Pls help - allocation mistake, do I need to appeal?

[LightTheLittleLight]

Hoping someone can advise on procedure where we didn't get our first choice secondary due to (I think) school's mistake. At risk of outing myself completely with this, but anyway here goes:

Applied for secondary schools for DS and our first choice was a faith school. Its over subscription criteria are as follows:

1. Looked after children of the faith
   
2. Children baptised in the faith currently attending named faith feeder primaries
   
3. Other looked after children
   
4. Siblings
   
5. Children baptised in the faith living within the area of responsibility.
   

Followed by various other criteria not relevant to our situation.

DS is baptised in the faith and lives in the school's area of responsibility.
He did attend one of the named feeder schools for two years but we had to withdraw him when his younger sibling did not get a place (long story). Hence he falls within category 5.

The admissions policy then lists a number of tie-breakers in the event of oversubscription in any of the categories. Some of the tie-breakers specify that they apply to certain categories only, but tie-breaker 3 simply states that the length of time an applicant has spent in a faith feeder school will be taken into account and priority will be given to those who have spent the longest time at such schools. Tie-breaker 5 then states that in the event that none of the above tie-breakers resolve the situation, places will be allocated according to distance from the school.

DS did not get a place. However, the school's allocation statement says that a number of children from category 5 (DS's category) were allocated places based on distance from the school, so the closest children were allocated places. Therefore it does not appear that tie-breaker 3 was applied to this category before moving onto tie-breaker 5.

Obviously our case is that tie-breaker 3 should have been applied first, in which case DS would have been given a place, before the school started allocating places based on distance alone.

Can anyone knowledgeable tell me if they think I've got it right? Also, my understanding is that, if I am right and the school have made a mistake in not allocating DS a place, they have to admit him. So what happens now? How should I approach things with the school? Will I need to follow the normal appeal procedure and wait until the hearings in June or will the school have to resolve its mistake and offer a place now?

DS is gutted but I haven't told him I believe there has been a mistake in case I'm wrong. Tbh I'm so annoyed with the school I'm tempted to go with our allocated place (which is a really good school) but I know DS desperately wants this one.

Would be grateful for any advice, thank you

[ginmakesitallok]

Surely the tie breaker ree length of time spent at feeder school would only apply to those children who fulfilled the criteria re current attendance at a feeder school?

[AKnickerfulOfMenace]

I agree with gin. However, it makes sense to ask. Was there space on the form to write the information about length of time at previous schools?

[AKnickerfulOfMenace]

Generally speaking, if they have made a mistake, they should admit without appeal but some schools go to appeal any way as (a) it's politically easier to say the extra pupil came from appeal and (b) if a number of people are affected by the mistake, the panel may have to judge between them.

It does sound a bit ambiguous from your post, TBF.

[TheMoa]

Surely all that means is that the category 5 children who got in due to distance had spent longer in feeder schools than your child?

[HSMMaCM]

Isn't the tie breaker just for if the last two children are equally matched on distance etc, so they need a tie breaker to pick who is the last child admitted?

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

I think HSM has it right. The tie breaker hasn't been applied to anyone because all decisions were made up to and including cat 5

[LightTheLittleLight]

Gin, some of the tie-breakers specifically stated they were restricted to certain categories, e.g "in respect of category 2.." Etc. Tie-breaker 3 did not. In previous years it did indeed limit itself to the category of children currently in feeder schools but that wording was removed from this year's admissions policy. At the time of application, I spoke to the Vice Principal in charge of admissions and asked whether she agreed it appeared to apply to all categories and she agreed that that seemed to be how it was written, although I have nothing in writing confirming that.

HSM- tie-breaker 5 (distance) says that it only applies after the other tie-breakers have been considered, so i think 3 should be considered first and distance only taken into account if there are two children who are equal on the previous tie-breakers.

TheMoa - yes that could theoretically be the case although I suspect our situation really isn't that common...but the allocation statement issued by the school specifically says that the places in category 5 were allocated solely on the basis of distance.

Hope that makes sense!

[SoupDragon]

Isn't the tie breaker just for if the last two children are equally matched on distance etc, so they need a tie breaker to pick who is the last child admitted?

