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Deceitful information in tonight's Council meeting papers

The document approved by Mayor and Cabinet on Wednesday 11th January supports the argument that the need for a new school is stronger in the North-East of the Borough and it does so with the following paragraph:

9.3. There is an established need to expand its pupil place provision in the north of the Borough. While all parents across the north of the Borough are affected, there is a particular need in the north-east where 16% of families failed to be offered any of their preferences on 1 March last year, compared to 11% elsewhere in the of the borough. In the north-east, 38% of families sought education out of the Borough compared to 25% in the rest of the Borough.

When we read this we were puzzled as to why the document was pointing at 1st March as that is the date of the opening of the admission period and data on that day is inevitably partial.

On 1st March 2005 - the first day of the new computerized London-wide admission system - two neighbouring boroughs hadn't yet sorted out their computerized admissions and this reflect in that figure that the Council selected as the evidence that the North-East is better off than the rest of the Borough.
Many children received letters of rejection on 1st March and contradictory acceptance letters on 2nd March.

The Report on the Admissions Process published in September 2005 shows that the percentage of children from the North-East not being given a school from among their preferences was 6.85 (32 children out of 511).
The overall figure for the whole borough was 6.87% (188 children out of 2738) which is pretty well identical.

It seems to us that in choosing the figure for admissions available to them on 1st March as an evidence for the need of a school at Ladywell could be seen as an attempt to give a partial view of the picture.

The other data provided (38% of families sought education out of the Borough compared to 25% in the rest of the Borough) only means that children in Lee and Blackheath are enrolled by their families into Greenwhich and Bromley schools rather than Lewisham ones.

The fact that computerized procedures for admissions in those two Boroughs weren't sorted out on 1st March explains why so many children in the North-East hadn't been offered a place of their choice on the date. ...read more...

Open Letter to the Members of the Council

Tonight Monday 23rd January at 7 pm the Overview and Scrutiny (Education) Business Panel will meet to discuss the decision taken by Mayor and Cabinet on Wednesday 11th when the Strategic Business Case for the Building Schools for the Future was approved.

Read here a letter that all the Members of this Overview and Scrutiny panel will receive today.

It contains an alternative view of the Council's decisions for the schools of the Borough.

We hope that the Members decide to read it with attention and to consider its content during tonight's meeting.

We also hope that they finally choose to question decisions taken by the Mayor without fear of ‘over turning the applecart’ . ...read more...