Schools refusing end of year 10 entry

Are you sure no option to repeat year 11? I do know of state school kids who have repeated

@RayOfRainbow - Where the LAs aren't coming back to you, check you have followed the Fair Access Protocol and if you have and they still haven't replied, look up the name and email address of the director for education and DCS (Director of children services).

Forward your previous emails with the Subject line marked Urgent to the admissions team, CME team and the director for education, copy in the DCS. Attach all relevant documentation again relating to your son (attendance and behaviour records, mocks etc)

Outline what you have done, as per their FAP and that they are now breaking their own protocol - say that you are giving them three working days to respond otherwise you will raise a formal complaint.

If you don't get a response by Friday morning, look up the complaints procedure for the LA and forward the email trail to the complaints team. Also look up who the Lead Member is for education in the LA and copy them in.

If none of that works then raise a complaint with the LGO https://www.lgo.org.uk/

Similar process for the academies - check you've followed their admissions procedures, forward email as Urgent and copy in the Head Teacher and CEO of the academy trust quoting the relevant bits of their admissions policy (including PAN numbers for any saying they are oversubscribed) and attach documents.

Again, if you don't get a suitable reply within three working days, escalate as per the schools complaints procedure and copy in the chair of governors. If the school does not follow its own complaints procedure, or does not allow it to be completed, you can escalate to the DfE

End of yr11.

@RayOfRainbow I am not au fait with the english system. what year do they usually go up to a, what is it, sixth form college??

We take students in yr11s, it's never good, because inevitably the GCSE syllabuses don't match, but we just have to do our best. They're always disadvantaged by this, but sometimes families have no alternative.
There's some good advice on here, especially about lodging an appeal. Good luck.

Your local authority will have a Fair Access Protocol which they should use to find your son a school place if the normal in year admission process have failed to identify a school. You should be able to find a copy on their website. Many local authorities have Fair Access Panels to place pupils and there might not be a Panel until September. I run the Panels for a local authority and we are just in our last round of Panels for this school year. I also second contacting your MP and also local councillor. They can be more effective than MPs because they are literally at your place of work and can appear at your desk!!

Although you can ask for a pupil to be placed back a year that is always a school decision. I would also agree with lodging appeals with all of the schools that are refusing. I am always amused by the number of school which suddenly find a place when faced with the expense of organising an appeal.

The 15 days will be working days do they’re only just over the timescale to be fair.

What's the alternative provision like in your area? If you can get him in under a proviso that they accept you may be able to get them to curate a timetable that you can split between you at home and there. For various reasons they are less fixated on exam results so may be more willing to take him.

You can repeat yr12 because you can have 3 years funding post 16.

What about college? He might be able to complete his studies there and do the exams. I did this when I was 15 because they school I moved to couldn't accommodate 3 of the GCSEs I was doing.

Also definitely get your MP involved if at all possible.

If they're blocking year 11 entry I'd be saying in the same letters that if they can't facilitate year 11 entry then you'll take a year 10 place so one way or the other they can provide you with a place. I know plenty of kids who are out of cohort just fine.

If you don't want to home educate don't say that's an option or they'll go with that.

I'd lodge an appeal. I'd also write to the head and chair of governors informing them of the appeal, copying the lead councillor for eduction. I'd also write to your MP.

I know schools are loath to admit so you are going to have to push.

Can you not commute him to his previous school for the last year? Is it too far?

If my maths is correct he is 14 and 11 months old.

Id be tempted to contact schools directly asking for place in yr10 starting in September.

i'm going to be that person and ask why you are moving now.

Most private schools would make him repeat year 10

How old is he - would undertaking an apprenticeship instead help at all?

As I mentioned earlier I moved schools half way through y10 and it was very difficult. I took smp maths before (modern maths) and the new school did algebra/calculus etc. They taught their syllabus in a different order, I had to do a different era in history and was made to do cookery (food and nutrition) as a non academic subject- I can't remember what I had to drop!
My dm did say that they could delay moving and df could travel home at weekends but db was 12 months younger than me so it would have been 2 years.

I applied for new schools, SEN children, 3 different schools, at start of covid . Nightmare dosent even cover it !
the only way I got anywhere was to email and give clear instructions on what you want ; eg; if I don’t get a reply by x I will have no option but to complain to x
also email local mp, emailed mine today for diff reason as got a reply within an hour :)
can Ofsted offer any help ?

I changed school half way through year 10 (we moved from Liverpool to Southampton) and it was pretty traumatic as in those days syllabuses could be very different. Probably a lot of schools don't want their exam results affected but the LA has a duty to provide education.

Year 12 is a new formal point of entry and the rules about post-16 education are different. Repeating year 12 is quite common, but not relatable to repeating a year within the years of compulsory education, if being educated in a school.

Also here we can at least call the council hotline who get an admissions officer to call back for complex cases, is there definitely no way of speaking to admissions?

Im in Surrey and in year admissions didnt open until 1st July so they are telling me that its 15 days from then for response (I am looking for a primary place due to bereavement). Could that be why you havent heard anything yet?