Published: Thursday, 13th November, 2008 08:00
Admissions board to take a close look at Reading
By Annabel Williams
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A CONSULTATION starts early next month on school admission arrangements in the Reading borough.
Reading Borough Council has formed a School Places and Admission Arrangements Board, headed by an independent chairman, which aims to address long-standing issues.
The borough has suffered with the problem of not enough primary and secondary school places in the right areas, with the issue particularly bad in 2005, last year and this year.
Parents in Caversham Heights have had to send their children to primary schools across the village as Caversham Primary School is oversubscribed and last year, some Whitley mothers and fathers had to send their children to Prospect School in Tilehurst because there were not enough places at the flagship John Madejski Academy.
The board will carry out its consultations from December 1 to March 1 and, if approved, any new admission arrangements would come into effect in September 2010.
The board’s members include councillors from all three political parties represented on the council, headteachers and council officers.
Education and Children’s Services Scrutiny Panel chairman, Cllr Mark Ralph, said: “As Reading’s population grows, the proportion of parents gaining their first choice of primary school is declining.
“With working parents and busy schedules, it is important to have places in local schools. As the commercial capital of the Thames Valley, it is essential Reading is able to develop well-educated, appropriately skilled young people.”
"At the same time, there are some 500 less places in year seven, the first year of secondary school, than year six, the last year of primary education, in Reading’s schools.
“This means good schools in the right place, with the capacity to cater for Reading’s population in coming years.”
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