'Time is against' pupils sent to distant school

Pupils who applied to a nearby secondary school have once again been sent to an alternative miles from their homes.

Last year, some students who applied to Newcastle's Gosforth Academy were allocated places at Great Park Academy under a lottery system.

Despite complaints from parents and the school group changing its admission policy, students have again been left upset after being allocated places at the more distant school.

Principal Preit Chahal said its revised admission policy could not be brought into effect for the September 2025 intake because of the timescales involved.

Parents of affected children have complained about the situation online.

One mother said her child was being sent to Great Park Academy, which is due to open in September, despite living four minutes from Gosforth Academy.

Another said their son was "really upset" about not being accepted, despite his friends getting a place.

The school's admissions criteria listed children in its feeder schools as having fourth priority for places, with distance from the school being fifth.

But because there were more feeder children than places at Gosforth Academy, in the event of a tie a random lottery system was used.

Last year, parents complained about the system to the Schools Adjudicator, which ruled the use of random allocation was not "clear and transparent".

The school was told to change its procedures and those who appealed the decision were given their first choice.

Michelle was part of the group of parents who appealed the decision and said it was "really frustrating" for parents applying before the policy change.

"Time has not been on the side of this year's year group," she said.

"At the moment, it is difficult to say what will happen for the parents who are unhappy. It's an awful situation where they had to get a school open quickly."

Mr Chahal said Gosforth Academy had provided greater clarity and transparency around its use of random allocation for the 2025 school year.

He said no other changes could be made to the admissions policy in time for the new school year because parents had to make their choices by 31 October 2024.

"The trust has now carried out a full consultation with all stakeholders and made changes in light of that consultation to Admissions Policies for 2026," he said.

"It is unfortunate that there are more applications for admissions in some year groups than places available and [the group] would like to reassure parents that all pupils will receive a high-quality of education no matter which of the Gosforth Group schools they are placed within."

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