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Secondary education

I missed acceptance deadline with Local Authority

12 replies

Kirari · 16/03/2018 19:14

DS was offered his first preference. We were all delighted. DS got in via aptitude test and the school is in a different borough from where we live. The school emailed me on the following day asking us to inform if we accept the offer within two weeks. I filled all the required form for acceptance, returned and even phoned them to double check of the safe receipt.

Today we received an official confirmation email of our place from the school. In the email they advised us to accept with our Local Authority also if we hadn't done so yet. It was 4.30pm today. I went blue.

I called the Local Authority, but it closed at 2pm. I went to the website and logged in to see DS's status. It said DS was offered a place at our first choice and stated we should accept or decline within two weeks (yesterday). There was no where for me to accept the place any more. Instead there was a link to How To Appeal...

Have we lost a place already? What should I do next? Should I appeal? Will he be on top of their waiting list if we appeal as he was offered a place in the first place? Where is he going now...?

Can't eat, talk nor drink. I just feel so stupid... I am not from this country so everything was totally new. I made sure every step up until now. And I screw up at the very end of the journey.

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washthoseclothes · 16/03/2018 19:22

You poor thing.

I don't know about these things.

I hope someone who does know can pop on here and help.

ThanksThanksThanks

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IntheMotherhood · 16/03/2018 19:22

I think you should be fine as you confirmed with the school itself and they have acknowledged your confirmation. If you haven't done so already email the LA and leave message highlighting your innocent error in not accepting both and your attempt to contact them as soon as you became aware.
I'm sure someone more expert in the matter will advise on this thread.

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xyzandabc · 16/03/2018 19:24

I'm pretty sure if you neither accept or decline, the authority have to make another attempt to contact you before giving the place away. Speak to them on Monday and try not to worry over the weekend.

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xyzandabc · 16/03/2018 19:29

Yes, just double checked. Paragraph 2.12 of the national school admissions code says:
Where the parent has not responded to
the offer, the admission authority must give the parent a further opportunity to
respond and explain that the offer may be withdrawn if they do not.

You will be fine. Google schools admission code to see for yourself. Each admissions authority has to abide by this code.

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Kirari · 16/03/2018 21:10

Thank you all. Your kind words helped me calm down a bit, though still feeling tense and disappointed. I emailed LA to confirm our acceptance of the offer and apologise for the lateness. I will call them on Monday too. Hope the lines are not too busy and I can actually talk to someone. I don't know if I can sleep well till then.

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MartaHamm · 16/03/2018 21:49

Did you receive an email from the LA on the 1st with the offer of the place? There should have been a link there (there was in mine). Perhaps you can try that link? It might not work now but worth a try. Good luck!

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admission · 16/03/2018 21:53

They cannot remove the place from you until the LA have contacted you again, so there will be no problem over this. You also have informed the school both verbally and in writing, so there is no way this will be an issue.
There is however an issue and that is that the school should not be contacting you directly for the answer. The whole purpose of having a co-ordinated admission system is that there is a system and that system is that you reply to the LA admissions team in the LA you live and they send on the outcomes. The school have caused un-necessary concern on your behalf as well as putting a blip in the system

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Kirari · 17/03/2018 00:25

MartaHamm, yes we received an email from LA on the 1st with the offer of the place but there was no link. It said I had to accept/decline within 2 weeks but didn't say how. Therefore when I received another email from the school asking me to fill the documents if we were accepting the place 'within two weeks' I got mixed up. I only found out it was supposed to be done online when I logged in DS's account on their website and saw the message.

admission, we got a place at a school in a different borough. I assume you have to inform your acceptance to both LA and the school in this case? Or no?

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TammyWhyNot · 17/03/2018 07:59

The Borough tne school is in makes no difference: all communications go through the LA the child lived in and applies to.

This is where the school have caused confusion. They should have left it that all communication went via your LA.

Though they were maybe writing about the aptitude / scholarship aspect of the place?

I can imagine the fright you felt! Good that they have to leave a margin for non-response. Call them on Monday, e mail as back up and fingers crossed!

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SavoyCabbage · 17/03/2018 12:39

I was in a similar situation. My dd has her first choice place in the neighbouring county.

The acceptance email was from the county I live in with no mention of formally accepting the place. You don’t have to formally accept in this county.

Then on Wednesday I was emailing with the secondary school office about a performance my older dd was in and the email said something that made me realise I was supposed to formally accept! I rang the neighbouring county admissions department and formally accepted and the bloke said I was ‘cutting it fine as it was the last day’. I nearly threw up!

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Kirari · 17/03/2018 16:45

Tammy, I received two emails from the school, one about the scholarship and another about general things asking to fill the form if we were to accept the place. I don't want the school to be in trouble by me talking about this in public. Their last email made me aware of the necessity of responding to LA so I am rather thankful to them...

Savoy, how many days later was it since the public deadline when you formally accepted the place on the phone? My deadline was last Thursday and I emailed LA about my intention to accept the place on the following day's evening (Friday evening). I hope it's still not late....?

I am feeling sick and throwing up now...

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PatriciaHolm · 17/03/2018 18:18

As admission said, there is zero chance of there being a problem here, so do take a deep breath. The place cannot be taken from you simply because you have failed to respond on time. The LA have to make efforts to contact you again if you don't accept. You will be fine.

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