Dispute over Wheathampstead school places
A HEAD TEACHER at a Wheathampstead primary school has rejected claims that nearly 20 of her pupils were denied a secondary school place. A report in this week s The Herts Advertiser said that 17 Wheathampstead children were denied any of their three ranke
A HEAD TEACHER at a Wheathampstead primary school has rejected claims that nearly 20 of her pupils were denied a secondary school place.
A report in this week's The Herts Advertiser said that 17 Wheathampstead children were denied any of their three ranked secondary schools and that all of them are currently pupils at Beech Hyde School.
But this morning head teacher Hazel Millard said that those figures were inaccurate and that in fact 16 Wheathampstead children were denied places, 11 of which are at Beech Hyde School.
She added: "I am disappointed with the report because it did not convey the true story. Children from both schools in the village, Beech Hyde and St Helen's Church of England Primary School, have been affected by this year's secondary transfer process."
County councillor for St Albans Rural (Wheathampstead and Redbourn) Cllr Maxine Crawley said that she too was upset by the report: "I've got panicked parents on the phone wanting answers and I know how they feel because I went through the same thing with my son two years ago."
She added: "I am working on ways to calm things in Wheathampstead in the future and parents of those children affected have been invited to one-to-one sessions with admissions officers on March 11 at St Helen's School on Brewhouse Hill between 9am and 1pm."
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A spokesperson form Herts County Council (HCC) confirmed that 17 out of 57 Wheathampstead children did miss out on a secondary school place, 11 of whom currently go to Beech Hyde School.
A total 33 Wheathampstead children got their first secondary school choice, three got their second choice and four children got their third choice.
