In-Year Admission no place for my DC

[wishtobuyadog]

Hello.

We moved to Bromley Borough a couple month ago.
We applied In-Year Admission for our DCs.

DC1 got a school place recently.
Since we moved to Bromley, I have been driving to take them to previous school and it was getting too much for me so when I heard that our DC1 was offered a place, I couldn't stop crying.
It was such a relief.

Well, problem now is our DC2.
We still haven't heard anything from Council yet.
It's been 4 weeks since I personally handed all relevant documents in to Council.

The School our DC1 will go is 7 - 10 minutes walk whereas the school DC2 goes takes one hour drive each way....

My DH says he would withdraw DC2 from current school and start home schooling until a space comes up in any school then put DC2 on waiting list at the school DC1 goes.

I've never thought about home schooling so I'm worried but doing school run for two different location, one is 7 - 10 minutes walk and the other one is one hour drive is tough.

Would you choose home schooling in this situation?

Another question is do I have to write a letter to our previous school saying that our DC1 is offered a school place in Bromley Borough and leave this current school for this reason?

I guess we need to write a letter if we decided to withdraw our DC2 from school and start home education.

Any thought or advise is appreciated.

[PatriciaHolm]

The first thing I would do actually is push the council strongly and remind them of their legal obligation to find your son a school. At this time of year, a month should be plenty for them to sort him out somewhere. I would start with that, and then see where you end up.

[slebmum1]

What year group is it?

[chantico]

If you say you are going to start HE, then you may find this gets misunderstood by the LEA and they think you do not require a school place.

Yes, you can withdraw from a school that you can no longer reach.

And then harass the LEA because you have a child who is missing from education because they have not come up with the offer of a place.

(Obviously you can do educational things at home, but there is less incentive to come up with a place, by the Fair Access Protocal if necessary, if a child is missing from education and it's down to their competency).

[noramum]

I live in Bromley (well, West Wickham) and several of the children who joined DD's class over the last couple of years had this issue for a couple of months.

Some had to commute to areas like Greenwich or Dulwich until space became available.

I found (at least in our school) KS2 places were allocated quicker than YR-Y2.

[wishtobuyadog]

Thank you all so much for your comment.

DC2 is in Reception.
I know there is a regulation that they can not take more than 30 children in a class so I expected it wouldn't be easier.

I underestimated doing one hour drive school run.
I don't like driving tbh. I prefer walking or any public transportation but I knew I had to do it and I have been doing it for last couple of month and I found it tough.

I will def push LEA, telling them our situation and what we intend to do.
We were actually warned that it could take more than a year until a place comes up.

Thank you very much for your comment - chantico.
Yes, LEA might misunderstand if we simply write a letter saying we are going to do home schooling.
I will specify the reason why we are withdrawing DC2 from school.

I actually rang one of the schools which is not in our preference school list in the application form but I'm desperate so I asked whether they have any space in their Reception classes.
The lady answered the phone was quite rude and she just quickly said to me that all schools in Bromley Borough shouldn't tell me any availability and just call school admission and hung up before me.
Well, now I don't have any good impression of this school.

A few schools I rang before we made application form told me their availability.
Most of them were full and only one school told me there was a space and this is the one my DC1 got a place.
Only thing they didn't/couldn't tell me was waiting position but I knew they wouldn't know this info anyway.

Well, my DC2 is not even on the waiting list, we haven't heard anything from LEA since we applied.

I will call school admission now.

[wishtobuyadog]

Thank you for your comment noramum.

Commuting a long distance isn't unusual for in-year admission, is it.
At least I'm not the only one doing this so I shouldn't complain but it's tough.

It's just over 10 miles.
The morning rush hour. You don't need to put foot down. It's about 5 miles per hour for a long time then so many road works and temporary lights, diversion etc.

Well, I will call admission now...

[slebmum1]

What schools are you looking at? Bromley is pretty much over subscribed and they can't go over the 30 in reception classes so you're waiting for someone else to move.

[LIZS]

Have you tried neighbouring boroughs and LA?

[LIZS]

And if dc2 has not turned 5, or only just, he doesn't actually have to be at school anyway.

[aurorie11]

Can you not appeal based on sibling rule? Family moved into catchment eldest DC went to non catchment school, then DC2 due to start reception they got a place at catchment school. Parents appealed for DC1 (yr 1) based on sibling rule and got space despite class already being at 30

[prh47bridge]

Parents appealed for DC1 (yr 1) based on sibling rule and got space despite class already being at 30

Either they won for some other reason or they were incredibly lucky. Having a sibling at the school is not a valid reason for winning an infant class size case.

[wishtobuyadog]

Thank you, thank you all.

slebmum1 - thank you for your comment.
Yes, up to Y2(KS1), class size shouldn't be over 30 but after Y3(KS2), it could go up to 33 or 34.
I guess four schools reception classes we put down in In-Year Application form are all full.

