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Original poster

Secondary School Appeal

58 replies

RCBOn · 14/05/2021 11:12

Please can someone help with secondary school appeal. We are appealing on the basis of admin error / miscommunication.

-10 October: Contacted the admissions team and asked them if its acceptable to supply only the rental agreement before the deadline as we would not have last 3 months Gas / electricity bills as mandated on the website, response was - That's fine, we will work with you to gather all the remaining documents.

  • Moved on 28th October and submitted rental agreement - 6 months contract
  • 17th Nov: Admission team asked for 3 documents - standard document evidence list from website ( Rental agreement up to March 2022, Disposal of old property / no access and at least other two other documents out of DL GP Registration Usage bills etc.
  • 19th Nov: we responded with what we had - DL, GP Registration, and reason why we can not rent our property - Had survey done and it required extensive building work and was worked upon by builder initiated in early Feb but delayed due to covid and the time the builders take to respond, plus the fact one of us were furloughed , we mentioned of our intent to extend the contract in shorter interval if possible.
  • 14th Dec: Admissions Authority - Individual - She was not satisfied with the address evidence we submitted and asked for usage bills to satisfy address evidence.
  • 15th Dec: we provided usage bills as requested in the same reply to her email
  • 12th Feb: Admission Team generic email id not the Admission Team official who previously asked us the documents in December, responded to 19th November email mentioning acceptance of DL,GP but require Rental document up to Mar 2022.
  • 17th Feb: our response was a big surprise to get it very last minute
  • 17th Feb: Now Admission Authority - The official and not generic email id, responded with an apology that she then accept the evidence we sent through so far, and the admission team was not CCd.
  • 17th Feb to 26thFeb: we didn't think we needed to provide anything more
  • 26th Feb: Admissions team generic id - asked for a contract extension again at 15.30PM
  • 26th Feb: we responded to check if there is a miscommunication and if this was going to affect our offer on Monday. Admission team official's email was on auto response on out-of-office and no response from Generic EMAIL ID in any form till March 9 on that.
  • 1st March: Looking at the offer we assumed that you are waiting for contract extension document.
  • We sent several email explaining all the previous communication and review and offer the place.
  • 9th March kind of Authorative email, having gone through all communication and correspondence, we ask you to provide Disposal of old property document in addition to Extended contract agreement referring to November email which lists all the documents but not considering to mentioning above review in December or their address evidence acceptance email on 17th Feb. and for admissions purpose they will consider us from old address only till we submit further evidence, but they will be happy to review the situation if we provide further evidence in future.
  • taking additional burden having to pay rent and mortgage, we took the risk to extend the contract till April 2022 in one stretch, and since we were in touch with letting agent after last month's email from admission team, we could now get the extended contract in couple of days and submitted but work on Previous property was ongoing, which the authority knew, hence we could not submit this before 15 April deadline.
  • Building work was completed on 12th April and contract document signed with Agent for letting out property and a copy of this submitted to Admissions authority to show our intent and update on progress.
  • We rent out the property on 28th April and submitted the Lease Agreement on May 4th and requested Authority to review the situation and offer the place.
  • Now a standard response we are receiving from Authority saying DS is on Waiting list and that we have lodged an appeal will process that request accordingly.

SO, I am not sure if I fight my case based on the fact that they Confirmed our address evidence document as Acceptable so should have considered for first round allocation, and should been consistent with the review, as we missed out second round and third round as well.

DS is allocated a school place which is near our old property and 7 miles from current property. Whereas our first choice school is 100 feet away in catchment.

Any help and guidance is much appreciated.

OP posts:
Zodlebud · 14/05/2021 21:28

I am guessing you moved right next door to a grammar school after knowing your DC had qualified.

I am sure your house repairs are genuine but come on. Instead of renting locally you decided to rent seven miles away rather conveniently 100 yards from the school on a six month contract.

You must surely see how alarm bells are ringing at the council and don’t feel this is genuine?

Wearywithteens · 14/05/2021 21:26

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn at the poster's request.

PatriciaHolm · 14/05/2021 20:58

The requirement does seem onerous yes, but it's clear on the county website that that is what is required. I think this area is probably very hot on address fraud, as it is a grammar area where schools often have a catchment/address element as well as having to attain the pass mark.

Hellocatshome · 14/05/2021 17:32

Letting your property and renting a property only a few miles away but so close to the school of your choice is going to ring alarm bells. I'm assuming the whole letting and renting scenario is just for the purpose of getting in the school as there seems very little other reason to do it. I dont know about your appeal as I didn't really follow your timeline with regards which rental agreement they were asking for at which point. I would try to come up with a reason (other than getting in to the school) for your complicated housing situation otherwise I dont think your appeal will get far.

admission · 14/05/2021 17:24

You have to go to appeal on the basis that you should have been considered under the rental address and that you have done everything that has been asked of you to supply requested documentation.
Whilst I agree with PatricaHolm that your OP is very confusing on some of the details, the LA does not seem to have been that helpful to you and some of their emails are not clear.
It is concerning to see a condition having been imposed that says you must have a rental agreement for at least 6 months after the 1st September 2021. That seems to be overkill on trying to stop people renting short term to get into a preferred school. In the actual regulations it is about where your child spends most of their nights at the point where you submit your application up until the date that that places are allocated.

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 14/05/2021 17:10

Why did you rent your original house out and move 7 miles away to a rental rather than selling and buying?

