Can a grammer school place be withdrawn after a 6 weeks

When you got the results of the 11 plus in October did it say that he had been considered suitable for high school or grammar school? If it said grammar school then you could argue that the expectation of a grammar school place dates back to October. If it said high school then it would be more apparent on 1 March that there was an error. Presumably you would have applied anyway with the hope of appealing.

Although it shouldn't matter how far short he fell in English on the 11 plus, if you can show it wasn't by much it might be easier to appeal. As they are standardised scores they cluster around 100, so if he got 106 instead of 107 then he would be close to the pass mark. If he got 103 though, there will be a lot of students between 103 and 107. I would go with admissions advice to challenge them initially, but if that fails then appeal.

I agree with PRH that the first course of action is a strongly worded email to the LA saying that this is totally unacceptable and that you will be going to appeal and then if necessary to the School Ombudsman. I would indicate in the email that you are aware of previous precedent cases that indicate that 6 weeks is far to long a period for the offer to now be withdrawn.
The LA will always be nervous about these kind of appeals that could generate a lot of publicity, so it is worth making a strong set of comments now in the hope that somebody in the LA recognises that this could get "messy" for both the LA and school involved and the easy option is to re-offer the place. The problem is that when these kind of issues arise, it is frequently not one individual but a lot of individuals which makes the problem far more difficult to resolve.
I do feel for your child because they will be a really difficult position and I think you need to think carefully whether now is the right time to tell him or not.

I didn't think Kent had English? My son got NVR, VR and Maths scores. Do they look at English as well?

I'm really surprised they have contacted you so late, that's crazy.

As well as the advice here, it is worth looking at www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/viewforum.php?f=35 there is specialist advice there on appeals for grammar schools, there is a kent section and an appeals section.

If he didn't pass on English then it does sound as if there was an error in offering him the place, however six weeks is a long time to wait to notice it - maybe it was as part of other appeals that it came to light. Do you have evidence from the school to show that his English is generally good and the 11 plus was an exception? Do you have evidence of the bullying around the time of the eleven plus? Depending on the school and spaces grammar schools do admit children who missed out by a few marks and often such children do very well. I would definitely fight the decision.

There are only three grounds on which an offer can be withdrawn. One of those is that a mistake has been made and the place was offered in error. Precedents from cases that went to the courts and the Local Government Ombudsman established that admission authorities only have 3 days to withdraw an offer made in error. However, many admission authorities take the view that changes in the Admissions Code mean that these precedents no longer apply. I am of the view that they do but there are no new precedents to confirm this.

I would, nonetheless, argue that withdrawing a place 6 weeks after it has been offered is unreasonable. Your first avenue should be to make this argument to the LA. However, if they refuse to reinstate the offer, you will have to appeal. Your argument would be:

• it is unreasonable to withdraw the place after such a long delay
• the delay has disadvantaged you as you have bought uniform (if this is true) which will now be wasted and no-one is going to compensate you for this
• it is unlikely that they will now be able to put your son in the position that he would have been in had there been no mistake, so he has been disadvantaged by the delay
• the delay means that you have been unable to lodge appeals for any preferred schools before the deadline. This means that your appeals for this school and any other school for which you appeal are likely to be heard after the main round of appeals. This further disadvantages your son as your chances of success are reduced due to previous successful appeals

I would hope that an appeal panel would see sense and reinstate your son's place.

Having said all that, I find it odd that the LA has asked you not to tell your son until they have made a new offer. I wonder why?

OMG 😲 I cannot imagine your feelings.
Please, don’t give up. Your child definitely deserves this place.

According to this, there are only very limited circumstances in which you are allowed to withdraw a place once it has been accepted.

childlawadvice.org.uk/information-pages/school-admissions/

Might be time to contact a lawyer. Did you have legal insurance as part of your household insurance?

Do you know on what basis they've withdrawn the offer? Did they give any explanation? Second getting advice from the experts @admission, @prh47bridge.

Hope you get it sorted for your son.

I'm not an expert by any means but I was under the impression that an offer could only be withdrawn within a certain period of time. Say a few days at most? I'd certainly think that 6 weeks is way too long to realise the error, especially as you have the admissions pack and had no reason to believe your DD wasn't going there. Do you know what the error was? Can you appeal?

I believe there are very limited circumstances within which they can withdraw an offer.
There are some real experts on here and hopefully they'll be along soon. Thry are brilliant and incredibly generous with their time.

Wow! I would fight for that place so much! I don't know if that would change things though!
Poor you! Poor son! It is lovely that he is doing all this prep work! I wouldn't know how to tell him!

I don't know anything about it either but I hope you get the advice you need, surely you must have grounds for an appeal?

I'm sure I have read here that a place can't just be withdrawn once some time has elapsed. Don't give up OP - if you don't get answers on this thread ask some of the admissions experts (admission, prh47bridge etc). I hope one of them will be along in a minute.

I'm sorry, I don't know anything about this but just want to say I feel sick on your son's behalf. How awful