Education ‘Bad feeling’ over school admissions
PARENTS who bought homes in a Cheltenham area won’t have “a hope in hell” of getting their child into a new school after new homes are built according to a community leader.
Councillor Tony Oliver, who represents Warden Hill on the parish and borough council, said he had “indications” from the Balcarras Academy Trust which will run the The High School Leckhampton that children in that area would be among the first to go there.
But in a letter to his residents he expressed his “shock” after a draft priority admissions area was drawn up.
Speaking to the LDRS, Mr Oliver said parents had moved to Warden Hill “specifically so they can send their kids to the school” in belief their homes were part of the priority admissions area. Mr Oliver, who supported the school on that basis, said “there was a lot of bad feeling about this”.
Dominic Burke, Balcarras Academy headteacher, said: “We can be confident that the town will have enough secondary school capacity into the future.”
A six-week consultation is underway for the draft admissions policy for the new school, proposed to be built on land at Kidnappers’ Lane less than a mile from Warden Hill, and a draft catchment area was released last month. The High School Leckhampton is planned to open for its new Year 7 pupils in 2022 subject to Government approval.
The first intake of Year 7 pupils will transfer across from a temporary site to the new school when complete in 2021. It will have capacity for 900 pupils and is needed to address a shortage of spaces and an increasing population. Three hundred and fifty new homes are planned north of the school, 25 to the east, as well as 377 homes to the south. Currently, most parents in Warden Hill send their children to Bournside School and Sixth Form Centre and Chosen Hill School.
He said: “I’ve always supported the new school in principle on the basis that it would be great for the parents in Warden Hill. It was always said, the indications from the education authority was that Warden Hill children will be able to go there. I know a lot of parents have told me and confirmed that’s what they heard as well because they went to the consultations. There is a lot of bad feeling about this.
“Bourneside is the main one they go to, it’s the largest school in the county. It’s a good school, but some people have specifically moved to Warden Hill with the prospect of getting into the new school. People will move to where they think they can get their kids into their preferred school. There’s a lot of bad feeling. They may well say ‘for the first year there will probably be places.’ Well, there will be because they haven’t built all the houses on Kidnappers’ Lane. When that is all built I am sure people won’t have a hope in hell.”
Balcarras headteacher and representative of the academy trust, Dominic Burke, said: “The trustees at Balcarras have developed a draft admissions policy and opened a six-week consultation period. We welcome comments from anyone who has an interest in The High School Leckhampton. We recognise that school admissions are an emotive issue and can be very complex. In developing the draft admissions arrangements the trustees were guided by two principles.
“Firstly a desire to create admissions arrangements that make it as likely as possible that children living in the south of the town would be able to access one of the three schools operating in the south. And secondly a desire to create as much parental choice as possible. This is why we’ve sought to keep the priority area as small as possible, so that the school will, in all likelihood, be able to offer places to students living beyond the priority area.”
He added: “It was certainly our hope that many families living in Warden Hill might gain a place at the school if they wanted and that is still the case.
“We’re very fortunate Cheltenham has such strong state school provision and with The High School Leckhampton opening in September 2021, we can be confident that the town will have enough secondary school capacity in to the future. The consultation process is still open.”
There is a lot of bad feeling about this Councillor Tony Oliver