School accused of hiding places reserved for musical children

12 April 2012

A top London school has been accused of "hiding" places reserved for children who excel at music.

Fortismere school in Muswell Hill offers 24 places to the musically gifted, which should be open to every child in Haringey.

But only those children who had a connection with the foundation school were told about the scheme.

An information pack giving details of the places was sent to all families in the borough last month, after the deadline had passed.

The lack of information may have contributed to a 21 per cent drop in applications. This year, 136 children were put forward by their parents to sit Fortismere's musical aptitude test, compared with 174 last year.

David Lammy, MP for Tottenham, said: "A number of parents have now approached me with concerns regarding the fact that the 24 musical ability places at Fortismere School were kept hidden from most parents even though they were open to all children from across the borough.

"There are some fantastically talented young musicians in the east of the borough who could have really benefited from attending Fortismere.

"It beggars belief that the places were not appropriately advertised so that everyone had a fair chance of getting a place.

"Music is a real success story on this side of the borough, it is incredibly disappointing that the opportunity wasn't extended properly to students from the entire borough."

Places at Fortismere are highly sought after and Ofsted has rated the school "outstanding".

When the school announced in January last year that it would select 10 per cent of pupils based on musical aptitude, some parents were angered by what they saw as an elitist policy.

But governors promised to give all pupils in Haringey the chance of securing one of the places based on their musical ability.

The headteacher at the time the policy was introduced was former concert pianist Aydin Onac, who was the first head in the country to receive a £40,000 golden hello when he joined the school in 2006.

Jules Mason, chairman of governors at Fortismere, said the school had received a "small number" of complaints about the way the music test had been advertised.

"The arrangements were placed on our website, and having sought independent legal advice can confirm that we have not acted in breach of our admissions procedure by communicating the arrangements in this way," he said.

Mr Mason added: "I have responded to the small number of complaints received. In each response I have acknowledged that we can, and will, improve the communications around this for future years.

"A letter from our headteacher emphasising our commitment to this will be sent to heads of Haringey's primary schools shortly."

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