Heather and Richard visiting Devonshire Avenue school
EXPANDING POPULAR LOCAL SCHOOLS
Sutton Council has taken an important decision to expand D
This is good news for parents of young children in Sutton South ward, as more Sutton South parents will be able to get their children into these popular and often oversubscribed schools. Heather and Richard have met the headteachers of both schools to discuss the consequences for local people and the management of the process, recognising the concerns of some parents at Barrow Hedges about possible detrimental effects, such as on parking.
Both headteachers have assured us that they see benefits for the schools from the expansion.
Barrow Hedges school usually has about 300 applications for places each year – more applicants are turned away than get in to the school. Up to 2008 Barrow Hedges school had an intake of 60 children per year. Since then it has been 90 and the proposal is to stick to this number. When only 60 children were admitted you usually had to live within 600 metres of the school to get in, so only parents in a few roads at the east end of Sutton South ward could get their children into this school. The expansion will mean more Sutton South children get into the school.
More parents in Sutton South Ward send their children to Devonshire Avenue school, and the expansion of this school, with associated improvements to its facilities, is also to be welcomed.
This is good news for Sutton South.