One of four children did not get their first choice secondary school in St Albans and a total of 26 children did not get any of their preferences.
This compares with Harpenden, where 90% got their first preference and where only 2 children failed to get any.
Chris says: ‘County are spinning this as a good news story. For may St Albans families it is a day of disappointment – further demonstrating the lack of suitable school places in the city.’
Liberal Democrats today from central St Albans have welcomed the fact that the county council Cabinet has agreed to open a new two form entry primary school in central St Albans. The site includes the University Law School and some adjacent land.
Cllr Jack Pia, St Peter’s Ward, said: ‘We have been campaigning for a new school for some years and so I am delighted that we have now got to this stage..’
Cllr Chris White (St Peter’s and Clarence wards) said: ‘This is good news. There are some issues in relation to traffic to sort out but it means that fewer parents will have the misery of being assigned a school miles from where they live.’
Jack Pia in front of the new school site in St Albans
City centre schools are now seeing the vast majority of their children walking to school – in some cases as much as 90% of pupils arrive on foot.
Chris White and Jack Pia outside county hall on Monday
You may be aware that the County Council has consulted on acquiring the University of Hertfordshire’s School of Law premises on Hatfield Road in order to provide the opportunity to open a new 2 f.e. primary school in St Albans city centre.
I am writing to let you know in advance that Hertfordshire County Council is about to make public the potential opportunity to open a new school in St Albans city centre.
The University of Hertfordshire has already announced its intention to vacate the current School of Law building on Hatfield Road. The Local Authority is in early negotiations with the University about the potential purchase of the building for use as a 2 f.e. primary school.
Hertfordshire County Council is now keen to discover the attitudes of the parents of pre-school children in St Albans toward a new school at that location. The following survey has been put in place in order to seek their views: www.hertsdirect.org/schoolplaces
Please find attached a copy of the press release for your information.
Please forward this email to those who may be interested.
The consultation on Hertfordshire school admissions arrangements for 2012/2013 opens today.
The county council is seeking feedback from parents, carers, schools and community groups on its admission arrangements for September 2012. After last year’s decision to change to a system of straight line measurement for home-school distances, the county council is proposing no major changes to its admission arrangements for 2012 to allow a period of consolidation. However, some changes are proposed to published admission numbers and 6th form arrangements.
Feedback is being sought on
* The nursery admissions oversubscription criteria
* Admission arrangements for all community and voluntary-controlled schools
* Schemes of co-ordination in operation
* Sixth-form admission arrangements
* Published admission numbers
The consultation period opens on 4 January 2011 and runs until 28 February 2011. The admissions arrangements for all Hertfordshire schools, together with the full consultation document are available to view online at www.hertsdirect.org/csfconsultations.
Hertfordshire County Council is negotiating to buy a site for a new primary
school in St Albans city centre.
The Local Authority is in discussions with the University of Hertfordshire to acquire the School of Law building in Hatfield Road.
Comprehensive proposals for the future of school transport for statutory age pupils in Hertfordshire have been launched by Hertfordshire County Council today (18 October).
Driven by the need to reduce the £25 million annual school transport bill, the proposals, if accepted by the county council’s cabinet in March 2011, would affect pupils who currently benefit from free or subsidised school transport.
The proposals, which are open to public consultation online from 18 October 2010 – 26 January 2011, are as follows:
1) That the county council adopts a policy for free home to school transport based only on statutory entitlement* with effect from September 2012.
2) That existing concessions for faith transport and all other discretionary transport would discontinue from September 2012. Other changes relating to eligibility and arrangements for free transport are also proposed.
3) Views are sought on how schools and local communities can manage local home to school transport arrangements.
4) That the SaverCard concessionary scheme currently available to pupils is retained, and an annual minimum charge of £20 per year for new applicants is introduced for those of statutory school age, from September 2012.
Certain groups of children and young people have a legal right to school transport, and these groups will be unaffected by the review.
To have your say, there is an online form on our website at www.hertsdirect.org/csfconsultations, and we are encouraging children and young people to comment through www.channelmogo.org
Paper copies of the response form are available at local libraries or by calling 01438 737350. Five focus group events will be held in the evenings across Hertfordshire at Waltham Cross on December 2, Bushey on December 9, Stevenage on December 14, Hemel Hempstead on January 20 and Hatfield on January 26. To register for a place at these ticket only events, call 01438 737350 between 8am and 8pm from Monday to Friday or 9am to 4pm on Saturdays. Places are limited to sixty for each event.
The consultation ends on January 26, 2011, after which time a number of county council panels will consider the proposals and the views expressed before a final decision is made by the county council’s cabinet on March 21, 2011.
If so, please contact Chris through this website.
Set out below are the areas with most unsatisfied demand as at the end of last month
The number is the ‘non-ranked allocation’: ie where parents have been allocated a school they did not want. There are incidentally already 250 mobile classrooms in the county – a testament to poor planning down the years.
65 – St. Albans
64 – Watford
42 – Welwyn Garden City
41 – Elstree and Borehamwood
35 – Harpenden
28 – Hemel Hempstead
25 – Watford Rural
17 – Potters Bar
15 – Hatfield
14 – Bushey
12 – Abbots Langley
Parents who are concerned about school places in St Albans should join this Facebook group.
St Albans Needs More Schools!!
Pressure group created for families suffering from the shortage of local school places in St Albans.
In answer to our protests we have received the following update:
In terms of action taken, we have already agreed the following increases:
Bernards heath Infant – +1f.e. (form of entry ie 30 pupils)
Mandeville Primary – +1 f.e. (with an additional over-allocation of 15 places)
Margaret Wix Primary – +1 fe (with an additional over-allocation of up to 1 f.e.)
Cunningham Hill Infant – + 1.f.e (for 1 year)
Mount Pleasant Lane – Over allocation by 10 places
Sauncy Wood – over allocation of up to 1 f.e.
St Helen’s – over allocation by 5 places
Holywell Primary – +0.5f.e.
Cassiobury Infant – +1 f.e. (2 years)
Beechfield Primary – + 1 f.e. (2 years)
Laurance Haines Primary – +1 f.e. (2 years)
Oxhey wood Primary – Over allocation by 9 places
This equates to approximately 11 f.e. of additional places being made available in these two areas since 2008.
In terms of securing future provision, a rigorous analysis of all primary schools is underway and we continue to work with the District and Borough Council to ensure that every opportunity to increase primary school provision is assessed and tested. Particularly in St Albans, this involves the consideration of sites which are not in HCC ownership to deliver a new 2 f.e. primary school to serve the city centre. We all accept that this level of provision is required to serve this area, and that there is understandable public interest in progress in this respect. However, we are not yet at a stage where we could move forward proposals to open a new school as no site has been secured. We share the frustration, but continue to work hard to ensure that pupils are allocated places in the face of a continued rising numbers.