Grammar head backs catchment changes (From Bucks Free Press)

Grammar head backs catchment changes

4:02pm Wednesday 15th April 2009 in News By Oliver Evans

Grammar head backs catchment changes

CHILDREN from High Wycombe will not lose out on getting a place at John Hampden Grammar School after a decision was made to widen the catchment area, its headteacher has said.

Stephen Nokes said those living closest to the Marlow Hill, High Wycombe school would be given preference after moves to include Gerrards Cross and Denham in its catchment area.

Parents in the two villages have long expressed anger that they cannot get a place at their highest preference school.

Buckinghamshire County Council chose to widen the area from September 2010 after a consultation in the hope it will give them more choice.

Mr Nokes said: “I just can’t see a downside to it. Wycombe kids won’t lose out.

“It is a logical step to tidy it up, it is a sensible thing to do.”

The school has accepted children from the villages but, because they are from outside the catchment area, parents have had to pay transport costs, he said.

The council said “a number of boys have not been offered a place at either of their catchment grammar schools” at first with a “small number” given a place at a preferred school at the start of the term.

Parents have particularly been unable to get into Dr Challoner’s Grammar School in Amersham, it said. This has also seen the authority agree to allow Prestwood children into Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe.

Mr Nokes said: “The Gerrards Cross area wasn’t well served. They couldn’t get into their choice of schools because they were at the far end of Challoners or RGS.”

But children from outside of Buckinghamshire were less likely to get a place once the changes took affect, he said.

Most of the 180 who responded to the consultation, 50 per cent, did not back the changes for John Hampden, compared to 30 per cent who agreed and 20 per cent who did not agree or disagree.

For a full list of consultation responses see the link below or click here. One parent, from south of Wooburn Green, said they were unhappy with the changes as it meant their children would have to attend Burnham Grammar instead of John Hampden.

Another, from Holmer Green, said: “I feel that the council have given into parents living in affluent areas as they have made most representation and are likely to cause the council the most problems.”

The council said families in Farnham Common and Stoke Poges were concerned the changes could impact on their chances of getting into John Hampden, an out-of-catchment option for the two villages.

The council said the changes “does have the potential to impact on the opportunities for boys…living in Farnham Common and Stoke Poges”.

Yet the changes was needed so Gerrards Cross and Denham children can “secure a place at one of their catchment schools”, the council argued.