Fair, I don't think so

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 23 July 2005 07:33:47

Anybody who has been reading regularly will know I live in an area which is a mess when it comes to secondary education, largely because they insist on keeping grammar schools and not recognising the effects of the house building going on in the area. As such I had an interesting time getting Third Party into an appropriate high school.

Anyway now I am on to step two, trying to get her a bus pass paid for. Ultimately I know this may fail and I will probably have to shell out. However it is the unfairness of the system that gets me.

If she had taken and passed the 11+ (although they give it another name around here) and gone to a grammar school (the same distance away as she is going to have to travel) she would have had her travel paid for.

If she had gone to the high school allocated to her as the nearest, most appropriate with a space (which is further away and less appropriate than the one she is going to go to) she would have had her travel paid for.

If she had lived a little nearer what is really the nearest and most appropriate high school she may have stood a chance at getting a place there and so this would not have been an issue.

If we did not go to the church we believe is the right one for us to be part of, but rather went to the CofE round the corner , or indeed belonged to a denomination that had high schools and so had the option of sending her to one of the denomination we belong to, she would have her travel paid for.

As it is I have apparently chosen (um, interesting one that - think you have a choice round here only if your child is obviously going to pass 11+, you live in the same estate as the local comprehensive & you are a regular church goer) to send Third Party to this school and so need to pay for exercising that right to choose.

If anybody is still reading, now I've finished going off on one, I'll let you know how it goes.