Help me!!! school place

[Paperyfish]

We only applied for 1 junior school for our child. The same one their sibling attends. We were offered it. My husband did all the application. He assumed as we only put one choice it would be automatically assumed we’d accepted. This is obviously not the case and he missed an email yesterday saying please remember to accept your school place. Obviously we’ll get in tough choices with them on Tuesday and plead our case- but now I’m terrified my child has lost their place at the school. Has anyone else been in this situation? How quick do they re allocate places?

Yes, I know I should have checked myself....but I thought he had it all under control. Have been busy with newborn.
Am beside myself with worry.
Please, any advice from anyone knowledgable?

They have contacted you twice after making the offer. Provided those emails made it clear that the offer may be withdrawn if you don't accept it, the LA has done everything required and is entitled to withdraw the offer. Having said that, if the deadline for acceptance was yesterday there is a good chance they won't have reallocated the place yet, so your email to the LA may get it reinstated. If not, make sure you are on the waiting list. You should be at or near the head of the list so you will have a good chance of getting a place that way.

@prh47bridge both emails came from the school itself- not the council....do you think this makes a difference? They didn’t mention withdrawal of the place. Just reminders to accept the place.

I didn't contact the school either, this thread has just put fear in me. I've just emailed the school now and will have to hope for the best.

The emails should have come from the admission authority. That is the LA for community and VC schools, the school for VA schools, academies and free schools.

If the email does not say the place may be withdrawn, they have not met the requirements of the Admissions Code so cannot withdraw the place.

Have you been notified that the place has been withdrawn? Or is it simply that the deadline for accepting offers has passed? If it is just that the deadline has passed, the offer almost certainly has not been withdrawn yet. You should be able to accept the offer on Tuesday.

If it has been withdrawn, it sounds like you have a good case for appeal on the basis that the email reminders did not meet the requirements of the Admissions Code.

@prh47bridge thanks- so informed! What’s a VC school? It’s just a regular village primary school. The emails were both for the school and didn’t mention withdrawal. My panic is based around the passing of the deadline.

@Orangebug

Oh god OP I would be so furious with him! I hope it can be sorted out.

Good job you’ve never accidentally overlooked something. If this happened in our house my DH would feel awful and beat himself up about it but I wouldn’t pile on. There are better ways to vent your frustration that don’t involve making a loved one feel worse.

There's accidentally overlooking something.... and then there's ignoring two reminder emails...

It depends on how oversubscribed the school is. If it already has a waiting list, that place is gone and you will go onto the list. If there's no waiting list, chances are that you can have the place. The one thing that could work in your favour is the bank holiday weekend. Nothing will be done before Tuesday morning so you could be ok.

[quote Paperyfish]@prh47bridge thanks- so informed! What’s a VC school? It’s just a regular village primary school. The emails were both for the school and didn’t mention withdrawal. My panic is based around the passing of the deadline.[/quote]
VC = Voluntary Controlled. It is a form of school where the land and buildings are owned by a charitable foundation, but the school is fully controlled by the LA. Most VC schools are faith schools, mainly CofE. However, most faith schools are VA (Voluntary Aided), which means the charitable foundation has less control.

If your school is not a faith school it is likely to be a community school or an academy.

You should not lose your place just because the deadline has passed. Contact the LA on Tuesday and accept the place. You should be fine.

Make sure your dh contact the LA. Don't you do it for him.

@prh47bridge
Thank you so much! It’s not a faith school. Hope we’ll be ok!
@titchy
Maybe I’ll watch him do it!

If the emails are from your school I'd be less worried, especially if you are a sibling place. Our school would call you as well if they hadn't heard from you after the emails.

To all those saying it's only a day after deadline, there is a deadline for a reason and if you have not accepted your child's place you will go on a waiting list.

If they have a sibling there you should be ok. But they will not ignore the deadline for you, whatever the reason.

@CoRhona

To all those saying it's only a day after deadline, there is a deadline for a reason and if you have not accepted your child's place you will go on a waiting list.

