School of Thought
Often, what you think will be the simplest of tasks turn out to be actually fairly complicated.
I blogged a while back about the difficulty in choosing a High School for Jessica. It came down, realistically, to a choice of three schools, two of which were within walking distance. After visiting all three we actually slightly preferred the one not within walking distance, mainly because it has a slightly smarter uniform. Of the two within walking distance we discounted one, because we didn't like the way the kids spoke and acted. We'll call that one School B, the other walking-distance school School A, and the one furthest away with the smarter uniform, School C.
In the end, we decided that our first choice would be School A, especially as we fall a bit out of the catchment area for School C. It has the advantages that it is literally a walk in the park to get there (not even one road to cross, just a saunter along a nice path), it has good results, and had that slightly chaotic feel to the place that made you think that learning there could be fun. Also, the headmaster was a "proper" headmaster. He didn't try to dazzle the audience in his speech with up-tempo buzzwords, he just went through a basic presentation giving information about the school and how they do things.
We easily fall into their catchment area, too. We then discovered that our next-door-but-one neighbour sends her son there, and that he didn't get offered a place (it is very over-subscribed). They had to fight tooth-and-nail and keep him off school for three months in order for him to be accepted. He had been offered a place at a school miles away that is frankly a shockingly bad school, although my mother (who works there) tells me it's getting better. The initial council reaction was to offer him a place at an out-of-borough school that is equally bad, and even further away. Still, eventually he got in and I'm prepared to do the same thing for Jess if it comes to it.
So, back to the simple task. We decided to apply online, which is a new thing. You apply to all the schools you want to in one go, and the schools decide whether to offer you a place or not, then the council ultimately decides which one you get given. This on-line system gives the advantage that you can change your mind up until the submission date, and you also get to see what school you have been allocated on the day it is done, rather than waiting a couple of extra days for the post to perhaps arrive.
We registered on the website and filled in the details. It was a well-designed site and the task was easy. The next step, we were told, was to send in a proof of address (required to stop people putting down addresses they don't actually live at in order to get a place). The proof required? A council tax bill.
What we needed to to, therefore, was send a copy of our council tax bill to the council. Quite why they haven't got a copy, I don't know. Quite why they can't look it up on the computer, or check the electoral roll or something, I don't know. So, stupid as it seems, we have to send the council something that they sent to me, to prove that I live at the address that they already have on a computer.
But, of course, it isn't that simple. We sent it off (the fact that we found it at all was a miracle), but because it is in Ele's maiden name still, they wanted further proof. Again, the electoral roll is obviously not good enough. I mean, that only enables us to vote for heaven's sake.
They wanted a child tax credit letter from the Inland Revenue. We found one and sent it off. But because it was dated from last year, it wasn't good enough. Evidentally she could have changed her name several times since then and moved house a few times, too. So we found another one and sent that. Hopefully it's been accepted because we haven't heard anything back from them yet. I'm half-expecting a call saying that we didn't send it (i.e. lost in the post) and therefore Jessica will have no school forever.
But, the really daft thing, is that Jessica's name on the child tax credit form is her "old" name (Jess being my step-daughter and having her "real" dad's surname, before we got it changed by a solicitor). Yet nobody picked this up and asked for proof of her name - and she's the one who will actually be going to the school.
I'm amazed that all this checking is necessary. I'd have thought that these records all exist in a database somewhere. If they don't, building such a thing would actually be very easy. Being someone who programs databases for a living, I could probably knock up the design of one in an afternoon that would link people, addresses, and all their relatives to each other as well.
Any councils reading, please get in touch. My rates are very reasonable.
I blogged a while back about the difficulty in choosing a High School for Jessica. It came down, realistically, to a choice of three schools, two of which were within walking distance. After visiting all three we actually slightly preferred the one not within walking distance, mainly because it has a slightly smarter uniform. Of the two within walking distance we discounted one, because we didn't like the way the kids spoke and acted. We'll call that one School B, the other walking-distance school School A, and the one furthest away with the smarter uniform, School C.
In the end, we decided that our first choice would be School A, especially as we fall a bit out of the catchment area for School C. It has the advantages that it is literally a walk in the park to get there (not even one road to cross, just a saunter along a nice path), it has good results, and had that slightly chaotic feel to the place that made you think that learning there could be fun. Also, the headmaster was a "proper" headmaster. He didn't try to dazzle the audience in his speech with up-tempo buzzwords, he just went through a basic presentation giving information about the school and how they do things.
We easily fall into their catchment area, too. We then discovered that our next-door-but-one neighbour sends her son there, and that he didn't get offered a place (it is very over-subscribed). They had to fight tooth-and-nail and keep him off school for three months in order for him to be accepted. He had been offered a place at a school miles away that is frankly a shockingly bad school, although my mother (who works there) tells me it's getting better. The initial council reaction was to offer him a place at an out-of-borough school that is equally bad, and even further away. Still, eventually he got in and I'm prepared to do the same thing for Jess if it comes to it.
So, back to the simple task. We decided to apply online, which is a new thing. You apply to all the schools you want to in one go, and the schools decide whether to offer you a place or not, then the council ultimately decides which one you get given. This on-line system gives the advantage that you can change your mind up until the submission date, and you also get to see what school you have been allocated on the day it is done, rather than waiting a couple of extra days for the post to perhaps arrive.
We registered on the website and filled in the details. It was a well-designed site and the task was easy. The next step, we were told, was to send in a proof of address (required to stop people putting down addresses they don't actually live at in order to get a place). The proof required? A council tax bill.
What we needed to to, therefore, was send a copy of our council tax bill to the council. Quite why they haven't got a copy, I don't know. Quite why they can't look it up on the computer, or check the electoral roll or something, I don't know. So, stupid as it seems, we have to send the council something that they sent to me, to prove that I live at the address that they already have on a computer.
But, of course, it isn't that simple. We sent it off (the fact that we found it at all was a miracle), but because it is in Ele's maiden name still, they wanted further proof. Again, the electoral roll is obviously not good enough. I mean, that only enables us to vote for heaven's sake.
They wanted a child tax credit letter from the Inland Revenue. We found one and sent it off. But because it was dated from last year, it wasn't good enough. Evidentally she could have changed her name several times since then and moved house a few times, too. So we found another one and sent that. Hopefully it's been accepted because we haven't heard anything back from them yet. I'm half-expecting a call saying that we didn't send it (i.e. lost in the post) and therefore Jessica will have no school forever.
But, the really daft thing, is that Jessica's name on the child tax credit form is her "old" name (Jess being my step-daughter and having her "real" dad's surname, before we got it changed by a solicitor). Yet nobody picked this up and asked for proof of her name - and she's the one who will actually be going to the school.
I'm amazed that all this checking is necessary. I'd have thought that these records all exist in a database somewhere. If they don't, building such a thing would actually be very easy. Being someone who programs databases for a living, I could probably knock up the design of one in an afternoon that would link people, addresses, and all their relatives to each other as well.
Any councils reading, please get in touch. My rates are very reasonable.
posted by Nej at
1:09 pm
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