we finally got the word that the admissions criteria are being adjusted to stop shutting our kids out. i am honestly so relieved and just want to thank everyone who jumped on board to help us push for this. we still need to keep an eye on how it works …
June 16, 2019
Final supporters
A significant number of Catholic children from the Spelthorne area (especially Staines and Stanwell) have been unsuccessful in securing places at any Catholic secondary school for the 2019/20 academic year. This is because one of the main admissions criteria is distance from school and our area is at a severe disadvantage compared to others purely because of geography and school catchment area boundaries.
Practicing Catholic families in this area need the reassurance that their children will be able to enjoy a Catholic education in one of their local secondary schools, and in particular St Paul’s in Sunbury and Salesians in Chertsey.
The aim of this petition is to highlight this issue and find a suitable solution with the help of the Local Education Authority (LEA), the Diocese of Westminster and the schools mentioned above.
We suggest that a solution could be found by changing the admissions criteria and catchments and/or increasing secondary school capacity.
As well as our children, we also represent the interests of our local community: we are very aware of the wider impact this lack of provision will have on the area in the long-term with practicing Catholics choosing to live in areas where Catholic education is more likely.
This would threaten the tight-knit community the area enjoys as well as the viability of local Catholic schools such as Our Lady of the Rosary school, which finds itself unable to present parents with a Catholic secondary school option with the current entrance criteria set by St Paul’s and Salesians.
This petition will support letters which will be sent to the Diocese, the LEA, St Paul’s and Salesians in the next few weeks.
Please take time to sign our petition and share with your friends, family and colleagues by the 13th May 2019.
GDPR - we will be sharing the petition with Surrey County Council, the Diocese of Westminster, St Paul’s College in Sunbury and Salesians in Chertsey. We will not share any data outside of these establishments; however, they may choose to publish the data.
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
May 5, 2019
Reached 100 supporters
May 3, 2019
96 Comments
My son is at St Paul’s and we live in Staines and dismayed that in this years intake only siblings got in, if your children follow the Catholic faith through primary school surely they should have the choice to carry this further through secondary school and obtain a place
This problem was entirely predictable many years ago when we struggled to place our own children. It is their children who are now placed in a worse situation. It is time for real action to solve this issue definitively.
We have first hand experience this year of how very true this is, and now need to appeal for our daughter to be able to continue in a Catholic education.
There needs to be a change of the kind described in the petition to ensure children in Staines and Stanwell have an equal access to the Catholic education their parents have chosen for them. It is not acceptable to be penalised on distance when there are no nearer catholic schools.
My daughter in year 6 will not be able to go to a sencondary catholic school as the only 2 catholic schools are about 4 km away and full with other applicants. Is that fair?
We need more Catholic secondary school places for Spelthorne's Catholic families.
Great work.
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we finally got the word that the admissions criteria are being adjusted to stop shutting our kids out. i am honestly so relieved and just want to thank everyone who jumped on board to help us push for this. we still need to keep an eye on how it works …
June 16, 2019
Final supporters
A significant number of Catholic children from the Spelthorne area (especially Staines and Stanwell) have been unsuccessful in securing places at any Catholic secondary school for the 2019/20 academic year. This is because one of the main admissions criteria is distance from school and our area is at a severe disadvantage compared to others purely because of geography and school catchment area boundaries.
Practicing Catholic families in this area need the reassurance that their children will be able to enjoy a Catholic education in one of their local secondary schools, and in particular St Paul’s in Sunbury and Salesians in Chertsey.
The aim of this petition is to highlight this issue and find a suitable solution with the help of the Local Education Authority (LEA), the Diocese of Westminster and the schools mentioned above.
We suggest that a solution could be found by changing the admissions criteria and catchments and/or increasing secondary school capacity.
As well as our children, we also represent the interests of our local community: we are very aware of the wider impact this lack of provision will have on the area in the long-term with practicing Catholics choosing to live in areas where Catholic education is more likely.
This would threaten the tight-knit community the area enjoys as well as the viability of local Catholic schools such as Our Lady of the Rosary school, which finds itself unable to present parents with a Catholic secondary school option with the current entrance criteria set by St Paul’s and Salesians.
This petition will support letters which will be sent to the Diocese, the LEA, St Paul’s and Salesians in the next few weeks.
Please take time to sign our petition and share with your friends, family and colleagues by the 13th May 2019.
GDPR - we will be sharing the petition with Surrey County Council, the Diocese of Westminster, St Paul’s College in Sunbury and Salesians in Chertsey. We will not share any data outside of these establishments; however, they may choose to publish the data.
Updates
Reached 250 supporters
May 5, 2019
Reached 100 supporters
May 3, 2019
96 Comments
My son is in reception class in St Michael's in Ashford. We live in Stanwell. I've heard none of the St Michael's pupils from Stanwell got admitted to St Paul's. Its still 6 more years for him, but the admission criteria make me concerned about my son's future.
My son is at St Paul’s and we live in Staines and dismayed that in this years intake only siblings got in, if your children follow the Catholic faith through primary school surely they should have the choice to carry this further through secondary school and obtain a place
This problem was entirely predictable many years ago when we struggled to place our own children. It is their children who are now placed in a worse situation. It is time for real action to solve this issue definitively.
We have first hand experience this year of how very true this is, and now need to appeal for our daughter to be able to continue in a Catholic education.
There needs to be a change of the kind described in the petition to ensure children in Staines and Stanwell have an equal access to the Catholic education their parents have chosen for them. It is not acceptable to be penalised on distance when there are no nearer catholic schools.
My daughter in year 6 will not be able to go to a sencondary catholic school as the only 2 catholic schools are about 4 km away and full with other applicants. Is that fair?
We need more Catholic secondary school places for Spelthorne's Catholic families.
Great work.
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My son is in reception class in St Michael's in Ashford. We live in Stanwell. I've heard none of the St Michael's pupils from Stanwell got admitted to St Paul's. Its still 6 more years for him, but the admission criteria make me concerned about my son's future.