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Secondary education

Secondary place withdrawn today please help

449 replies

Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 15:50

I am still shaking

I have equal ability twins. One got into grammar one did not. We moved closer to be near the grammar and to secure my other twin a place at the local school, which we did at the start of March.

We have been through much heartache as this is a new area and a new school and my boys have been sad. I worked with the LA to secure the place after we moved. because we moved around offers day we were originally offered a failing school in our old LA which we declined once we had the new offer at the local school.

We did also appeal the grammar place for the comp bound twin - we proved his academic ability and the HT (presenting officer) said we gave a very persuasive case, but we were unsuccessful as they never allocate places on appeal. The boys wanted to be together but we were safe in the knowledge that whatever happened we had a comprehensive school place.

The twin who is going to comp has previously been under CAHMs for anxiety. He started to display these signs again so we took him to the doctor and have been working really hard to gee him up.

Tomorrow was meant to be a special transition day at the new school (he watched his twin go off to the grammar one yesterday) and we were looking forward to it.

out of the blue the HT of the comp calls me today to tell me that the LA has made a mistake in allocating its places and have withdrawn the place. The school wanted to let me know before the LA letter arrives so we don't go to the event tomorrow.

I have emailed my contact at the LA (ironically she is in appeals) the last place offered was 1.02 miles we are 1.04. I suspect they are currently allocating appeals places which we have missed the right to appeal. she says she is looking into it but as of right now we have no school place and I have a son on his way home who will be broken if we tell him.

We've had such an ordeal to get here. Aside from being morally bankrupt, is there a legal leg to stand on here? Apparently the LA messed up on quite a few offers made.

I just don't know what to do. I took the call at work and had to leave early. we have bought the uniform and built up to tomorrow. I am in total disbelief and feel sickened that my son is being messed around this way.

I have emailed the school again to ask that they intervene. Please help Tiggytape anybody?

OP posts:
Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 15:55

The special transition day tomorrow was aimed at children like my son, who are starting comp without knowing anybody,. It was going to be a fantastic opportunity for him so even if this is resolved he will not get back this key transition opportunity.

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doubleshotespresso · 13/06/2017 15:56

Oh gosh OP I cannot imagine your rage....

I would urgently call the headteacher back, requesting a formal meeting and then also the contact details for their Chair of Governors. This simply sounds very late in the day to be throwing this kind of information via a telephone call.

Stay calm. Get informed. I will post some links for you in a bit when I am nearer my laptop.

I also think somebody in this mix has has an obvious duty of care/obligation to seek out equivalent alternatives, but I would be pushing as hard as hell for your DS to remain as planned.

Take a breath and get yourself to the school asap. Do not leave until you have sound answers, alternatives etc

These are for you: Flowers

I will be back later.

loveyouradvice · 13/06/2017 16:03

Sending you (flowers) as alas I have no answers but gut-wrenching for you and DC... any way you can go to the school yourself and talk to them? Sitting outside HT door until you get some answers? TODAY??

And I wonder too, if having been a CAMHS child might count in your favour? Again don't know but know it supports your argument that your DC is vulnerable...

Thinking of you and DC lots ... so unbelievably tough...

Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 16:05

Thankyou so much. I am devastated. It has been so hard to reach this point - my son is finally in a place where he could look forward to life in this new school. We have been through so much as a family and it just sickens me to the core to think that the LA is pulling this crap three months after we accepted the place and knowing full well our complex case history and our struggle.

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peukpokicuzo · 13/06/2017 16:19

I am not an expert but I believe that on previous mn threads I have seen info that states:

School places can only be withdrawn in very limited circumstances.
(a) if the incorrect place was awarded due to fraud or accidental misinformation on the application form then the place can be withdrawn at any time, even if the child has already started (it does not sound like this is the case for you based on the op
(b) if the LA made a mistake and notice it almost immediately and withdraw the place within a few days of making it.

If you received your offer back on offer day in good faith then they cannot now withdraw it, this many weekd later, if my recollection of previous similar threads is correct.

PatriciaHolm · 13/06/2017 16:25

if they offered you a place in March and you accepted, and there is no hint of them thinking the application was fraudulent (e.g. your move was permanent, you don't have another home somewhere else) then they are on very very dodgy ground.