Original poster
RCBOn · 14/05/2021 17:01

@PatriciaHolm

Thanks for reply.

Yes, the first two statements are correct.

Documents I submitted for address evidence on 19.11.2020:

  1. Driving Licence (Parent)
  1. GP registration letter
  1. Rent agreement reattached new place - 6 months ( supplied with the ONLINE application)

w.r.t us still holding ownership of / not rented out property at xxxx xxxx is because of outstanding work that needs to be done under the builder's warranty. As per the independent survey report , Extensive Remedial work ( Page 10 last Para and Page 8 first para of the survey report submitted to Builder - can supply a copy if necessary) need carrying out to comply with Building regulations.

The Builder visit and follow up actions were initiated in March but had to be stalled but completed recently in early October due to Covid-19.We are still chasing the builder ( Plot xxxx xxxx - [email protected]) to complete the review and supply us with an action plan and start the work which will facilitate us to rent this house and thereby extend the rent at xx xx xx xx. In the current scenario having gone through Furlough earlier this year, we will be treading on extremely thin lines having to pay mortgage and rent at both the places, hence extending the rental agreement in shorter segments as much as possible.
Please let us know if you need further information.

Admission official (personal email id) reply on 15/12-

Good Evening,

I am writing to advise that we are unable to accept the document you have provided for address evidence purposes.

Please send copy gas/electricity bill dated within last three months showing usage at the property. Please ensure you add your child’s/children’s name(s) and date of birth to the document or in a reply to this email.

Please can I request that this information be sent no later than 10am Wednesday 16th.

I Document submitted same day

Next reply from Admission team Till Mid Feb as a follow up email to Documents I submitted in November

On Fri, 12 Feb 2021, 17:13 Admissions Education, wrote:

Good Afternoon,

I am satisfied with the Doctor’s registration letter and Driving License.

Unfortunately, I will not be accepting the tenancy agreement as it needs to be until at least six months after 1 September 2021 (March 2022).

Kind Regards,
School Admissions & Transport Team

we replied with surprise to official and generic email id both, as to why they are replying to an email from November, there were further communication from admissions team in December, and we submitted address evidence as requested that time

Reply from personal email of Admission authority as below on same day,

Good Afternoon

I apologise for not getting back to you regarding the evidence I requested. I can confirm that what you sent through is fine and has been accepted.

Thank you
xyz official name

Reply from admission team on 26th evening
On Fri, 26 Feb 2021, 15:19 Admissions Education, wrote:
Good Afternoon,

Please note that we still require the outstanding evidence.

Kind Regards,
School Admissions & Transport Team

Again a surprise for us and we expressed concern asking for immediate reply

Admissions Education
Mar 3, 2021, 5:43 PM*

Good Afternoon,

Our initial response on 18th November 2020 clearly stated the evidence we required.

Please note that until we receive the required evidence, we will continue to use your Milton Keynes address for admissions purposes.

We were upset why they are not referring to email correspondence from official but instead referring to earlier initial email only and asked to review the all the correspondence and offer the place

Admissions Education
Mar 9, 2021, 12:38 PM*

Good Afternoon,

Your address evidence and all correspondence has been reviewed and our response is set out below:

We recognise that you have not been able to let out your property in Milton Keynes due to outstanding building works, and that you are not in a position to extend the tenancy agreement. Unfortunately, we have no other option than to use your Milton Keynes address for admissions purposes.

We have had many parents in the past move into rental properties close to schools, then move back to the family home once a place has been offered. We endeavour to safeguard schools against this sort of action.

We will be happy to review the situation in the future, if further evidence is received.

Submitted the tenancy document for current property extending till April 2022 and explained the development at old property and the status of ongoing work.

WORK AT Old property completed on 12th April and property advertised for rent same day. We got tenant in at this property on 28th and submitted lease document for old property to show it is no more accessible to us on 4th May

We now asked to review the situation and offer the place

  • Their response - Good afternoon

Thank you for your email.

We can confirm that your child is on the waiting lists for xyz School and 123 school. We will contact you on 27th May if we are able to offer a place at either of these schools. If we are not able to offer a place, waiting list positions we be sent out of 17 June and 1 July.

We note that you have lodged an appeal for xyz which we will process accordingly.

Kind regards

OP posts:
PatriciaHolm · 14/05/2021 15:38

I'm not entirely sure what has gone on, some of this is a bit unclear I'm afraid but the gist seems to be-

  • you moved into a rental home pre application, and applied from that address.
  • you own another home 7 miles away, that was neither sold nor rented out at the time of admissions closing.

Is the rental agreement you are referring to one for the house you are now in?

The LA have understandably asked for solid proof that the move is a proper one and not a temporary one to gain a school place. Any move where the previous home is fairly near, retained and not rented will ring lots of alarm bells.

A lot seems to hinge on exactly what was said in Feb; this
" 17th Feb: Now Admission Authority - The official and not generic email id, responded with an apology that she then accept the evidence we sent through so far, and the admission team was not CCd.

  • 17th Feb to 26thFeb: we didn't think we needed to provide anything more"

doesn't make it clear as to whether the LA explicitly said they were happy and had everything they needed or they said they were happy with what they had so far but were awaiting more (the rental agreement). It reads a bit as if they requested a contract extension but you didn't supply this until April?

If you want to appeal on the grounds of an error, you will need to be crystal clear about what was asked for when, and what you supplied when.