Cannot get child into local school

C

Capaill

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Our eldest was due to start school this September. However, despite a new national school being built locally, only opened this year, he has been put off until next year and will not start school until he is well over 5 1/2 years of age. We were told he is number 37 on a list of 200 children looking for places. All other schools in the locale are crammed and have no room for hiim.

So now due to inept planning he and 100's like him now has to spend another year waiting before they start school. This puts extra pressure on parents who would not have been planning for this.

What is the government and planning authorities doing so wrong that they get their figures so wrong in such as vital area as this?? So much for the census, i.e. the previous one, being used to forecast and plan for vital services in the areas!!!

C
 
Do you have any private primary schools in the area that you could enroll your child in for the first year?

We had to do this as the only national school in our area had an unacceptable class size of 36 boys the year we moved here.
 
It might do your child no harm to wait until they are 5 1/2 before they go to school. My other half is a teacher who happens to have some expertise in human growth & development and she is convinced that many 4-year-old kids are not sufficiently mature to start school at that age. For that reason, our own children will be over 5 when they start school.
 
I have sympathy for your situation, but am unclear on one point.

If this school is your local school, as opposed to one of the schools in your locale, are they not obliged to take him, or is the fact he is under 5 an issue here ? If the same demand V supply issue arises next year, surely they can't deny him a place then ?
 
When did you put the child's name down and when did you find out about the problem? Were you aware of capacity problems with local schools when you bought your house in the area?
 
Delgirl

Will look into your suggestion. But to be honest it may be a non-runner as the volume of traffic means only local schools, i.e. within walkingdistance, are a viable option.

Ubiquitous
To be honest I agree with this. I, and the montessori teacher, feel our child is mature enough to go to school but our main problem is our other child is special needs and we had planned/hoped that the eldest in school would provide us with extra time and cash (i.e. no more montesorri costs).

Tarfhead
the issue is in all schools, i.e. the local one and others in the area, is down to supply and demand. The schools simply do not the capacity to take on the number of children in the area. The criteria has been based on the childs age and whether they are located in the catchment area. Any child born after January 16th 2002 has to wait until next year.

Clubman
Bought the house in 2000, no capacity problems then. Rang local school when son was born to put his name down and was told there would be no issues and to put his name down the year he is due to start. Also the fact that the school itself was getting brand new premises led us to believe there would be no problems. Registration for this year's school year was Paddy's week in March. We got a letter a 3 weeks ago to say there was no room and have since then been frantically appealing the process and also looking for placement elsewhere.

To compound my anger, our youngest child is special needs and we are experiencing our "ahem wonderful" health service in all its glory.

It annoys me to think that both my children are victims of bad management and planning by local councils and government.

It seems that the only way I can protest if by making my feelings known to anyone looking for my vote next year and venting here<g>.

C
 
Hi Capaill,

The fact that your second child has special needs may influence someone in authority to exercise some flexibility in your favour if you bring the relevant facts to their attention. I don't know what you have done to date but I would suggest making polite approaches directly to the Chair of the school's Board of Management and to your local TD, pointing out the circumstances you are in.

Best of luck with it.
 
Capaill said:
Rang local school when son was born to put his name down and was told there would be no issues and to put his name down the year he is due to start.
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That's odd. I thought that the norm these days was to register the child as soon as possible after birth especially in areas of dense population and/or limited education resources? We registered with one local school soon after our son was born last September. A colleague and his wife did so a few days after their's was born! Of course none of this guarantees any of us a place as far as I know.
We got a letter a 3 weeks ago to say there was no room and have since then been frantically appealing the process and also looking for placement elsewhere.
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Have you resorted to the age old Irish parish pump politics strategy of lobbbying the local elected representatives? Ideally this sort of thing would be unnecessary and discouraged but it still can yield results.

Post crossed with ubiquitous's.
 
Thanks folks

Have tried using the emotional leverage of our other child and also lobbying local representatives. All to no avail.

To be fair, I do not think that I, nor anyone else, should have to resort to these humiliating tactics. But when needs must.

Clubman
I believe it is down to each school and its registration policy. As mentioned we did try and register him when we was 18 months old but were advised there was no need.

C
 
And to think our local school has got its number up to 35 now after only 30 to 33 for many years with 2 teachers all thanks to the 4 new houses in the village, and now another 5 more houses being built beside the school we will probable have a school crises next year maybe there will be 40 students a record for the school. It'll be total gridlock in the mornings. But seriously it is unbelievable that a child cant be got into a school in this day and age and I heard on radio the other day of a young NS teacher who couldn't find a placement for past 3 years,
 
Hello Capaill,

Where there is an accommodation problem, the school must give priority on the basis of their enrolment policy. This is drawn up by the Board of Management and should be available to you on request.

It might prove interesting to have a look at same.

Cheers

Justsally
 
Capaill you have my sympathy.

It seems that social provision, i.e. schools, medical centers, sporting and other social facilities lag housing development in the commuter counties by years. The planning system is rife with glossy local development plans full of aspiration not backed up with sufficient political will.

I believe that the root cause of the problem is a political culture in Ireland unable to ruffle vested interest feathers in implementing social and infrastructural provision. Why this is the case defeats me. Remember that the squeakiest wheel gets the most oil, sad but true.
 
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