10:40am Friday 22nd January 2010
By Adam Gaudry
PARENTS fear the creation of a new shared catchment area will force siblings to attend different schools.
Essex County Council has proposed to create a new shared catchment area for Great Berry Primary School and Lincewood Primary School in Langdon Hills, which it claims will make the selection process for pupils fairer.
But parents with children currently at Lincewood, who live outside the catchment areas of both schools, oppose the move. They fear the changes will split up siblings.
Both Great Berry and Lincewood have an intake of 60 children each year.
In recent years Great Berry has been oversubscribed, which means children living in its catchment area have been enrolled at Lincewood.
But the current selection process means in some cases, children living close to both schools are sent to Great Berry, while children close to Great Berry, but further away from Lincewood are sent to Lincewood.
John Schofield, county councillor for Westley Heights, approves of the proposals and said they would help.
He said: “The current situation means some parents and children are walking past Great Berry Primary to get to Lincewood Primary, past parents who would have had less distance to travel to Lincewood primary.”
But Paul Hodghton, 34, of Suffolk Drive, Langdon Hills, said he was worried the change would mean his daughter Sally, three, would be split apart from her older sister Robyn, five, who currently attends Lincewood.
He said: “I know we live outside of the catchment area so there was always a risk, but this would shift the goalposts and make it even harder.
“Other parents are worried about this and we don’t know how we will manage to take the children to two places at once.”
Headteacher at Lincewood School, Tim Eastwell, said he sympathised with parents in Mr Hodghton’s position and they would be consulted before any action took place.
He said: “I am very sympathetic with their plight and their views will be discussed further by the governors in March.”
The consultation period runs until February 12. For more information, call 01245 436708.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/trade_directory/