NO PLACE AT THE SCHOOL NEXT DOOR
Four-year-old Daniel Read who can see playground from home left with no school
A LITTLE boy has been told he can’t go to the school whose playground he can see from his bedroom window and he’ll have to travel more than a mile to his lessons instead.
Education chiefs have ruled that instead of crossing the road to get to class, four-year-old Daniel Read will have an hour-long journey every morning.
The nearest school that has room for him is Carlton Primary in Kentish Town – the 19th closest to his front door.
But that would mean up to three hours’ travelling for Danny, his mother Tara Bennett and her 14-month-old son Aaron every day.
Ms Bennett says her family has fallen victim to a chronic shortage of places in north-west Camden, which means you have to live “on the school’s doorstep” to get in.
Ms Bennett, of Finchley Road, Swiss Cottage, said: “I don’t drive so it is just not practical for me to travel with a buggy for up to three hours a day just so my son can go to school.
“There is no direct bus route so there would be a long walk at either end.
“I’ve got until September to find him a school or I’ll be breaking the law.
“I’m not being picky, I’ve put forward 13 schools in Camden that I’ll accept. I just want him to go to a local school.”
Ms Bennett initially applied for five schools in NW3 but was not offered a place at any of them.
Among the schools she was told were full up was Holy Trinity C of E primary in Hampstead – which Danny can see from his bedroom.
She also applied to her closest community school, Fitzjohn’s Primary, where she volunteers as a classroom assistant and Daniel is already at the nursery, but again was refused. The mother-of-two – who is not religious and would prefer a non-denominational school – appealed against the decision but was told she is 39th on the list.
Council figures show only nine pupils were accepted on distance, with 16 going to siblings of pupils already at the school, three with medical problems and two with special needs.
She then put forward another nine schools further afield – but was still unsuccessful.
She is currently seventh in line for Holy Trinity, where parents of all faiths are prioritised over non-religious families living nearby.
Changes to admissions criteria from next year would mean that if he were a year younger, Danny, who suffers from a potentially life-threatening condition called anaphylaxis, would have been accepted on medical grounds.
But Ms Bennett and her long-term partner Paul Read, who both grew up in Camden, have been left to choose between schools almost two miles away in Kentish Town and Camden Town – or six miles away in neighbouring Islington.
She said: “Danny is required to carry an EpiPen at all times so I need to have him nearby in case there’s an emergency.
“It has got to the point where he has asked me to clear out the flat and make a school at home. All his friends are talking about what school they are going to and he doesn’t know.”
A group proposing to open a free school in Belsize Park point to the family’s experience as evidence of the need for a community school in north-west Camden. Campaigner Harriet Nowell-Smith, of Belsize Lane, said: “Camden has never created many community schools in this area. If you are a church-going Christian you probably have a good chance of getting a school, but unfortunately if you are not you don’t.
“It is not consistent with Camden’s desire to promote equality of opportunity.”
A spokeswoman for Camden Council said: “We understand that the admissions process can be stressful for parents. More than half of the schools Ms Bennett applied for her son to attend are voluntary-aided schools. These schools have their own admissions criteria, which Ms Bennett’s son unfortunately did not meet. Camden Council follows the same, clear and transparent admissions criteria as many councils across the country.
“That criteria, which is employed when a school is over-subscribed, offers places first to looked after children, then gives priority to siblings, then those with a social or medical consideration and then offers places on distance.
“Ms Bennett’s son has been offered a place at Carlton Primary School, which is 1.3 miles away. It is council policy to ensure that offers should be within two miles from a child’s home.”
Published: 14th July, 2011
by JOSIE HINTON