Romesh Ranganathan loses son's school place appeal
Image caption,
Romesh Ranganathan said he had emailed the council six times after his son's school placement
Author, Stuart Maisner Role, BBC News, South East
1 hour ago
The comedian and TV presenter Romesh Ranganathan has said his appeal to get his youngest son into one of his preferred choices of secondary schools has been turned down.
Mr Ranganathan said he had "accepted the decision" but commented that "the system wasn't working".
Speaking in a video on Instagram the TV personality said "lots of people in the same situation" had contacted him and that the situation was "particularly bad for people with special needs and disabilities".
A spokesperson for West Sussex County Council (WSCC) said: "We understand the disappointment of parents who are not offered a place at a school of their preferences."
Mr Ranganathan commented that there was "no easy solution to the situation" and said his family would have to "go with an alternative".
In April the comedian said he had emailed West Sussex County Council six times after his son had been placed in a school "on the other side of town", and not at the same school as his elder two brothers.
He said at the time he had received no response and his local MP, who agreed to investigate, had been told the council "can't do anything about it".
A WSCC statement said: "We do all we can to provide young people with school places and this year we were able to offer 87% of the 9,050 secondary school applicants a place at their first choice of school, while nearly 97% were offered a place at one of their three preferences.
"Applications are considered by our admissions team on their priority according to the relevant oversubscription criteria for their preferred schools, which may include proximity of the school to home and whether other siblings attend the same school."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
24 minutes ago
- The Guardian
End to school rating system could play havoc with house prices, says Ofsted chief
House prices in England could be put in turmoil by the government's scrapping of headline school grades such as outstanding or inadequate, according to Ofsted's chief inspector. Speaking at an education conference, Martyn Oliver said parents and schools had become familiar with headline grades after 30 years of use, saying he knew of house prices shooting up by £15,000 after nearby schools were graded as outstanding. But from November schools and colleges will be given more nuanced 'report cards' with up to 11 different grades given to each institution. Oliver said: 'We're about to take that away and change it to something else that for more than three decades people were used to. I mean, here's the burning question: what's Rightmove going to do?' Rightmove and other property websites prominently display Ofsted's headline ratings for nearby schools on their listing. After laughs from the audience, Oliver said: 'It's a serious point. Ofsted is probably one of the best-known regulators and inspectors in the world, let alone in this country.' Asked what impact the new report cards would have on house prices, Oliver said: 'I don't know but I do know that where I live … we've got two special measures schools right where I live, and the house prices shot up. They were both in special measures, both went outstanding, and the house prices went up £15,000 in a week. It does make a difference. 'Parents obviously put a value on it.' Ofsted inspections and gradings were criticised after the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry, after an Ofsted inspection downgraded her school from outstanding to inadequate. Perry's husband told her inquest that she worried local house prices would fall as a result of the downgrade. Doing away with headline school grades and bringing in report cards was a manifesto pledge by Labour at the last general election. From November, schools and colleges in England will get ratings issued on up to 11 different areas. Each area will be given one of five grades: exemplary, strong, secure, attention needed or causing concern. But there will be no overall or summary grade. So far, headteachers and teaching unions have been unimpressed by Ofsted's proposals, while Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, is said to be monitoring the results closely. The chief inspector apologised for the rushed nature of the changes and consultations. He said: 'The system was saying Ofsted needed urgent and quick reform. And so I chose to put something out that I knew would be just the beginnings, just the foundations.' Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union, said: 'The mess Ofsted have got themselves into is entirely of Sir Martyn Oliver's making and it is disappointing that he has tried to pass the buck.' In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@ or jo@ In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at
The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on proscribing Palestine Action: blurring civil disobedience and terrorism is a dangerous step
When the Labour government introduced anti-terrorism legislation 25 years ago, it stressed that it was targeting extreme crimes. 