Wandsworth council consults on plan which could stop siblings going to the same school

 
Wandsworth Town Hall: The council is to consult on the plans
Rex Features
Anna Davis @_annadavis24 September 2014

Children in south-west London could be prevented from going to the same school as their brothers and sisters under proposals to scrap the siblings admissions rule.

Wandsworth council — parts of which are so desirable they are known as “Nappy Valley” because of the number of young families — is set to launch a consultation on the plans, which it says will be fairer.

Kathy Tracey, cabinet member for education, said: “There has been a clamour from parents asking us to look at this rule because of evidence that local school places are being offered to children living some distance away simply because they have an older sibling already enrolled there.

“What this does is deny that place to a child who lives much closer to the school.” She added that in some schools virtually all the places are offered to siblings, some of whom live far from the school, while children who live nearby are denied a place.

She said: “We don’t think this is fair, which is why we are proposing a solution that will strike the right balance and better meet the needs of parents who live close to our schools.”

The council wants the sibling rule to apply only to children who live within 800 metres of the school.

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