who lived outside the catchment area but had siblings at Caroline Chisholm school.
One parent, who lived in Hardingstone, said she already had one child at Caroline Chisholm and was confident her younger child would also get in after the county council announced plans to remove Grange Park from the catchment area and put Hardingstone in. However, under the new policy, her child would now have little chance of getting in.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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Finker
Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 08:29 PM...& do your own dentistry, put out your own fires, service your own car, and if it is tricky to get at then get a friend to do surgery in those hard to reach places.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2012 at 06:04 PMWhy don't you educate you own children?
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