Parents - don't give up

Our son went to St Stephen's Primary School at Little Harwood and, like many parents, assumed that he would go to Pleckgate with the rest of his friends.

An added bonus, we thought, was that we only live on Revidge Road, less than a mile from Pleckgate school - a 15-20 minute walk down the road with only one main road to cross.

But in their wisdom, the education authority sent his friends to Pleckgate and sent him across town to a school in an area he wasn't familiar with, having to either catch two buses, or get an early outer circle bus.

The arguments were the same - he had to put himself out at the expense of someone else who had to travel farther to their second choice school. So someone else had to travel further to get to Pleckgate than our son. Twisted logic. We appealed, were denied, wrote to our MP Jack Straw, the Ministry for Education and the education ombudsman, but to no avail, as the education authority had not made an error in their decision, based on the selection criteria - probably because no-one could understand the way it works.

We actually went to the Education Office in Blackburn and managed to get a place for him at Witton Park, which has been a good decision as he is settled and is doing well.

Witton is less than a mile from where we live in the opposite direction to Pleckgate school.

Shortly after the start of term, we were offered a place at Pleckgate because of parents taking up offers from other schools and not informing Pleckgate.

We didn't change schools as he had started to make new friends and was happy where he was.

We do have sympathy with the parents currently involved, but when faced with a brick wall of rules and red tape it's difficult to see a way forward.

So my advice is: keep at it and try every avenue available - you may get what you want but you have got to do it yourself.

JOHN BELL, Whitehall Road, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.