I AM writing in reference to the article ‘One in five miss out on preferred school’ to comment that in my local area the statistics are even worse than the headline suggests.
In Parkstone, for Courthill First School, only 60 per cent of children who put the school as their first choice were offered a place.
Forty-two children living in-catchment missed out on a place at this Ofsted-rated ‘Outstanding’ school; shockingly, three-quarters of those were not given ANY of their three preferred schools.
I wonder if any of those disappointed parents realise that, while looking for extra places to accommodate the rising birth rate, Poole Council rejected a proposal by Courthill to add an extra class for this September?
Had this been allowed then 90 per cent of in-catchment children might have been offered a place.
A proposal for an extra class in 2012 was also rejected.
The councillors have recently been discussing the school admission numbers for September 2013, when the change in age of transfer means that Courthill will have empty classrooms and potentially redundant staff, and yet still it seems that no extra class will be allowed!
JULIE BARRETT, Bournemouth Road, Parkstone
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