Places can be withdrawn, but only under very limited circumstances (fraud, or the LA making a mistake). However, they don't have an unlimited time in which to do this. Under the previous admissions code, 3 days was established as the rough time, though its not yet been tested under the current code as far as I'm aware, but there is no reason to suspect that it should be significantly different now, and 3 months is way too long - you will have been significantly disadvantaged in not being able to get another place over that period.

I would go back to them and say that you know that the LGO has ruled the that, if a place is withdrawn on the basis of a mistake, this must happen within a few days of the offer (case 99C01876), and you expect the place to be reinstated. If they refuse, I would take it to appeal (you can appeal at any time, it doesn't matter that the "deadline" has passed).

Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 16:25

Thanks - it's just scary that they are being so blase about this error - they said they know it must be frustrating!. I have requested that the LA confirm just where we are supposed to go and what error has been made. she has asked for time but my son is due back and was due to go to the event tomorrow - where does that leave us?

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Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 16:27

Patricia - our posts crossed. Useful that we can appeal any time, but I am gutted that we should have to after everything, especially now that it is mid June and transition days are being held, uniform bought, classes allocated.

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GoodyGoodyGumdrops · 13/06/2017 17:01

Can you send him to the transition day in any case? Don't tell him about the offer being withdrawn, and ask the school not to discuss it with him. Or, if that's too big a pill to swallow, explain it as "there seems to have been some sort of mixup, which we are sorting out".

Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 17:15

Thanks but the school called me to stop him attending the transition day! I wish I hadn't picked up and sent him regardless...

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peteneras · 13/06/2017 17:17

I would just attend the transition day with your son anyway. If prevented from doing so at the school, tell them their action is illegal and you'd be seeing your MP straight away from the school gate to be followed by a consultation with your solicitor. Good luck and keep us updated.

Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 17:23

Thanks - I just don't want my son to see us turned away at the gate as he is supposed to walk into school on his own tomorrow (no parents allowed). I have just heard back from his primary head who is disgusted and will help us.
I was just looking over the email I sent when we got offered the place - to my contact at the council - thanking her for changing our lives. we went out and celebrated. It is cruel to do this to children.

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loveyouradvice · 13/06/2017 17:34

You will - I am almost sure - find people at the school if you go now - i.e. the HT etc....Can you drive there now by any chance? . I think Goody Goody's suggestion is the best to discuss with them, unless they can provide evidence of why they can withdraw their offer today.... they probably can't in which case you could ask for your DC to go tomorrow with no one being any the wiser "while you both sort this out" and that you want their help in safeguarding his mental health ... somehow try and get the school on your side, saying that you do understand that a mistake has been made and that your understanding is that your son does still have a place.... Good luck!

loveyouradvice · 13/06/2017 17:35

when were you offered the place middleoftheroad?

how long ago?

So glad your primary HT is on your side....

YOU WILL WIN - though I just hope the fallout for your DS isn't too painful in the meantime....

Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 17:36

Thanks - I am scared that I have blown it with the school now due to my shocked response.
I have since spoken to some HTs I know who say that this looks like some appeals have been upheld and therefore other places retracted.
Deeply worrying.

OP posts:
eddiemairswife · 13/06/2017 18:01

Places are not withdrawn when appeals are successful. The schools have to manage with extra pupils.

Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 18:06

I have had an email from the head who says that under their original admissions criteria we should not have been offered a place (assuming the distance - we were 0.2 miles off the original last offer) and that three other families are also impacted.
He writes:
My concern is that should we admit your son, there are 10 students whose appeals are being heard over the next week, who are “more entitled” to a place in terms of the admissions criteria, than the 3 students for whom this error applies.

He says the chair of appeals panel says this leaves them open to legal challenge.

However, we are not part of appeals. There was a maladministration and we also missed our right to appeal at the earliest time. Surely this refers to a different part of the appeals code, the one about not retracting a place regardless of appeals.

OP posts:
Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 18:07

We were offered the place on March 6th :-( so for three months we have been preparing for this....

