to be pissed off that even though I moved house at the beginning of the summer holidays, my ds will not have a school place for the beginning of term?

[wannaBe]

Everyone says moving in the holidays is the best time.

We have moved from wiltshire to Kent - at the beginning of August. However, we were unable to apply for a school place until we had completed on the new house, and even then we had to provide all of the following:

letter from solicitor saying we no longer lived in our previous house
Letter from previous local authority confirming no longer paying council tax there
Final utility bill from previous address
Letter from current local authority confirming we are now council tax payers here
Utility bill or welcome letter from utility company here.
DS birth certificate.

All of these naturally took some time to arrive, so it was about ten days before we could even apply for a school place. So presumably if we'd moved mid term we would be expected to keep our ds out of school for that amount of time...

However, on Friday I received another letter from the LA saying that's not enough and that I also have to provide a letter from the child benefit department confirming the child's name at this address. I duely rang them and they said that such a letter would be with me in fifteen working days.

Once the LA have all their documentation it will take up to three weeks to process.

So while schools start back next week, and I will then have been here for five weeks, it is not inconceiveable that, by the time I receive the child benefit letter and given the three weeks it might take to process our application, ds will have missed the majority of the first term of school.

This is beyond ridiculous - I am applying for a school place for an eight year old, not to join the secret service fgs.

As a result I am seriously having to consider going back to swindon and either moving in with my parents or into a hotel until we are allocated a school place because I do not want ds to miss so much school, and upsetting him into the process as he's already had to say goodbye to his friends once and is now settling here.

Ibu?

[rainbowinthesky]

Surely they can place him and then withdraw if it turns out you lied!
Madness.

[lazylula]

Could you contact the school of your choice directly? Most school around my area handle there own intake once the initial intake is done (as in they have a waiting list for children to join mid term or in a higher year), that way they may be able to offer you a pace immediately.

[wannaBe]

oh and just to add, because it's the holidays, they can't actually do anything until the beginning of term because they don't process applications in holiday time due to there being nobody in the schools. even though admissions are dealt with centrally by the LA and not the schools...

[lazylula]

By initial intake I mean the main allocation of Reception places.

[DogsBestFriend]

No you're not but rather than stew I'd try contacting my local MP and getting him/her to kick the LA up the bum. (Or the local press?).

The LA should surely be able to place your child under the In Year Fair Access Protocol, which in my county covers children who have moved into the area. My county's regs are that this should be achieved within 3 weeks, if not it's a Government Ombudsman matter (had to take my own case there for reasons other than a house move, won the case, got DD placed, was financially compensated and LA rapped over knuckles and told to apologise to me, which they did).

Check Kent's Protocol and if it applies wave it at the LA, emailing them with quotes and ccing to your MP. I did that too, by god the LA sat up and took notice whereas they'd previously spent months doing sweet FA!