'Terrorism involves the threat or use of serious violence for political, religious or ideological ends. It … aims to create a climate of extreme fear,' said Jack Straw, the then home secretary. Some MPs still feared that a group like Greenpeace, which had destroyed genetically modified crops and temporarily halted nuclear weapons production at Aldermaston, might be proscribed. Mr Straw reassured them that such bans would be used only when absolutely necessary; he knew of 'no evidence whatever' that the actions of the environmental group 'would fall remotely under [its] scope'. UN experts warned this week that 'acts of protest that damage property, but are not intended to kill or injure people, should not be treated as terrorism'. Yet on Wednesday, MPs voted – by 385 to 26 – to proscribe Palestine Action under the 2000 legislation. The Lords were expected to approve the order on Thursday. Unless a high court judge orders its suspension at a hearing on Friday, from Saturday, being a member of or simply expressing support for the group will carry a maximum penalty of 14 years. The ban was announced days after Palestine Action claimed responsibility for breaking into an RAF base and spraying paint on to planes that it claimed were supporting the Israeli military campaign. Four people have been charged. Hundreds of lawyers, cultural figures and groups such as Amnesty International have condemned the ban. It is lamentable that MPs backed it. But cynically listing two white-supremacist organisations on the same order – Maniacs Murder Cult, whose members have claimed violent attacks globally, and Russian Imperial Movement, which seeks to create a new Russian imperial state – made it harder for legislators to vote it down. The British state has plenty of legislation to deal with direct action. Palestine Action activists have been arrested and charged with criminal damage, violent disorder and burglary. The suspicion is that frequent acquittals have led to this order. Pouring paint over military aircraft and buildings, and tossing smoke bombs, does not sound like the kind of extreme act that the public rightly reviles as terrorism. Rather, the ban appears designed not only to silence supporters but to reduce public sympathy by placing the group on a par with Islamic State and the extreme-right group National Action. Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, alleges that Palestine Action's methods 'have become more aggressive, with its members demonstrating a willingness to use violence'. The public will need to see evidence of this – rather than take such claims on trust – if their faith in the state is not to be undermined. Palestine Action has targeted property to challenge a war in which tens of thousands of civilians have been killed. The group's protests embarrass the government: the UK continues to supply equipment to Israel's military as it slaughters Palestinians. Despite overwhelming evidence that war crime is piling on war crime in Gaza, and reportedly contrary to the advice of its own lawyers, the British government will not say that Israel has broken international law. The government should be doing all it can to end this conflict, not to criminalise protests against it. But you do not need to sympathise with Palestine Action's aims to believe that its proscription sets a chilling precedent and undermines democracy.
The Guardian
26 minutes ago
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Labour's NHS plan: it is right to celebrate medical science, but delivery is the hard part
The NHS is a totemic institution in Labour's history and that of the country, and voters care more about it than most things the government does. So the publication of Labour's 10-year plan for health in England was a crucial opportunity for ministers to show that they are in tune with the public. Given that satisfaction with the health service has hit a record low of 21%, and doctors are again threatening to go on strike, the announcement was also a moment of peril – even before the damage suffered by the prime minister and chancellor earlier this week, when rebels forced a U-turn on planned cuts to welfare. The overarching principles of Labour's reforms were set out last year: more prevention, more technology, more care delivered in the community (as opposed to in hospital). So the challenge was to find something fresh, original and hopeful to say. The promise of science and the potential of localism are what Wes Streeting's team has come up with. The strand of DNA pictured on the document's cover points to high expectations of genomic medicine and other cutting-edge technology. Neighbourhood clinics, by contrast, represent a prosaic recognition of demand for more ordinary services and treatments, from an ageing and increasingly unhealthy population. The aim is to deliver most outpatient care away from hospitals by 2035. This could mean GP surgeries becoming more like hospitals, or hospital trusts taking a bigger role in primary care. The plans for new contracts make it clear that both are possible. But while this sounds fine in theory, questions remain over how, and by whom, such crucial decisions will be taken, and whether the new model will be better than the old one. With the abolition of NHS England, and scaling back of integrated care boards, the existing administration is being radically downsized. One of the risks of the next few years is that this backstage upheaval will distract time and energy from the frontline. Plans to shift resources from richer areas to poorer ones deserve an unequivocal welcome. There is no great secret about expertise being concentrated in prestigious teaching hospitals, or about richer, better educated people being more confident advocates for themselves and their loved ones. Shifting the 'best to the rest' is both a neat slogan and an acknowledgment of present unfairness. Plans to integrate employment support and services such as debt advice into healthcare hubs signal an encouraging awareness that illness and disability have socioeconomic as well as biological causes. The plan tells a promising story. Healthcare is an area of human progress that all can celebrate. It is plausible that proactive Labour ministers can both drive advances and ensure that they are more equitably shared than in marketised systems. Embedding more healthcare workers in communities, and focusing on outreach, could help to improve population health. But there are some worrying gaps. Social care reform is due to be tackled separately, but worsening mental health, particularly in young people, also needs dedicated attention and research. Ministers should also be pressed on the contradictions between their health plan and their pro-growth, anti-regulation message to businesses – including those that sell alcohol and the high-sugar foods that cause obesity. Having brought control of the NHS in England back in-house, to the heart of government, Mr Streeting must now find the people with the imagination to further develop his plan, while turning it into action.
