To think I have reason to kick up a fuss re school place offer?

[Moleskine]

I am posting on here for traffic and in the hope that someone in the know or with previous experience will come and help with some advice.

We applied for a late school reception place due to a house move. The admissions team told me we would be considered in the 2nd round offers which were supposed to be made mid May. They were delayed and letters went out yesterday. But we still have no school place despite living 50m from our local school and being 1st on the waiting list.

The admissions team told me today that of the 90 places offered, all have been accepted except one. It is a place offered to a sibling so they are expecting it to be accepted too.

However the closing date to accept or decline a school place was 2nd May. So surely we should be offered this place if the other family have still not accepted on 28th May?

To add to this, 2 'special cases' have also come in late and they are to be considered this Friday. I am not sure if this means they are appeals or just higher priority applicants (looked after children or SEN). If successful, they will be placed ahead of us knocking us down to No. 3 on the list.

I am wondering if I should insist on the place that hasn't been accepted yet being given to us? Do I have grounds for this, as as things stand on today's date, the 2 'special cases' have not been decided and we are basically next on the list.

Please come and offer me some advice on this. Am becoming more and more anxious about my son not having a school place come September.

Jassy, I think all the private schools will have offered places by now - I could be wrong but I know from some friends that Reception 2014 places were confirmed months ago.

So I'm not holding out much hope for families giving up places in favour of private, especially since LA have confirmed they have written acceptances for 99.9% of places now.

Thanks again for the informative reply Tiggytape.

We don't live near the border of our borough, and both our neighbouring boroughs actually more of a shortage of school places. I would prefer to travel 45 mins within our borough than out of the borough which would definitely be a 45-60 min drive for us.

I will keep pressing the council for places, and in the meantime proceed with appeals for both children. More to stay visible than to win an appeal - I see we have no real chance of winning.

I will also call round the faith schools for places.

The Admissions team have said that last year they had more children unplaced at this point, and they all had places by September. But they added in lots of bulge classes last year and there are no plans for any this year (in addition to the existing ones).

I would start looking at private schools for a term or two but I honestly don't think any will have spaces at this late stage.

I know, most private school offers are made around Christmas for reception around here. I was just clutching at straws that maybe some parents had forgotten to reject their state school offer...

Well yes clutching at straws is all I can do for now! I am hoping some families are holding onto both private and state school places at the moment with a view to making a decision closer to September. M

I am considering emailing the Head of School Place Commissioning and insisting a place is offered to my eldest under the Fair Access Protocol that Tiggytape has mentioned.

Although I may just hold off for another few weeks - surely by the end of June we will have been offered something!

Tbh, I would get on with it now, and then if something happens you can pull out of the processes you have started. If, for a random example, you invoked the FAP and got the council to use it, but stayed on the waiting list at all of your preferred schools and a place came up, you would be able to accept the new offer. However if you don't get anything moving now, you could be in exactly the position you are in now but with only a couple of weeks to go until the end of the summer term...

(When DD got a place as a sibling, I already had date and time for her appeal and what I was going to say organised. I never had to use it, but it's always good to have a plan B)

You're right teacherw2kids, I will contact Head of School Places now. I was worried that I may lose out on a place at our closest school if we insist on FAP being implemented now, but you're right in that we can stay on the waiting list for that school.

Be prepared, though - I presume if FAP is implemented you will have to take that place immediately, so your eldest child may have to change schools within the next half term - which may trigger a sibling place in the same (possibly undesirable) school for your younger child. Lots of ubncertaintly and change. Though tbh FAP is never invoked lightly, so it may play out slightly differently.

I was planning to insist on FAP being implemented for my youngest child only (that's the only child I have mentioned in my email).

I planned to follow up with older child in June when we will be prepared to take the place immediately.

Do you know how long we will have to accept or decline an in year offer? Might vary between boroughs. I thought it was about a week.

Thanks for replies ladies. Yes I am cracking on with all avenues and feel much better about the situation knowing I'm doing something. The FAP policy sets my mind at rest too, thank you so much for all the information. It has really helped me today.