I would mind if Council offer us a school in this borough which involves one hour driving journey each way but I would be able to do 20 minutes-ish drive every day

LIZS - Thank you for your message.
No, I haven't tried and I'm not looking for any schools out of this borough.
Purely because I just would like to cut down long journey so I'm not considering.
Unfortunately DC2 is already 5....

aurorie11 - Can we appeal? May be if we were told that there were no place in the schools we chose and they offer the other school, then I think we can appeal but we haven't heard anything from council since we applied.
I called few times this afternoon but no answer.
I'll email them.

prh47bridge - I feel the same. If the class is already 30, I don't think sibling priority apply but may be it did in their case.

I will speak to our current school office again.
The office told me that take the space for DC1 and put DC1 to breakfast club and after school club everyday in order to commute to current school for DC2.
Well, is this good idea? I'm not sure.

[alltouchedout]

I feel your pain. Ds1 was without a school place at all for half a term of year 1 when we moved- this despite my first trying to sort one out, providing proof of our new address etc, 5 months before the move took place. I had been told my proof had been accepted and he was counted as resident and would have a place, then later on they changed their minds... It was ridiculous. Funnily enough once I had got to the stage of asking my mp for help

[alltouchedout]

... a place suddenly was found. Three miles away and a CofE school and not easy to get to, but it was a place and at that point I was utterly desperate.

[admission]

If I am brutal about this, Bromley will say your child is in school, so they have no need to do anything, as there are no places available. That is an appalling state to be in but that is reality.
If the travel is too much then I would withdraw DC2 from current school, informing them that you have now moved to Bromley but have no school place for DC2. Do not under any circumstances say you are considering home education as that will just be a get out for the current school and Bromley Council. That should put the cat among the pigeons a bit in terms of safeguarding issues.
At the same time you need to inform Bromley Council that DC2 is now not in school and he needs a school place, preferably with DC1. Again do not mention anything like home schooling. I would also start an appeal as soon as DC1 starts at preferred school, as it puts pressure on Bromley to find a school place, as it will become the topic of a conversation at an appeal.
At the appeal the panel could, though not likely, decide that there are no school places available within reasonable commute distance and allow the appeal. An appeal while he is still in a school is virtually for sure not going to be successful but when they are not in school then that just opens the door a bit. At that point the 30 limit on infant pupils with one school teacher does not apply, if the panel decide to admit.
It is also quite possible for Bromley to order schools to take pupils over the 30 limit using the Fair Access Protocol but they would probably have to be out of school for several weeks before that might become a possibility.

[PettsWoodParadise]

My next door neighbours moved to the area and had two school age children to place in primary and one approaching school age. They got a place in Southborough within a few weeks of providing new proof of address. This still wasn't the local school of Crofton which is less than five minutes walk away and has 6 form intake so is huge. They had to wait two nail biting terms and just before submitting primary application for their youngest found they did have places at Crofton. What worked in their favour was: they had no other school place, willing to accept a place at another school but staying on waiting list for top preference, had said willing to take one place if it became available and not wait for two (in end both came up at same time) and finally being geographically close to Crofton so they didn't move down the waiting list when others also moved into the area. Note that Bromley Admissions are only open for a few hours each day and that is only the afternoon which all adds to the stress but when you do get through I have generally found them helpful. Good luck.

[Believeitornot]

Wheraboutd in Bromley?

[anotherbusymum14]

Home educate and wait. Home education is fine and not as scary as it seems. Also it makes the council a bit uneasy so ... as your child is young go for it. Do this until an easier solution comes along :)

[meditrina]

It won't make the council uneasy.

As admission says, if the DC is receiving an education (out of borough, in a private school, or by HE) the LEA will not magic up a place, and the 'easier' solution may never come.

OP needs to say the DC is no longer in school owing to the move of house, and that the place first applied for on (date) is now required urgently.

Keep a paper trail.

[wishtobuyadog]

Thank you all very much for your comment.

I understand what you mean admission.
The end of the day, we decided to move to Bromley for secondary school and it's our decision so if there isn't any space in Bromley borough, they can't do anything and also as you said DC2 is still in a school so they don't need to rush do they.

OK. We shouldn't mention any 'home schooling' to school or council.
I vaguely remember my DH saying that he sent an email to Admission team saying we'll withdraw DC2 from school but I don't know whether he mentioned 'home schooling' or not.
I'll check with him.

We put four schools down in the application form and these schools were simply based on distance.
Of course I would like them to go to walking distance school but after one hour drive commuting experience, I don't mind any schools in this borough as long as journey is within 20 minutes-ish.

Reception age... I can teach phonics, numbers and bit of math.
I can take DC2 to a big library in central Bromley.
I've never been but I've heard that the library is huge so I'm happy to take DC2. Swimming lesson may be, if I can find something.

[Believeitornot]

I'm sure there are spaces in the reception free schools which are actually quite good I've heard from parents locally even if the schools are new. They're Harris schools - there's the shortlands one (due to have a new building by September)