Education Matters Meeting

I attended this meeting last night at King Alfred's 6th form and there was quite a good attendance.  County Officers were there to give us a presentation regarding pupil numbers and projections for primary school places in Wantage.  There were a number of parents who were clearly unhappy with the situation, especially those who had not got their first preference, and there were some whose children were being bussed out to village schools.   There was quite a heated discussion about the supervision of primary school children on school buses.  There was also some unhappiness expressed regarding the late notification of places (May) - this was blamed on central government.

However, what did come out of the meeting is that now Charlton Primary School will potentially have a 2 form intake of 60 children with its proposed expansion, and Grove CofE school will potentially take 30 children there should be capacity in the system this coming year (September).  However, what is clear is that this is a moving feast as you can never predict how many people with children will move into an area (or move out)  and what choices parents will make regarding the local schools.  At the moment, Grove CofE school does have spare places for local children, so I do advise any parents looking for a place for their child go along to take a look round the school - they will be made very welcome I am sure.

We also had an update from the head of King Alfred's Community College about their admissions too and parents were assured that at the present time there is still room in the school for local children to attend.   However, with the school's recent 'outstanding' Ofsted report, the school is enjoying increased popularity.   The situation will be continually monitored both by the school and the Local Authority.