About
Why we formed
The group formed following a severe shortage of places in Roundhay in 2015. Its original aims were:
- To fight for extra local places in 2015
- Provide a support group for impacted parents
After the success of the original campaign we wanted to make a more permanent difference and kept the group going to help future parents. We also submitted a successful bid to open a new free school. There is much still to do though and one of our original aims to provide support to parents is ongoing.
What we want to achieve
Our core objectives are:
- To provide information to help parents going through the process of choosing schools
- To provide support/guidance to those who need it
- To make sure that where new places are needed action is being taken
- To improve the communication between the council and parents (in both directions!)
- To be as open as possible in everything we do
Who we are
We were initially members of the community in North East Leeds who came together to try and improve things in the future but the group has some wider Leeds membership now too as people from other areas with school place problems have found it. There are hundreds of members of the Facebook group now!
This website was put together by Mark, initially to be a place to show the historic catchment maps he put together, but hopefully to also become a useful fixed resource to help parents.
Mark
I used to live in the school places ‘black hole’ in Roundhay and, when I heard about the problems of so many others, was keen to help solve the problem for the future. With my professional actuary hat on it seemed clear to me that the allocations system was less than ideal and, without that changing, extra places in the area would be the only way to close the places black hole.
I put together the catchment maps to hopefully give parents a clearer picture of what schools may be available and I hope to expand the functionality further in the future. I was also the lead applicant for the successful Free School bid that was submitted.