Three schools to share catchment area

Adam Hewitt • Published 14 Apr 2010 12:00 1 Comment

THREE primary schools will get a combined catchment area to protect places for local children.

Battle, Oxford Road and Wilson primary schools in West Reading will share the zone so that parents living in and off Oxford Road avoid having to send their children to Ranikhet and St Michael's primary schools in Tilehurst. Reading Borough Council has also signed up to a national scheme co-ordinating admission arrangements with neighbouring boroughs so parents will not need to apply separately to different councils if they live near the boundaries.

Both changes will come in from September 2011, after the Reading council Cabinet approved them on Monday night.

Education leader Cllr Jon Hartley called the joint admissions scheme "an incredibly welcome change" adding: "It seems like a very bureaucratic thing until you experience it yourself. As one of the smaller local authorities, it affects us more than bigger ones because we have proportionately more parents living near council boundaries."

He said pressure on places in Caversham had eased in recent years as schools perceived by parents as weaker have improved, reversing some of the historic problems of some schools being massively over-subscribed.

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  Zoe
  Unregistered User
  Apr 19, 11:33
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  'pressure on places in Caversham had eased in recent years....' This comment is hilarious. I am in the Caversham Primary catchment area and cannot get my child in to the school - the only one within walking distance of my house (neither any of the other 3 I applied to or the 1 I applied to in South Oxon). At present my son doesn't have a school to start in September. On the over subscription criteria at Emmer Green school alone there are 27 children who are in the catchment area but can't get in. Pressure on places has certainly not eased. Building continues yet places in the schools closest to our homes cannot be offered. Outrageous doesn't begin to sum it up. I'd welcome Cllr Jon Hartley's comments....
  
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