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Original poster

Secondary School Admissions - I am livid

35 replies

Mimiso · 08/03/2010 11:34

Hi All,

As the thread title goes, my son was offered his sixth choice for y7 which we so did not want. Anyway we were gutted and I rang up the school we had chosen as first choice to ask him to be put on the waiting list. Well, the school rang me today asking if I had put them on the CAF and whether I had handed it in on time as they did not have my son's name on the list they received from their local authority and so were unable to offer him a place although they wanted to!!! I could not believe my ears, my son would have got into his first choice school had it not been for Southwark Council failing to inform Lambeth Council that I chose a school in their borough as first choice. WTF......All this stress because someone made a procedural error....

I chose two Lambeth schools so they only managed to communicate one of those which was my second choice and failed to communicate the other one which we desperately wanted. I am so cross it's unbelievable. The school I chose has ability tests as part of their admissions criteria and my son was on the top of the high ability band which meant that he would certainly have been offered a place. Naturally I am appealing but Lambeth have informed me that I might win or might not win as the fault is not the schools but my local authority. As it is I cant even put my son on the waiting list for that school because Lambeth were not informed.

Why have this stupid application process in the first place if human error can have such an awful consequence. I know people make mistakes but this is a big one, my son could end up going to an awful school and all I will get is a 'sorry'. I am going to decline the sixth choice and let Southwark sort it out. My son was not given a fair chance to be offered or refused a place because of Southwark admissions

OP posts:
Comet2 · 08/03/2010 15:08

The London Borough of Barnet made a mistake two years ago giving, if I can remember rightly 3 or 4 extra places on top of the allocated places to applicants for Mill Hill County High. Because the letters had already been sent out they let these people keep the places. All this meant was that the school had to wait for the same amount of people to refuse the places befor they started ntaking off the witing list on the secon round. Because it was the councils fault the places had to still be given out.

RustyBear · 08/03/2010 14:14

I think the PAN system sounds like a good idea - we could do with something like that here; a small county to start with that was then split into 6 different authorities, so there are lots of border problems when it comes to admissions.

prh47bridge · 08/03/2010 14:03

Rusty - In this case, Lambeth made the decision not to admit to the preferred school so the appeal would be in Lambeth. If a mistake has been made, it doesn't matter that it was Southwark's mistake. It should still lead to a successful appeal, although the fact there are two LAs involved does make it slightly more complicated.

Mimiso - They may make you go through an appeal despite the mistake. A lot of LAs do. Don't worry about that. Just go to the appeal and make the mistake clear - a copy of your original application should be enough. You shouldn't need to go legal on this as, if you are right, it is a straightforward mistake which should result in a successful appeal unless there are a lot of other people in the same position. In the unlikely event that you lost the appeal you would still be able to refer the case to the Local Government Ombudsman. Unlike going legal, this is completely free.

SugarTits · 08/03/2010 12:12

Just wanted to say good luck, sounds like a horrible situation although I think you have a good case.

Original poster
Mimiso · 08/03/2010 12:10

Sorry, just seen all the other responses, thank you all very much for your information which is all highly useful. I reckon because it is PAN who do the admissions that maybe if one borough fails to follow procedures resulting in a situation like mine then they should all be responsible because it is admissions on behalf of all the boroughs (but again I am biased)

OP posts:
Original poster
Mimiso · 08/03/2010 12:07

Thank you No1234, I have been in touch with Southwark and they will get back to me. I have also been in touch with Lambeth Council who have confirmed that they were only informed about one school and NOT the one we chose as first preference. I am so cross about this and you are right, if they dont play ball this will go legal and national. The fact that they cant abide by their own rules has certainly thrown me.

I am also getting in touch with ACE to hear what they say. Many thanks for the information

OP posts:
titchy · 08/03/2010 12:06

I think they would rusty - London runs a pan-london admissions syustem on behalf of all the local authorities - it's that system that's cocked up so Lambeth would have to take him.

The Greenwich decision means no child can be discriminated against becuase they live on the border of two or more LEAs, hence why all LEAs in London use a common system.

titchy · 08/03/2010 12:04

I'd have thought you would have no problem getting him in on appeal tbh. The LEA not following procedures correctly is one of the few clear cut cases where an appeal has to be upheld.

RustyBear · 08/03/2010 12:02

The trouble is, the LEA for the school mimiso wants presumably have followed their guidelines, it's the authority she lives in that hasn't. But even if she won an appeal there, presumably they wouldn't have the power to order another authority to admit her DS - is there any body that does?

No134 · 08/03/2010 11:52

No no no. You do not give up at this stage.

You phone up the LEA and tell them THEY have made a mistake, and you would like them to sort it out asap.

You also phone ACE (the Advisory Centre for Education) and talk it through with them.

Depending on what kind of response you get from the LEA, you then tell them that you will be appealing and/or that you will be consulting your solicitor.

You keep notes of all telephone calls and copies of all correspondence in a big fat file (presumably you have a copy of your online or paper application so you can prove it was the Council's mistake and not yours). If they won't play ball, get a solicitor.

If the council haven't followed their own guidelines, they have absolutely no basis to turn down your appeal.

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