SCHOOL PLACES SHAKE-UP PLAN
COUNCIL CONSIDERS CHANGES TO CITY SCHOOL ADMISSIONS PROCESS IN WAKE OF PARENTS’ ANGER
CARDIFF council is considering significant changes to schools admissions in the face of anger among parents.
The city council is to launch a consultation on changes that include giving children at primary schools that traditionally feed into a secondary school priority over other children, even if they live closer to the secondary.
Other changes include scrapping the current priority for brothers and sisters of elder children who were, through no fault of their own, put into schools out of their own catchment area because their local school was oversubscribed.
Although the changes will be welcomed by some parents who stand to benefit, they are likely to cause anger among others.
There are no proposed changes to the catchment areas themselves and the report going to the city council’s cabinet says this is because it would be counter-productive to make changes when the future pattern and size of schools is likely to change.
The new proposals have been put together after the council commissioned a report from Cardiff University’s Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data & Methods (WISERD).
Researchers also found that there were “high levels of residential segregation” in the city by social class and ethnicity.
They found that current oversubscription criteria have “done little” to create more balanced intakes than might be expected based on where pupils live.
It adds: “There is a need for a fairer, more equitable system of allocating school places in Cardiff without impacting adversely on the community.”
In 2016 hundreds of parents were left disappointed after children were denied a place at Cardiff High School in Cyncoed, including dozens who lived within the catchment area.
One disappointed parent, who did not wish to be named, said at the time: “There seems to be a lack of planning for managing spaces.”
The most oversubscribed schools in the city last year were Penylan’s Marlborough Primary and Cyncoed’s Rhydypennau Primary both of which had 112 applications for 60 places. Only people living within 0.28 miles of the Marlborough Primary and 0.76 miles of Rhydypennau Primary got a place.
The cabinet report states that existing criteria in Cardiff are “relatively complex” and would benefit from simplification.
Deputy Leader of Cardiff Council and Cabinet Member for Education, Employment and Skills, Councillor Sarah Merry said: “We are always looking at ways of making sure that we use the school places available in a way that best meets the needs of the local communities our schools serve.
“As the research report from Cardiff University says, there are pros and cons to the options being looked at.
“By putting these proposals out to public consultation, we can gauge the views of a range of stakeholders, which we can use to shape school admissions in the city.
“The council has to review its school admission arrangements each year.
“As these have remained broadly the same in Cardiff since 2001, it is time to explore the merits of new options, ensuring that we maintain a fair, transparent and clear application system.”
Results of the consultation will be presented to the cabinet next spring, before a final decision is made on whether to make changes from September 2019.
The cabinet will discuss the proposals on Thursday.