National Offer Day - 1st March. Anybody else anxious?

If your daughter would have got a place but for the mistake, that is a good case. You don't need to show any further disadvantage, although it is useful if you can. However, if she wouldn't have got a place anyway, the mistake is irrelevant.

@PRH47Bridge I hoped that you would respond, thank you for doing so.

I’m in a slightly unusual position as I know both these families. There is another child I have been told about, and yes, in that case I don’t know if there may be other factors which may mean that child falls into a higher category.

The admissions policy says in the event of oversubscription places awarded in the following order:
1, 2, 3 which is broken down into 4 subcategories and within each of the categories there are priorities such as medical/exceptional social need/EHCP/Sibling

I think it would be hard to provide reason that my daughter will be disadvantaged by the mistake. I know the allocated school has some bullying issues, but many children are happy there. This I will have to consider, I know the journey and difficulty accessing the allocated school aren’t adequate reasons.

Appreciate all the comments,

They do keep it quiet and quite rightly. But some also know that in some areas this can guarantee a place in the school they want so will provide evidence to get the place.

I think you may have misunderstood me (or maybe I you?). Of course adopters provide info to the LA re their child's adoptive status since by law in England ex LAC are way up the priority list. I just meant that random other parent may not know the child is adopted, and thus may think they were incorrectly given the place.

@TeenPlusCat Many people with adopted children, especially if there are no 'outward issues' keep quiet about the fact their children are adopted to other parents. So that would be an example of a child apparently being offered a place from too far away, even though in reality they would be nearly top of the list. Alternatively they might have lied about their address (see various threads on AIBU where far too many posters seem to find it acceptable.)

They do keep it quiet and quite rightly. But some also know that in some areas this can guarantee a place in the school they want so will provide evidence to get the place.

If anyone thinks someone has lied to get a school place please please let your local Admissions team know. They will check it out. Some people think it's ok but it's not, and your Local Authority won't think it's ok.

The school ExitToTheLeft is dealing with has very poorly drafted oversubscription criteria. I'm sure they don't implement them as written as they have distance listed as a category ahead of some of the groups to which they want to give priority. Critically, if ExitToTheLeft's twins are in the same band, the school doesn't define how it breaks the tie on distance. It appears whoever wrote these didn't anticipate this situation. They cater for two applicants in the same block of flats (provided they are in different flats), but not two living in the same house.

Alternatively they might have lied about their address (see various threads on AIBU where far too many posters seem to find it acceptable.)

Quite often parents appeal because other children who live nearby have been offered a place and they think this means that a mistake has been made. Sometimes children are offered a place because of reasons that other parents don't need to know about. Look at the admissions criteria for your area and look what's at the top.

As Meditrina says, if a mistake has been made the crucial question is whether the mistake cost your child a place. If your child would have missed out even if no mistake had been made, an appeal relying on the mistake should fail. That is why, even if you believe a mistake has been made, you should always include arguments as to why your child will be disadvantaged if they aren't admitted.

Will also appeal as one option on the school’s appeal form is that you believe there has been a mistake in the way the admissions rules have been applied which has denied your child a place

It's not just that a mistake has (possibly) been made

It's also that the mistake denied your DC a place.

So, if there were indeed no non-obvious factors about the apparent anomalies you have spotted and it is a mistake, you wouid only win at appeal if your DC had been deprived of a place because of it.

If admissions reached a lower category than your DC, but somehow missed your DC out when going through his category (maybe mis-assigning him to one even lower) then yes you should win.

But if these two mysteriously jumped up the list, it would only be relevant to your DC if she were in one of the top, wo places on the waiting list (ie the two people who would have had those two places). If he's 3rd or lower, the mistake didn't deny him a place, so the appeal would fail.

For example, you don't know if they have previously been in care. You don't know if there is a compelling case on compassionate grounds. You don't know everything about them. Because it's not anything to do with you and they don't owe anybody an explanation.

There could have been a mistake, somebody could have conducted a very careful and expensive fraud - or you could be complaining about somebody who has exceptional circumstances they have chosen not to share with you when everybody's asking 'What did you get? What band were you in?'.

'It's not fair' doesn't make for a successful appeal. By all means say you think there has been a mistake, but look carefully in the policies and see if there is something else that is more useful.

It was pretty much a given, but always that slight worry something's gone wrong

Spoke to a parent today who was flabbergasted that we didn’t offer him a place as they live close and “the headmaster said we’d get in”. Yes if you’d applied on time you would!

When I pointed out he applied late he said he was “away”… really? You were away for 2 whole months? … and it can be done on your phone?!

Just a word of warning to anyone here for advice on next years intake… apply on time!

We didn’t get our first choice school. I am aware of 2 children that I can name that fall into a lower band that have been allocated places. Have accepted offered place and we automatically go onto waiting list (stated in LA email) .

Will also appeal as one option on the school’s appeal form is that you believe there has been a mistake in the way the admissions rules have been applied which has denied your child a place,

Worth contacting the school and asking for T2 to be placed on the waiting list just in case it's not been done automatically, though.

There's no application process at all!

Agree with PanelChair. Without knowing this school's admission criteria, it is impossible to be sure, but many schools try to keep twins together. The worry here is the mention of a banding test. If they were in different bands, that may be the problem. If you are uncertain, feel free to PM me the name of the school and LA involved and I will be happy to take a look for you.

That’s why you need to keep probing, to check (amongst other things) whether they overlooked that they are twins or whether the banding results (or anything else) override them being twins.

When I received the email regarding the banding results, it stated that I should apply as both are likely to be offered a place.

Do you know what cutoff between the banding scores was? You may have got unlucky in that if they are in seperate banding groups, the fact they are twins may not be relevant.

Hmm. You flagged up that they are twins but there’s still the possibility that they didn’t treat them as twin applications. Do double-check. The LEA should be able to tell you your place on the waiting list, but there’s likely to be a lot of churn this week as people decline places because they have moved or have a place in an independent school etc etc, so it might take a little while (and even then your place on the waiting list could later move up or down as more people join the list).

They're also aware that they're twins as you have to state that on the application, so something has happend along the way.

Thank you I'm going to call them tomorrow and work out what I'm going to do
He is on the waiting list and both took banding tests with only a 2 point difference.

Does anyone know how I view how high up he is or would that also come from the LEA?

Yes, it’s rare (but not impossible) for twins to be separated under current admission arrangements. Check the LEA/school’s oversubscription criteria and check that they were aware that they are twins.

@ExitToTheLeft defo check the policy & see what's happened

My Twins have been allocated two different schools. One was our second choice that we're pleased about the other is a school we didn't apply for, which is our closest but a horrible place and ds will not be going there.

I'm devastated, but had a feeling this was going to happen.