Distance is the last type of tiebreaker used though. Wouldn't all the children eligible under Category 5 be ranked in order of 1st tiebreaker then 2nd etc etc. the OP thinks her DS qualifies under a tie beaker that's he thinks comes before they choose on distance.

[LightTheLittleLight]

Yes, SoupDragon, that's it

[SoupDragon]

I wonder of the feeder school tie breaker only applies to over subscription in the feeder school category though. It's seems an odd one to use in other circumstances.

[LightTheLittleLight]

Agree it's odd - but surely if that's what is written in their published admissions policy, they have to follow it?

[RandomMess]

Did it ask on the application form whether he had ever attended a feeder school?

I think this possibility never occurred to them but it does sound like you can appeal on those grounds.

[PatriciaHolm]

I suspect the issue lies in the disappearance of the qualifying text between previous years and now. That may well have been an error (printing? typing?) so the admissions authorities have only applied it to Cat 2, as that was always how it used to be and they didn't realise the text had changed.

Even if it was a printing error, the error still stands. I think your interpretation is correct and the tiebreaker should have been applied to your son.

However, getting the admission authority to admit an error may be hard. They should do, but many will make you go to appeal anyway because then they can say "well, not our fault you had to take an extra pupil, they won on appeal..."

At this point, you need to contact the admissions authority and see what they say.

[LightTheLittleLight]

I mean, even if they intended it to apply only to cat 2 applicants, if they don't say that, they surely can't enforce it that way?

[LightTheLittleLight]

Ok so I need to contact the school (which is its own admissions authority) and see what they say?

To those who asked, yes we had to complete a supplemental form giving details of baptism etc and list all primary schools attended with dates. I did include the time spent at a feeder school.

[OddBoots]

It's worth a try. No-one on here can say with certainty any more than that but it certainly does sound worth appealing.

[RustyBear]

In our borough's allocation statement, the only tiebreaker specifically mentioned in each case is the last one to be applied, ie the one that made a difference. Which could mean that there was more than one child with two years in a feeder school and they used distance to choose between them.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was more than one child who had two years at the feeder, I work at a junior school and we do get quite a lot of children joining in Year 5.

[RandomMess]

I would put all correspondence with the school in writing and be polite but ensure you use the appropriate terminology.

Plenty on here can help but "I believe that you have not applied your admissions criteria correctly and on those grounds I appeal for my dc to be admitted as an exception.

[prh47bridge]

This certainly sounds like a mistake. I would be happy to take a look at the published information and confirm if you would like to PM me the name of the school and the LA involved. If it is a mistake you should point this out to the school (in writing) and see if they will correct the issue without an appeal. You should also appeal. I'm afraid most admission authorities will insist on an appeal even when it is blatantly obvious they have got it wrong.

[LightTheLittleLight]

Prh47bridge, thank you I'll send a pm

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

I still don't think the tie breaker was applied though. If they've got to criterion 5 and filled all their spaces with children that have met the criterion of 1, 2, 3 and 4 and children in 5 who live closer then there's no ties to be broken.
If they'd got to the sibling criterion and had more siblings than spaces then the tie break would be used.
If there was a tie of two equidistant applicants for the last space under criterion 5 then they'd apply the tie break options one by one. In that case the distance category is a nonsense but it would work for the first 4 criterion.
So no tie break was applied.
Of course if people have got in purely on area of responsibility who live further away then something is wrong. Or if there's no mention of distance within the area of responsibility then it should have gone to tie break.

[GiddyOnZackHunt]

X posted with pr to whom I defer :) Ignore me!

[LightTheLittleLight]

Actually it's interesting to see all the different opinions! I think it's possibly not a very well drafted policy tbh!

[HSMMaCM]

Prh is your expert here (also tiggy or admissions if they come along )

[admission]

I think that this admission criteria is not particularly well defined and it will depend on the exact wording of the full admission criteria and the specifics that go with it.
I would question the tie break criteria around time and specifically in your case how would anybody know that you child attended the school for a period of time or for that matter any of the applicants? Seems a very dodgy admission criteria but without seeing it in total difficult to comment further.
Please feel free to PM me with LA and school name and I will look at the admission criteria