'We will not go to Penhill' (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

'We will not go to Penhill'

PARENTS in Abbey Meads are refusing to send their children to a Penhill school. Several Abbey Meads parents have been told their requests for places in their local primary schools cannot be met.

Instead, they have been offered places in Penhill.

Sharlene Draper (pictured), 26, is furious because she has been told her son Liam, four, cannot attend a local school.

On her admission form, Mrs Draper's first choice was the new £2.6m Bridlewood Primary School in Chartwell Road, followed by Catherine Wayte Primary. Parents were asked for two choices, but she added a third Abbey Meads Community Primary School to be safe.

Mrs Draper, an auxiliary nurse at the Great Western Hospital, said: "I was livid when I got a letter saying all three were full, and Liam would be going to Penhill.

"Bridlewood is just around the corner, and the others are not that far. I don't drive, and Penhill Primary is about a 45-minute walk away.

"The school's SATs results are poor, and I am not willing to send my son there. I want the best start in life for Liam, I want him to move forward not be put back.

"I am refusing to send him there."

One of the reasons Mrs Draper and her husband Jason, 32, moved to Abbey Meads was because of its good schools. Their daughter Katelyn, three, is due to start school next year.

Mrs Draper said: "We were attracted by the good schools and it is also a good family area."

Jackie Peterson, 34, of Scarlet Close, Ash Brake, said she and her husband David were devastated when they were told their three-year-old daughter Abigale would not go to her first choice school. Mrs Peterson, who also has a one-year-old son, Luke, said: "We live almost opposite Bridlewood Primary School.

"But instead we've been told Abigale has to go to Penhill. People are being encouraged to walk to school but this will just force us to drive as it is so far away.

Mrs Peterson said she and her husband were appealing the decision.

Coun Garry Perkins (Con, Shaw and Nine Elms), the council's lead member for education, said Abbey Meads was simply oversubscribed.

He said: "We do sympathise with parents who are unhappy with the school placements they have received, and would remind them that they can appeal by writing to the primary school admissions team.

"When schools are oversubscribed, applications are considered alongside the criteria detailed in the guide to primary and secondary school admissions 2004-2005."

Some union leaders say parental choice itself should be scrapped as it leads to sink schools, which no parent wants their child to attend.

Phil Baker, of the Swindon branch of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "It creates sink schools which do not have the normal range of abilities, and this holds back the general educational achievements of all pupils."

Mrs Draper's ward councillor Justin Tomlinson said: "I fully understand a parent's desire to choose which school they believe is right for their children. If parents contact me I will do all I can to help."

Coun Andy Harrison (Lab, Penhill) said: "Penhill Primary is a good school. This isn't the first time that Penhill has been perceived as having problems just because it is Penhill. There is oversubscribing in some areas and Penhill has space, although a 45-minute walk is too far for primary school aged children."