Mar 2010 - Admissions anguish for parents
Admissions staff at the Royal Alexandra and Albert School are once again bracing themselves for an avalanche of calls from disappointed parents this week. This week parents find out about Year 7 secondary school place allocation from the local authority and many will be disappointed as they will not be offered a place at their first choice school.The Royal Alexandra and Albert School had 6 applications for every Year 7 place at the School and if sibling places are taken out of the equation, there were around 9 applications for every place.
This has come as no surprise to Headmaster Paul Spencer Ellis “This year we became a lead school for gifted and talented and as a High Performing Specialist School (HPSS) took on the new specialism of Maths and Computing. This has increased the pressure on places from local families.
“One of the criteria for the allocation of places is proximity to the school and for September 2010 admissions to Year 7 we were only able to offer places to children who live within one mile of the school. When you take into consideration the fact that we are situated in 260 acres of parkland, that is not very far.”
“The allocation of places at the Royal Alexandra and Albert School is governed by law under the School Admissions Code and the School can’t deviate from the strict criteria set out within the Code. We have every sympathy for parents who are disappointed when they don’t get a place.”
