Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, comments on today’s primary school offer day.
“Many parents will today be excited at getting their chosen school, but some will inevitably be disappointed. Last year the number of families receiving their first primary school preference increased to 92.5% against a background of a fall in the overall number of primary-age children and it is likely that we’ll see a similar or increased acceptance rate this year. However, this is unlikely to be evenly spread because of local factors – such as housebuilding – and particularly the pressure on places at schools which tend to be in more affluent areas and have ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ Ofsted ratings. This creates a postcode lottery and is another reason why the government should scrap the current system of single-phrase inspection judgements, move to a system that is more supportive of schools in general and stop sifting them in a way that creates a damaging perception of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’.”