FIVE York children who were looking forward to joining their older brothers and sisters at a city primary school have had their hopes dashed.

City of York Council has told their parents the five cannot go to Acomb Primary School because there are not enough places, and they will have to be separated from their siblings and attend schools elsewhere.

The parents today called for a shake-up of York’s admissions policy, telling how the decision had left their younger and older children deeply upset. It has also left them facing severe practical problems, such as how to pick up two children at the same time from two different schools situated more than a mile from each other.

Kevin and Liz Blount’s seven-year-old son, James, attends Acomb Primary and his four-year-old brother, Matthew, wants to join him there.

Mr Blount said the only alternative, if the decision was not reversed, might be to uproot James from Acomb after four years and send him to the same school as Matthew.

Mr Blount, of Wetherby Road, said he also had a wider concern about the council’s policy and how it affected other families in York.

He said: “Everyone we have spoken to has expressed concern over the council’s failure to prioritise siblings at primary school age.”

“I think everyone believed there was an unwritten rule regarding this because it has never been an issue before.

“There are now people feeling they can’t move for fear of having children split between schools.”

He believed having a sibling at a primary school should be the highest admission priority, as there were always other primaries within walking distance in urban catchment areas. Lizzie Tulip, also of Wetherby Road, said her six-year-old son, Harry Lumb, attended Acomb school, but his four-year-old brother, Benjamin, would now be unable to join him.

As well as the boys being very upset, she was concerned because she would be physically unable to meet them both to take them home at the end of the school day.

She said: “The schools are more than a mile apart and finish at exactly the same time.”

She claimed there was a spare classroom at Acomb which could be utilised to take all the siblings as well as all the children in the catchment area.


Priority given to pupils in catchment area

CITY of York Council said there had seen a significant increase in the demand for places at Acomb Primary School this year, reflecting its popularity.

Assistant director Kevin Hall said its admission policy, giving a higher priority to children living in the local catchment area than siblings, follows a national code of practice in managing school admissions.

He said: “Parents have the right of appeal if they are unhappy with the school place allocated.”

“Historically, it has been rare for schools to be unable to admit siblings of pupils who already attend a school but live outside the catchment area.

“Last year there were cases at three schools. This year there are the families at Acomb Primary and also four cases at two other heavily oversubscribed primary schools who are facing such circumstances.

He said the number of applications from within the Acomb catchment area had nearly doubled in recent years.

He fully understood the practical difficulties and upset caused, but said admitting siblings before catchment area pupils would have meant five pupils who lives within the catchment area being refused a place.

“This would then have led to a different set of parents being very disappointed and upset.

“The authority is now working with the governing body to consider class organisation and the demand for places at Acomb Primary.”

He said that while some authorities gave a higher priority to siblings, York’s treatment was consistent with policy in North Yorkshire and the East Riding.

The independent Schools’ Adjudicator had reviewed the council’s policy last year and said it was fair and, if siblings took priority over catchment area children, this could be viewed as unfair to children living in the catchment area.