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Original poster

Secondary Admissions - what if I do this.....

33 replies

Floppythedog · 20/07/2021 22:23

I was thinking of doing this on the preference form

  1. Catchment school
  2. No preference
  3. No preference

The reason for this is that for years now (maybe around 10?) children in our village haven’t got into the catchment school. And yes, it definitely is our catchment school - I think every single person I know has checked with the LA over the past few years and the catchment area map clearly shows our village.
Instead the village children are split between a school in a town further south (19 miles away) and a school in a town further north (21 miles away) (its even further north than our catchment school (9 miles away) - you have to go past the catchment school to get to the north school!). Depending on whether children are lucky or not and numbers of the same age group further south, the lucky ones go south (on average - probably 1 or 2 a year and they all live further south than us). Based on past admissions data, we would be going north. Parents have to pay for their children to go to these schools (we’re talking thousands in transport costs every year and logistically dreadful to get to) because the LA argue that because the school was named on the form it is parental preference and they have no obligation to pay for transport. This winds everyone up especially when you have to go past children going south to the catchment school, who actually live closer to the north school than the catchment school, until you get to the north school - but that’s another story.

The school further north is inadequate.
I can not afford the transport costs.
I refuse to bankrupt myself for an inadequate school we don’t want.
We have no other acceptable options other than these three schools. The closest schools after these three are 31, 34 and 38 miles away.
We will get a place in inadequate north school because they have a PAN of 150 and have taken, over the last 3 years, 49, 52 and 49 children into Y7.
This is the school the LA will allocate when we don’t get the catchment school.

I was thinking of ordering the preferences as above. In other words, naming only the catchment school, because, in my head anyways, if the LA gives us the north school they are responsible for the transport costs because they sent us there. Is this correct?

OP posts:
Cattitudes · 20/07/2021 22:54

Is it worth trying to contact other parents and lobbying for another class in the catchment school? It sounds as if it is not really adequately serving its population.

Original poster
Floppythedog · 20/07/2021 22:51

@titchy thank you

OP posts:
Original poster
Floppythedog · 20/07/2021 22:51

@PatriciaHolm that’s fantastic, thank you. Is there somewhere that is written down? Is that something in a document I can find online or ask the LA for?

OP posts:
titchy · 20/07/2021 22:50

Local Gov Ombudsman. https://www.lgo.org.uk

Original poster
Floppythedog · 20/07/2021 22:47

@HairySandwiches. No chance at the further away schools. I wouldn’t subject DC to a journey like that. It’s going to be an hour plus each way.
All of the further away schools fill any empty places from north schools catchment so there’s not much point.

@titchy I don’t know what an LGO is? Can you explain more please?
All I know is that for previous years, when people in the village haven’t got the catchment school and been given either north or south the LA has argued they are responsible for transport costs because it’s down to parental preference and they named the schools so they have to pay. There have been lots of arguments about it and I know a couple who have tried getting the LA to pay following (what I assume) are the official routes, but, no ones had any success. There’s a huge thing going on locally involving the LA at the minute because of it. No idea what the outcome will be.

OP posts:
PatriciaHolm · 20/07/2021 22:40

The LA are responsible for transport costs if the allocated school is more than 3 miles walking distance for secondary, and there is no nearer school you would have got a place at had you applied to it.

It sounds as if the LA may have be wriggling out of their transport obligations in at least some cases - whether the parents applied for the school or not doesn't matter, what matters is whether it is their nearest school that they would have got a place at. If there is a nearer one that they would have got a place at had they applied, then they are not eligible for transport costs, but if the school is the nearest they would have qualified for of all schools, and is still more than 3 miles, they should qualify.

titchy · 20/07/2021 22:40

How about put your actual preferences down in order. If you get allocated north school or south school and the LEA refuses to provide transport refer them to the LGO as they have a legal obligation to provide / pay for transport. They can say they don't have to but they're wrong. Legally they do.

HairySandwiches · 20/07/2021 22:34

Sounds like a dangerous plan, but I fully understand your reasoning. I think you are right that the LA will provide the transport costs if they send you to a certain school but I wouldn’t swear to it.
Someone like @admission and @prh47bridge might be able to tell you exactly where you stand on this.

Are you completely sure you would get the “north school”? What happens if for some miracle it is oversubscribed next year and the LA send you to one of the schools 30+ miles away?
Obviously I don’t know your area but are any of these 30+ miles away schools easy to get to and better than “north school”? You might be surprised and find they have better transport links? If so, would you consider naming one of these? The costs might be worth it for a good school?