If they have a sibling there you should be ok. But they will not ignore the deadline for you, whatever the reason.

They won't necessarily withdraw the place without checking. @prh47bridge is an admissions expert and they say there is a chance that, as the OP hasn't yet been told that the place has been withdrawn, they'll be able to accept it on Tuesday.

@CoRhona

To all those saying it's only a day after deadline, there is a deadline for a reason and if you have not accepted your child's place you will go on a waiting list.

If they have a sibling there you should be ok. But they will not ignore the deadline for you, whatever the reason.

I'm afraid you are completely wrong. They will indeed ignore the deadline for all parents who have failed to respond, not just for the OP. They are required to do so. The Admissions Code, which has the force of law, is clear that, if parents have not responded by the deadline, the admission authority must contact them again and give them a further chance to accept the place, warning them that the place may be withdrawn if they fail to meet the new deadline.

Hi, @Paperyfish. I’m that guy,
When we received the email from our local authority confirming our place, i was so excited and happy I only read the part of the email that I saw on my iPhone and did not scroll beyond the first part of the email. The part that I saw did not have any call to action. Had no idea we had to accept the offer. So when it became apparent that I had totally screwed everything up and my life was over I started scrambling looking for help. I came across your post and it helped me calm down and then think more carefully - thank you everyone on here!!!!.

We then sent emails to the local authority and school accepting our place. And then dug around for more info.

We are in Surrey and the local authority has a policy that is published that covers exactly what is supposed to happen in these situations.
See clause 37 & 38
www.surreycc.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/219759/Coordinated-Schemes-2021-V2.pdf

So it is not so bad and more than likely salvageable.

I would suggest you try and find your local authority’s or school’s version of this doc. If they don’t have one, then show them this one as a reference.

I am also sure if you do some further digging at a higher U.K. government / Education level you will find legal / policy documents outlining exactly what schools / local authorities have to do at this stage before they can actually give the place away. It is very unlikely that any system will auto send / cancel places and it would very likely be a manual and carefully handled process.

Hope this helps calm the situation and allows for a more relaxed long weekend.

(PS I know I’m a numpty for not reading the email fully. In my defence we’re also in a high stress situation at home launching a startup with two kids under 4. And having recently moved home)

PPS there was no second email reminder from my local authority.

I am also sure if you do some further digging at a higher U.K. government / Education level you will find legal / policy documents outlining exactly what schools / local authorities have to do at this stage before they can actually give the place away

The relevant document has been mentioned a few times. It is the School Admissions Code, which has the force of law and takes precedence over any LA or school policies. Paragraph 2.12 covers the circumstances in which an offer can be withdrawn. It says that an offer can be withdrawn if parents fail to respond within a reasonable period of time but goes on to say, "Where the parent has not responded to the offer, the admission authority must give the parent a further opportunity to respond and explain that the offer may be withdrawn if they do not." The word "must" in that sentence means this is compulsory.

@Davepapa
Seems like you and my husband have lots in common then! We’re also Surrey- so it sounds like we should be able to fix this. Is you wife/ partner/ husband cross with you over this? My husband is annoyed I’m cross. Say’s it’s just making it worse. I think I am justified in being cross. It’s not like I’m sulking or swearing or giving him grief or have given any indication to my emotions in front of the children....I’m just cross.
@prh47bridge thank you for all your help in this. If there is any resistance on allowing us to take up the place I will be using your excellent advice and references.
I will be handling the application for our newborn myself ( when the time comes) and also the application for eldest child’s secondary place and every other bit of life admin relating to the children I guess. What’s another layer on the mental load?

I think you'll be absolutely fine. I hope so, what a stress x

How did you get on

Husband phoned the admissions officer for the school who is dealing with the council for us. She is confident it’ll be ok. I won’t rest 100% easy till I’ve got confirmation we have the place. Husband also apologised this evening, which is something, at least.

Good news OP. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you

It’s confirmed! We have the place. Am so relieved!!

Oh good

Super.