We are obviously very aware that the best solution in the long term would be a new secondary school but if we accept that and do nothing now, the community will be in tatters by the time a school is built and children will have been scattered all over the place and the more affluent will have moved house. The over subscription numbers are actually not as horrendous as you would think and the proposal to exclude L and D from the catchment is really a sledgehammer to crack a nut (bear in mind most children got in on the waiting list last time).
Most other addresses in the Oxted catchment have far more choice of Surrey schools which are nearer to them than any Surrey school is to us and they have what we haven't which is choice. If children from other areas were offered these other schools the CC would still meet the admissions code criteria of taking into consideration journey time to school and the parents would be given choice which is also one of the criteria.
Because the number of places needed is not too high there would be a surplus of places at Oxted if Lingfield and Dormansland were no longer in the catchment area. These places would be offered to children out of catchment based on nearest to school criteria. This means that the Kent children who were meant to be excluded by a fixed catchment at Oxted would gain places ahead of us as we are further away and therefore by not being in catchment we will effectively have no chance of gaining a place even if there are spaces available which there is likely to be. Birth rate figures for the next few year fluctuate and even based on last year most children were offered a place based on distance to school. Removing us from catchment is the worst position we could be in and being included has to be a starting point for other arguments. Therefore could everyone please make sure that their response focuses on the way in which we are being disadvantaged as a rural community and as a rural community on the county border. Could we also point out that other areas have far more choice and that obviously the transport links ensure that we can have a good journey school despite being in a rural area. Therefore there is no reason to exclude us and every reason to keep us in to safeguard our choice, our journey to school and our links with the northern part of the district as highlighted by Peter Ainsworth.