OP posts:
eddiemairswife · 13/06/2017 18:13

You still have the right to appeal.
On a different matter.... the chair of the appeals panel should not have any communication at all with the head. The panel is independent of you and the school and all communications should be through the clerk.

peukpokicuzo · 13/06/2017 18:15

So they made a mistake but it would be grossly unreasonable for your son to suffer from that mistake given that the appeals deadline is passed and you have lost 3 months that you might otherwise have spent making appropriate arrangements. Do not accept their assertion that your son no longer has a place. They offered it, you accepted it. The appeals panel can decide what to do about the 10 "more entitled" people but their options should not include destroying your son's health and wellbeing by dropping this bombshell. See a solicitor and stand your ground.

Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 18:20

Thanks for the advice - good point eddiemairswife.
Peukpokicuzo - I have emailed a solicitor for a call back. I have emailed my MP. I have emailed the world I think.

OP posts:
prh47bridge · 13/06/2017 18:35

I have since spoken to some HTs I know who say that this looks like some appeals have been upheld and therefore other places retracted.

They are absolutely not allowed to do that.

He says the chair of appeals panel says this leaves them open to legal challenge

The school should not be communicating with the chair of the appeals panel in this way. The panel must be independent. And whoever said this is completely wrong. If someone is offered a place in error it does not allow everyone else who should have been offered before this child any route to a legal challenge. At most it means the child who should have been offered the place also gets in.

Is this an academy, a community school or something else?

I agree with PatriciaHolm. Whilst the previous 3 day limit has not been tested since the Admissions Code changed a few years ago I can see no reason to believe it would change significantly. In my view 3 months is far too late to withdraw a place due to a mistake. You may have spent money on uniform. You have missed out on the first round of appeals, so any appeal is less likely to succeed because of those appeals that have succeeded already. You have missed out on a place at the school you would have got if they had not made this mistake.

Personally I would not get a solicitor involved. Most of them have little or no understanding of school admissions and could make things worse.

Point out to the LA the ways you have been disadvantaged (use my list above and add anything else you can think of). Remind them of LGO case 99C01876. If they refuse to back down you should lodge an appeal. In the circumstances I would kick up a fuss and demand that it is held before the summer holidays.

Please keep us posted. I'm absolutely furious on your behalf. They should not be doing this. I will be keeping an eye on this thread but please feel free to PM me if you need any further advice.

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Middleoftheroad · 13/06/2017 18:43

Thankyou so much prh47bridge - the HT said that he is going to take further advice from the appeals panel!

It is an academy but I believe it follows the LA admissions - the LA allocates places. However, I have a letter both from the school and the authority offering us the place in March.

I will email the authority again and see what they come back with.

I really appreciate everyone's feedback during a difficult day.

OP posts:
keely79 · 13/06/2017 18:49

This is horrific.

Is it a standalone academy or part of a network? If a network, you could try the head office?

Have you tried the chair of governors? The head has to answer to them.

In extremis, threatening adverse publicity for the school might encourage them to reconsider.

admission · 13/06/2017 18:52

Between the school and the LA they are getting this very wrong. Your posts would definitely suggest that what has happened is that someone who is appealing has said that there has been a mistake and they should have been admitted. The school and LA have checked and they have realised that there is a mistake.
As others have said the time scale between you accepting the place and this very late withdrawal is way longer than would normally be allowed. You very definitely need to go back to the school, as they appear to be the admission authority and state the case for the place being reinstated. If they confirm in writing that they are not then you appeal and say that this is totally unacceptable in what they accept in a vulnerable pupil.
The school and LA are making a classic mistake in assuming that they need to withdraw the places to allow those that have been disadvantaged to have a place. This is not the way it is supposed to be done. The school gives the 3 pupils that have been disadvantaged a place and then when they have the appeals they say a mistake has been rectified by the granting of 3 extra places. What that does is make it more difficult for the panel to admit those that have appealed unless they have a very good case. As Eddiemairswife says there is no way the Chair of the Panel should be talking to the Head - that says they are not independent. The Chair is also wrong on being more open to a legal challenge from other appellants, they actually have less when compared with you.
My only concern is that everything that has been said, suggests that the school and LA are unsure of correct process and that the appeal panel may well not be as aware of legal precedents than some of us are. I would push as hard as possible now for reinstatement because as time goes on, it is more likely that they will get firmer in their intention not to admit.

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