Just thought I’d post up part of the Lib Dem council group response to Wokingham Borough’s consultation on the admission arrangements for 2012 – all of it would be a bit too long.    The most contentious issue by far is what is to happen to the designated areas (“catchments”) for Maiden Erlegh and Bulmershe Schools.

Below is what we said about that part of the consultation, bearing in mind that there are many more children in Earley and Lower Earley than can fit into Maiden Erlegh, which is the Earley secondary school.   – and that what the Conservatives are saying in Earley does not necessarily follow the line taken in the consultation.   We don’t think parents will get any certainty from a shared area.

“We have concerns about the proposals for the shared designated area for Maiden Erlegh and Bulmershe.  Those concerns are: 

–               there will be considerable uncertainty for parents and pupils as to which school they will be allocated

–               parents and pupils may be mislead about the likelihood of being allocated a particular school

–               the proposed tiebreaker does not take accessibility into account, whereas accessibility is taken into account in the proposal for allocating pupils to schools where no preference can be met

We note also that Maiden Erlegh is due to become an academy before 2012.  The Holt have also started the process of becoming an academy and other secondary schools are actively considering it.   When a new academy opens, it will be subject to the local authority’s designated areas.  However, after that point, an academy is able to draw up its own designated area, subject to the need to consult, and the local authority will not have any powers to prevent this happening should the academy choose to do it.   We would therefore urge that further work is done urgently on secondary school designated areas to take account of the need to respond should any current local authority schools become academies, regardless of the current assessment of the likelihood of them altering their designated areas.”

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