Leader: Back to schools debate

Newsdesk • Published 29 Apr 2010 09:00 0 Comments

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THE anguish of parents whose children miss out on the school place of their choice has become as regular as daffodils in springtime.

Sadly this only reinforces the concern - voiced privately if not in public - of many in Reading's education establishment that the borough simply does not have enough schools.

In the past this situation has applied mainly to secondary schools, where Wokingham Borough Council's decision to bring about the untimely demise of Ryeish Green has not exactly helped matters.

Every September, scores of children fresh out of primary education criss-cross town each day to get an education when there are perfectly good, albeit over-subscribed, schools within walking distance of their homes.

Now the problem has begun to seriously affect Reading's primary schools and, as The Chronicle highlighted last week in relation to one Caversham mother's plight and again today with the problems of parents at All Saints, it is in danger of becoming a significant social problem too.

Most children grow up eager to go to the same school as their siblings, so to transport them at the age of four or five across town to share a classroom with perfect strangers in an area they do not know is unfair and clearly far from an ideal situation in which to start their education.

It is, however, a situation which would probably exist whichever party was in control of Reading's education system.

But the population is unlikely to decrease in the near future, so it is high time the politicians forgot the dogma and factional squabbling and put our children first.

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