Ealing Primary School Places Announced

The scramble for Ealing's best school places is finally over for parents. Or has it only just begun?

This week parents received in the post the news they've both longed for and dreaded. Had that house move, church going, and networking done the trick – were they 'in' their first choice primary school?

According to the council, the total number of 'on-time' Ealing residents who applied for a primary school place in Ealing this year was 3169. And of those children, 2822 (89 per cent) were offered their first preference. That's six per cent up on last year, so a move in the right direction. But it still leaves 11 per cent on a waiting list.

A Fielding Primary School parent told ealingtoday that something parents hadn't accounted for was that siblings aren't automatically allocated places within the new admissions system. Some had moved out of the Fielding school catchment feeling safe in the knowledge that a child already at the school would save their next child's place. They were left disappointed.

The admissions criteria states that where a school is oversubscribed, children's names can be put on their waiting list but those children's applications are still subject to the admissions criteria. And since there's no such thing as 'first come, first served', your child could move down just as easily as move up.

Did you get your first preference place? What do you think of the admissions system? Write to editor@ealingtoday.co.uk or go on the forum.

April 19, 2007