The Telegraph reports that many parents are struggling to find the right primary school for their children:
"Many more have been forced to accept second, third or fourth choice schools amid unprecedented demand among parents, it is claimed.
In some areas, more than 200 four and five-year-olds have yet to secure a place for September.
[...]
In Kington-upon-Thames, south-west London, almost a quarter of children were denied their first choice school and around 200 are currently without any place at all. In nearby Merton, 258 pupils are without a place and 63 children in Richmond are also still waiting, it emerged today."
We shouldn't be surprised when services run by politicians see shortages. So long as the best schools don't have the freedom to expand and new schools can't be freely opened - so long as the system is controlled from Whitehall - supply won't be able to respond to demand. We'll have shortages of quality primary school places, and politicians will keep dreaming up ever more inventive ways of allocating them, until we change things and put parents and teachers back in charge.
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