APPENDIX 12
Headteacher responses to Catchment Options Study presentation
February 2014
Q1 How do you feel about scenario 1 – no change?Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools
Changing distribution of children requires a new forward and staying as we are at present leads to a great deal of frustration from the community as there are expectations built into living within certain areas of the town.
We do not have a natural link with a junior school in any of the options and therefore have an uncertain future. Already parents are NOT choosing our school to avoid the junior school transfer heartache.
I would like to see catchment areas revised to take account of pressures on numbers.
As parental choice has big input with parents deciding to go to schools outside catchment – this would probably have no impact on current levels.
This might give us more time to find out which schools are going to become academies in the very near future, which would make certain catchment areas redundant anyway.
This is not an option for us because not being in our school catchment is ridiculous.
This option is favourable until more is known regarding the impact of the provision of new school places on the community of schools. The consultation is based on a paperwork exercise which does not reflect the current reality of schools. To maintain the catchment as it is would be advisable in a time of change until the impact of other influencing factors can be assessed.
With the potential increase in academy/trust/free schools who will be able to determine their own catchment areas, the current catchment areas would need to be reviewed as there’s a risk of not enough students within the catchment applying for the school anyway. This could specifically affect us with the new school at Fourways.
No issues with it remaining the same.
The current set up is obviously not working.
The changes in catchment areas do not affect us as much as the schools that are opening up extra forms of entry.
Perfectly happy for current catchment area to stay.
Clearly changes are required, although for our school we would appear to be largely unaffected.
Q1 How do you feel about scenario 1 – no change?
Own Admission Authority Schools
Having discussed this with the Governing Body it is the prevailing view of our school that a move to `no catchment` areas would be the best way forward.
Given that so many primary phase schools are seriously considering Academy status, we wonder if this is the best time to potentially make such a significant change. Against this backdrop it seems logical to ‘leave things as they are’ at this point.
I feel that the present system is not working for a significant number of schools and families, and it hasn’t for some time. New housing and pressure on a few over -subscribed schools has led to a problematic system where people expect a place at a school by virtue of their postcode. I feel that the appeals system should be over-hauled to avoid over-subscription if possible.
Not sustainable.
I can see the problems that this could present for schools.
Q2 How do you feel about Scenario 2 – new catchments?
Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools
In reality, it will not change the issues that surround ‘over-subscribed/under subscribed’ schools and with the onset of more schools becoming Academies, the new catchment areas will become of little meaning.
There is no difference in impact for this scenario.
I am supportive of the proposed changes overall and supportive of the A&B proposals specific to our school.
Totally disagree – how can you reduce our catchment area when we are not anywhere near capacity – if anything our catchment area should be increased to reduce demand on oversubscribed schools.
Currently, we only have 24 children on role from the highlighted green area that is out of catchment. Although you have identified 72 possible pupils, we know from discussions with parents, that the majority from this additional area choose to send their children to the private sector. Therefore, we would choose not to lose the 18 pupils you have identified. However, we understand that if the new school being built becomes a primary, that parents in that area would probably want their children to go to the new school.
We are hugely grateful for the work that has gone into this – especially identifying the black hole areas. The options A and B are both OK with us however we are concerned that unless there is a local agreement that these catchment areas stay, regardless of conversion to academy by one or more schools, then they will very soon be useless!
This option would be most detrimental to the school. The potential impact on the school with a reduction of numbers which has been indicated in the study means that in the region of one third of the school population would be sent elsewhere. The study does not reflect the reality of the school. The school has a number of surplus places and if the option to attend our school is naturally directed to another school then the school will ultimately suffer.
- Our school would lose a lot of our area;
- A number of children would potentially walk a lot further to get to their catchment school;
- More public transport/family cars would potentially be used with the increased amount of children coming from the Creekmoor area;
- Potential for unhappy parents who have purchased properties in the area for their children to attend the local school and then find they are out of catchment even though it’s still their nearest school.
No issue with it changing as it does not have great change for us.
We would be happy with a change to catchment area. The new catchment area would provide the school with potentially more children from within the locality and a similar catchment to the junior school would support parents understanding.
We are deeply disappointed that the new catchment areas indicate that there are enough children in our immediate area to warrant reducing our catchment area?? Our school is undersubscribed and a large majority of our pupils are from Bournemouth, we should be supported in filling our spaces and providing a local school for local children.
I understand that there should be some surplus places in the Borough but surely not in the same 3-4 schools!
A new junior school in Poole will result in more children moving from the schools in their immediate area and then more children moving from ours. This is a huge waste of the public money if all the spaces available in our current schools can be filled at very little extra cost.
Would also be willing for new catchment area option to be agreed especially if effectively it helps a fairer distribution of children in other areas of Poole beyond our catchment.
This is probably the best option for our school at present.
This will enable children in the local Turlin Moor area to go to their local school as first priority.
Q2 How do you feel about Scenario 2 – new catchments?
Own Admission Authority Schools
Very difficult and restrictive to implement, especially in the future if schools change their approach as a result of Academy status.
As a school we fully understand the mathematical pupil numbers ‘formulae’ which were applied however the outcome from our school’s perspective is very disappointing and we are saddened, as a CE VA school that our school’s parish does not all fall within our proposed new catchment area. We are not at all in favour of this scenario.
I don’t think it would be worthwhile re-drawing catchment lines. As more schools decide to change to academy status, and therefore set their own criteria, this would quickly become obsolete.
These are better catchment areas due to parents not having to walk past schools to get to their catchment schools.
I can understand the rationale for this proposal.
Q3 How do you feel about Scenario 3 – no change?
Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools
If catchment areas are only of any real concern if a school is over-subscribed, then perhaps no catchment will be the way forward. Academies do not have to have a catchment area, Appeal panels seem to over-ride the designated catchment areas and the move towards clusters of schools in academies will make catchment increasingly immaterial.
There is no difference in impact for this scenario.
I do not support the principle of no catchment areas.
This would be my choice and probably would work as long as LA do not increase capacity of popular oversubscribed schools.
In this period of uncertainty, we need to see how many school become academies in the next year
This is probably how things will end up if many schools convert to academies…
At this time I think that more information is required on the impact of increased provision across the BOP to assess whether it is a necessary decision.
This allows parents free choice of school and is more sustainable.
As schools move into academisation it will be possible for children to come to a school of their parents choosing without boundary. Indeed a large portion of our children on roll come from outside walking distance catchment (at the last stats 43%!)! Parents choose schools for a variety of reasons and catchments are only useful if a school is full or over-subscribed. However catchment areas could remain for solely this purpose.
We would be happy with no catchment area.
I would like to hear more about this option, especially the impact on appeals. It could be potentially disastrous to the schools along the Bournemouth Poole Border.
No strong feelings but serious consideration should be given to the workload and time management of a no catchment area for Poole.
This could prove difficult and very competitive with parents wanting to select schools not near their address.
This may “kill off” some smaller schools, making it difficult for parents / carers to get children to school if they have no reliable transport.
Q3 How do you feel about Scenario 3 – no change?
Own Admission Authority Schools
This is the preferred option.
To us, if there is to be a change, this would seem to be the best way forward especially as so many primary-phase schools are seriously considering Academy status which could mean a significant change to catchment/Admissions arrangements anyway.
We would have liked to have been given more information about the impact and success of ‘no catchment areas’ within other Local Authorities so that we had more facts to base our conclusion on here.
I feel that this is the only option in the present educational climate that would withstand the potential changes to school designations in the near future, and would be my preference.
Very likely due to increased levels of primary school academisation.
This is my preferred option and think it is a more sustainable model.
Q4 Are defined catchment areas sustainable in the long term?
Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools
Yes - 1 / Yes, I believe that the principle of catchment areas should remain and that they are sustainable.
No - 6 / Education is changing so much that catchment areas will not function.
As all schools move to Academy status all will be able to accept from wherever they choose.
No – parents will always choose where the want to go and as long as there are spaces there is no problem. In case of Poole increasing capacity to meet demand has detrimental impact on schools with spare capacity.
Distance is probably the fairest method for appeals decisions.
The changes to admission policy due to the new status of academy for schools seem to make it inevitable that a larger change will occur. It seems an unwise use of public money to make successive changes when in the fullness of time – perhaps only a few years that it will occur.
Would like to think so but realistically any strategic planning could be subverted as more and more schools become academies.
Don’t know - 4 / Only if there is a local agreement to retain them, but even so Academy Trusts may have rules which mean that this agreement cannot be honoured.
In the current climate it would be very difficult to answer i.e. if more schools opt for academy status.
Q4 Are defined catchment areas sustainable in the long term?
Own Admitting Authorities
Yes - 0
No - 4 / No. The educational landscape is changing significantly at the moment and with more schools becoming academies, being able to set their own admission criteria, a no catchment model is more sustainable and be easier for parents to understand.
No, I don’t think this would be sustainable. I do not believe that this is forward-thinking enough to withstand changes, for example new housing developments or potential changes to school’s status.
Don’t know - 1 / More detail about the impact of no catchment areas, would be very helpful to come to a full conclusion.
Q5 Further comments
Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools
It should be noted that the changing catchments will alter the context of school inasmuch that IDACI indicators will alter the make-up of school communities and the balance of the cross-section of the children they serve.
It should also be noted that it is not only the catchment areas that create pressures on schools but also the changes to the PAN of schools and new building at some schools as well as the new Academy that will create further concerns for schools that have surplus places.
The status quo is also untenable. Half our children at least will not get to their preferred school and parents are already painfully aware of that. For the first time in many years there are places at the school. Year 2 pupils have left as spaces have become available in primary schools.
Governors are discussing a possible future for our school this evening.
The increasing number of academies in the borough will also make this catchment study obsolete. Distance therefore remains the only option going forward.
Fill up spaces in undersubscribed schools before increasing capacity in others – which hasn’t always worked!
At this time changes to catchment seem to be detrimental to many schools. It only impacts at the appeals level and after discussion with my chair of Governors we can see no merit in making these changes.
I feel very strongly that the Borough is not supporting an equal education for all its pupils. Schools with large surplus places are struggling to maintain standards compared to schools with large budgets and that are oversubscribed. How can we compete? We have to consider class structures, mixed age classes, redundancies, resourcing, year on year right up to the last minute because we don’t know how many children we will have. How can this be fair? We have excellent teachers and well-rounded provision in an area of high SDI. We should have adequate numbers to support the budget without struggling.
In addition popular schools with an excess of 30+ pupils are also at risk due to large pupil numbers, and increased adult pupil ratios.
We feel that no matter what we put in place to increase pupil numbers and ensure very good provision we are not fully supported in filling our school, with the excuse that the BoP can only follow Government guidelines. I am sure that with a little thinking outside of the box, schools with surplus places can be supported more.
Q5 Further comments
Own Admitting Authorities
Given that so many primary phase schools are seriously considering Academy status, we wonder if this is the best time to potentially make such a significant change. It all feels a bit rushed. Thank you very much for the opportunity to feedback and for taking the time to meet with Admissions Authorities about this whole process.
Our view is that we will very likely not be having a catchment area – and will be having an oversubscription criteria relating to SEN/LAC; siblings; feeder school.
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