Just over a week ago, when Nottinghamshire County Council proudly announced that 96.3% of Nottinghamshire children had been offered their parents’ first preference school for a reception place in September 2023, that statistic simply didn’t ring true for many families here in Ruddington.
A parents’ petition to the County Council has now been started. See the update below*.
Since then, we’ve been made aware of at least nine village children not securing the expected place to begin their education at James Peacock School in Manor Park. That’s despite five of these children already attending the nursery there! It’s thought there could actually be as many as 30 families who applied for a place at Ruddington’s only primary school (perhaps some from outside the village) but who got rejected.
As a considerable amount of new house-building continues in and around Ruddington – mostly as part of the Rushcliffe Local Plan Part 2 – the resultant shortage of available school places has already caused problems for new families trying to get their kids into St Peter’s Junior School on Ashworth Avenue. Also, secondary school age children in our village have found themselves being rejected by Rushcliffe Spencer Academy in West Bridgford – Ruddington’s traditional feeder school – and allocated places further away at South Wolds Academy in Keyworth (and beyond). However, this is the first time our village’s youngest children have faced the prospect of not even being able to start their school life here.
Today Nottinghamshire County Council has been able to provide RUDDINGTON.info with some statistics we requested last week specifically for our village. Peter McConnochie, the authority’s Service Director, Education, Learning and Inclusion, reveals: “In Ruddington, 108 applications were received. Ninety-five (88%) of families were offered their first preference and 106 (98%) offered one of their preferences. Two (2%) received an alternative offer because no preference could be met.
“The admissions code prohibits the council from guaranteeing an offer of a place at any specific school. Ruddington families can be assured that they have been offered good schools and the vast majority have their first or second preference.”
In short, these official figures suggest a total of 13 Ruddington families failed to get the place they wanted (and expected) at James Peacock School. Two of them talked to RUDDINGTON.info personally, to express their dismay and anger about their current situation.
Parent Katie Santana told us:
“To find out that our son didn’t get into the only infant school in Ruddington came as such a shock, especially as it had not been oversubscribed in recent years.
“Our son already attends the James Peacock nursery and started the same day his baby sister was born in September 2022, so it has been a challenging transition, of which he has only just settled in. He has established strong friendships and bonds with children at the nursery. To move him again would cause undue stress, affecting our family socially, emotionally and financially.
“We moved to Ruddington based on the thriving community and even chose our house due to the proximity to the junior school, as I was pregnant with our now 4 year old. I also moved my business to Ruddington High Street in December 2021 as we love the village so much!
“Not being part of the school communities here is going to limit how we engage with the larger village community, as well as our ability to form connections and support networks with those that live near us. With no family in the area, and even some grandparents located abroad, we were hoping to grow with fellow families in the village. Consequently, this will have an impact on our young families’ sense of belonging and kinship to the village community.
“We are definitely going to appeal as, if he doesn’t get into James Peacock, he will then be unlikely to get into St Peter’s, which is next door to us – and his little sister is also less likely to be able to attend Ruddington schools.”
Another dismayed village parent, Leonie Uliasz, revealed her family’s predicament to us:
“We moved to Ruddington when our daughter was 7 months old and the school was one of the top reasons for choosing the village. We spent the next few years taking part in community events and getting to know people with similarly aged children. Even when James Peacock’s Ofsted rating was reduced, we felt that we could support the school in efforts to return it to it’s former success.
“When we applied for a school for our daughter, we weren’t aware of any village child being rejected from James Peacock in recent years, so we didn’t make provisions for her attending a different setting, such as researching or visiting alternatives. We felt that any village with a school should be able to accommodate all the children in it. In hindsight, you might say this was naive but we felt strongly that this eventuality was very unlikely.
“Receiving the news that our daughter had not been offered a place was devastating. We had planned our future around her attending the local school, including the logistics of also having a 9 month baby by that point, my husband working non-standard hours of 12-10pm and myself returning to university after a year on maternity (I am a mature student at Loughborough University, halfway through a four year course).
“Going to a West Bridgford primary school will have a severe impact on our lives and may lead to me having to drop out of university. My husband doesn’t drive, relying on public transport, and our support network is based in the village. I have read into the NCC travel assistance but this would not work for us.
“We are emotionally drained by the situation and don’t know how to break the news to our daughter who believes that she is going to school with her nursery and village friends. The new housing developments are inevitable and planning must be in place to support and enhance integral infrastructure, like the schools. The council has let us down, despite knowing that the James Peacock allocation needed increasing!”
She added: “We are in the process of writing an appeal but we know that the chances of success are very low.”
Mr McConnochie says: “We do our utmost to meet parental preference for school places. We are not complacent and work continues, including increasing school place provision where needed and reminding parents how important it is to use all four of their preferences on their application.”
He adds: “Housing developer contributions are used to create additional places in line with the terms of the agreements. The council has recently commissioned a project to expand Rosecliffe Spencer Academy, whose catchment area encompasses Ruddington. The expansion has enabled the academy to admit an additional 15 pupils a year from September 2023.”
However, Rosecliffe Spencer Academy is in Edwalton, around three miles away from our village. Meantime, Rushcliffe Borough Councillor Jen Walker has discovered that no housing developer contributions (which total many hundreds of thousands of pounds) have yet been requested by Nottinghamshire County Council for the much needed expansion of James Peacock School, right here in Ruddington.
“Mike (Gaunt) and I are trying to get to bottom of why NCC have not drawn up Section 106 funds to help fund the additional school places required in our village” says Jen. “The funds are presently sitting at Rushcliffe Borough Council – and one pot is set to expire in February 2024. This would get clawed back by developers if not spent! There also seems to be a priority to favour the expansion of Rosecliffe over our more local, walkable schools which is not what the families want.”
Parents who are happy with the school place they have been offered have until Monday, May 1st 2023 to accept their offer.
Others, who are unhappy with the place they have been offered, are being encouraged to appeal. Information on how to do this can be found on Nottinghamshire County Council’s website by following the links at www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/education/school-admissions/hub.
*UPDATE 2nd May 2023:
Katie Santana has now started a petition to Nottinghamshire County Council on behalf of aggrieved parents in Ruddington whose children have been unable to secure a place at James Peacock School this September.
It encourages the authority to act NOW to increase school places WITHIN Ruddington, NOT in the surrounding area.
You can find the petition >>HERE<< and you are urged to sign it, if you agree.
