primary application - non of the preferred choices - appeal ?

[jaabaar]

Hi

We didnt get any of the four choices we listed...

Is there a chance to appeal?

The school we got is really terrible.

Even late applications got into the school of our first choice and we were on priority two out of 9.

Shall I refuse the school we got?

Is the only thing I can do is go on waiting lists? Am I automatically on waiting list?

I dont even know how to appeal etc.
Any advise from somone more knowledgeable then me is very aporeciated.thank you.

[meditrina]

Do not reject the school place you have been offered, unless you can HE or afford private. This is because the LEA is obliged to make only NE offer and this is it. The legal duty to ensure your DC receives education remains yours, so unless you know what you would do other than use state schools, keep the offer as the fall back.

You should go automatically onto the waiting lists of schools you listed in higher preference than the ones you got. But ring and check. You can also apply for more schools now. Waiting lists must be kept in order of how well the prospective pupils fits the entrance criteria (not date you join the list).

How do you know about what happened for late applications? What you outline sounds anomalous and might be grounds for appeal.

[3asAbird]

Hi sorry hear dident get your choices neither did we have 3 choices here.
General advice here seems to be accept place offered.

you can defer place to jan.

join wait lists for all 4choices and any extra you consider

ring lea and see what other schools have vacancies if any?

yesterday i only had choice 1 school my lea had allocated.

rang nearby lea and now have choice of 3

sadly none of 3 on my list or same school dd1 attends.

I dont know how to waitlist or appeal yet

I intend to appeal 2/3choices each school appeal i separate and im none too hopeful based on previous years.

I know seems mad late applicants got higher ranking but same as if no 1 on wait list then someone new moved in area closer to school bumps you down.

if you turn don place the lea dont have duty find you another school hence why i say accept , defer you dont have start keep as backup and hope wait lists, appeals pan out.

Im trying stay calm nothing i can do until next week when schools open.

Im going look at another school vacancies next week.

going to look at allocated school.

work out how much missed out by where on wait list, how to appeal.

all this could take months as its just 1st round.

some will move, some go private.

god if could afford it so would I

everyone says lots movement in sept.

good luck

[PanelChair]

Good advice already from Tiggytape and meditrina.

[admission]

One thing in your initial post worried me. You said even late applications for your first choice got a place. How do you know this?
It should not have happened because applications received after a set date are considered after all other applications and if there were places you should have been offered one.

[PenguinsLoveFishFingers]

Yes to what admission said. If late applications (ie after the deadline) got in and you didn't it suggests you should investigate whether there was an error with processing your application.

[PanelChair]

Apologies for not picking up the question about late applicants.

There does seem to be something amiss here, in that late applicants are behind all on-time applicants in the queue, even those in lower admissions priorities. It may be that an error had been made and you should investigate this urgently.

[jaabaar]

Thank you very much to all for replying in such detail. I appreciate your time very much. All valuable information as my DH wanted to reject the school place immediately which I realise now is a bad idea!

I called the LA and asked if I can put any schools on the continuing interest list which I hadn't included on our original application.
They told me I can do this only after the 16th of June.

However, speaking to some other parents they are insisting that you can do it from now??

Does anyone have info about this?

I will check further on late applications to see what happened.


Thank you again, I appreciate.

[admission]

That seems to me to be incorrect information that you have been given by the LA admission office. You can ask to go on the waiting list for any school you want and to not allow you to do this till the 16th of June seems to me to go against the rules that allow you to ask for a place at any school and then if full go on the waiting list.
I think you need to check again and preferably make the request in writing. If the admission authority say the same I would be tempted to refer the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman as this does not seem right that the LA can stop you doing anything for over two months to get a school place that suits you and your child.

[jaabaar]

Admission
I think you are right! They did give me the wrong information!
I read now all the info I got with allocation email and from that it seems I have a deadline till the 23 April to add any new school to my preference list (keeping it to max four though).

But I can only choose from a list of 9 schools which acce

[jaabaar]

Sorry posted to early!

But I can choose only from a list of 9 schools which accept new preferences for first continued interest round.

However I then found another information which said that if I didn't get any schools from my original preferences I can add any new preference from a longer list which includes the school I want to add!

It is confusing enough without getting wrong information when you speak to LA!

I would have missed that deadline if I believed them and it was not pointed out here on mumsnet!

So confused...... I will mess it up again...

[admission]

Jaabar, I am afraid that this is the problem for a lot of people, the admission authority has their ways of doing things which in their mind make perfect sense but to the normal person applying for a school place are very difficult to understand.
I would ask for all the school you want to go on the waiting lists for and make the LA tell you in writing that you cannot do that (if that is what they want to do). The key point here is to make sure that you get all "advice" from the LA in writing because if it comes to an appeal situation and it is your version of events against the admission authorities version it gets very complicated. If you have something in writing then the appeal panel will accept this as clear evidence.

[jaabaar]

I am happy with the rules as long as I am not getting a different information about the same thing when I call.

School has decided to contact LA directly to sort out this confusion.
Faith school says yes I can apply for their school with deadline 13/4.
LA insists I can.

Do they have to send me an email confirming this if I ask them to?

Some parents told me that if the faith school says yes I should amend preferences and add it anyways, regardless of what LA says.

Shall I do that?

Faith school told me to call in the morning after they spoke to LA.

[prh47bridge]

I wouldn't rely on them sending an email on request. After a telephone conversation I would send them an email setting out what they have said and asking them to confirm that your understanding is correct. If they confirm that it is or fail to reply you can use your email as evidence in any appeal.

As Admission says, you should send the LA an email immediately telling them which waiting lists you want to be on and asking them to confirm that you are on those waiting lists. Keep chasing them until they respond.

[jaabaar]

Mistake! Correction on my above statement:

"Faith school says I can apply for their school with deadline 13/4.
LA insists I CANNOT!"