Good luck.

OP have you got a School Preference Advisor at your local authority? Tiggy has given great advice and obv knows the rules back to front, but a school preference advisor has direct access to admissions. in our LA this is a person employed by council but specifically as an impartial advisor for appeals and such. I found ours very useful as he held drop in sessions and would basically phone direct all
Involved and find real time info on places etc ( we moved and I had twins so late application too - though our places came through by second round). He also knew rules better than the idiots on the phone line who consistently gave out incorrect info...
Just a thought
Good luck

I have the details of someone who is on the 'parent partnership team' - may be the same thing. I am about to call shortly.

The Head of School place commissioning replied this morning saying across the borough they have 300+ places refused every year so they are not adding in any more places, and my son will have a school place.

But all acceptances have been received so I can't see this happening at this late point this year.

Our local councillors have come back with no help at all.

They have told us that our Year 1 child will have sibling priority in September so that will speed things up. So they are basically saying we are not providing an education for the whole of the Summer term for your child, and just wait and see in September. I am furious.

Write back to say that your child will NOT have sibling priority unless you Year R child gets a place - and you do not currently see this as possible because:
-70 children are still unplaced

• All accaptances have been received, so it is not clear how 70 places can be released
• No bulge classes are planned

ask for a breakdown of

• children not placed at this time last year
• Places that opened up due to non-acceptances after this point last year
• Bulge classes that were announced / created after this point last year

then you can compare and contrasrt figures in follow-up correspondance.

Basically they are saying that your older child will get a place because your youmnger one will - but at present, your younger one has no place, so why should you believe them?

Thanks teacherw2kids. I have responded asking for more figures/info relating to the past 3 years this morning. As yet no response.

You're absolutely right - but even if our youngest had a reception place there is still no guarantee of a Year 1 place immediately. The admissions team told me it's not unusual for in-year transfers at Year 1 &2 to be waiting 1-3 terms for a place.

I think there may be an issue with what exactly "70 children still unplaced" means.

First of all if it is 70 children in the whole Borough, well then from your point of view it matters where these 70 are, are they near you?

Secondly they may well mean children who have not yet been offered on of their (up to six) preferences yet, but who are sitting on waiting lists and expecting to get an offer.. but whom if all else fails do have a place, albeit one they did not apply for, and further away, if need be.

It seems to me that it would be worth asking them, to get an idea of the scale of the problem, where the nearest school is, with vacancies.

Finally, obviously being number 1 on the waiting list is a good thing, and as its a three form entry school, there must still be a reasonable chance that you will get an offer, but possibly, as others have pointed out, not until the first few days of term...

How long is your current journey for your older child taking?

The problem you have is that up to 1 hour each way is regarded as 'reasonable', so it is hard to apply pressure for a place in your new borough unless your journey time is longer than this.

I agree and have asked how many of the 70 unplaced are close to us. They did state 70 children with no place at all and in the same position as us.

The head of commissioning places has just replied saying he will not be providing the information requested as 'this is not the best use of the team's time'.

I don't know how to respond to this complete disregard for our concerns.

If they are legally obliged to provide this info and are refusing, where do I go with this?

With the school place for my year 1 child, again they are not fulfilling their legal obligation. Have no idea where to turn to now.

Current journey is taking over an hour each way. So for me and my younger children over 4 hours in the car every day.

Gosh the whole system needs an overhaul doesn't it?

I've not experienced school placement in England as we left when DC1 was little. We're now in the US, the rules are ALL children in catchment must be accepted into the school. Class sizes are 20-23 (MAX). If they run out of classrooms, they bring in portacabins onto the playing fields. If we move mid year, we have to withdraw and send DC to school in new catchment zone. It's all very strict, but works well as you know for sure you have a school place in your neighbourhood. We have to prove our address each year to the school, no hiding that we've moved.

I hope it works out well for you!

Moleskine,

Appeal formally ASAP. Then they HAVE to give you information to support your appeal.