To think my daughter was denied a basic right (an education) and that we've been treated like shit?

[dobrovnikdreams]

She spent Year 7 in a school in our home town where she was happy with friends. Towards the end of Year 7 due to unforseen circumstances (family related, won't get into it as irrelevant) we had to move to Wales and we did so through a council house swap through someone who wanted our city. She spent Year 8 and half of year 9 in a Welsh school where she got a place instantly. She didn't settle very well as friendship groups were already established and she didn't really fit in (we're talking small town Wales where everybody knows everybody and speaks Welsh etc) so she struggled. Midway through Year 9 she ended up refusing to go point blank. She had a meltdown one night and begged to go back to England saying she wouldn't go to school unless we moved. The family issues had settled down by this point and a month prior to DD's meltdown I'd put our house back on the council swap site wanting to move back to our old area but hadn't had any offers.

I wanted to move back to England before Year 10 started because of GCSE's beginning etc so got very anxious by the time May rolled round and we still hadn't got anyone wanting to swap from my hometown to Wales. My worries were rubbing off on DD so I bit the bullet and ended up private renting us a 2 bed flat in our old general area (but was a few miles away in a different local authority as couldn't afford to rent in home local LA ) as we were both very homesick and DD wanted to get back to her old school ASAP. This crippled us financially but was necessary as both needed to move back home. Once we'd settled into the flat I contacted DD's old school only to get told they were full and that we would be put on a waiting list but were warned we had no chance due to different LA and wrong postcode. We appealed and got rejected. By this point it was late July and all the schools were shut and I couldn't apply anywhere.

Year 10 started and I applied to the nearest school in my LA. Got told "We don't accept place in Year 10 unless the child is in care." Appealed, failed. Applied for 2 more in my LA and got told the same. Failed appeal for both. In appeal they all used the fact that DD refused to attend the Wales school as an excuse for not taking her. After being rejected by the 3 nearest schools in the LA I applied to 3 others which were still in the LA but right at the far end and all of them had the attiude of "Why on earth have you applied here when you live 11 miles away? It's too far." Even more frustrating is that after each school rejected us they'd say "Apply to so and so they'll probably have her" and I got the feeling they didn't believe me when I replied that we'd already been rejected by "so and so" and every other in the fucking area. Because all the appeals took so long(you get a date something like 2 months after appealing) soon enough it was nearing the end of Year 10! DD was extremely depressed. No friends or social life due to lack of school and worrying about her future. It was heartbreaking.

As Year 11 started I applied to each school again hoping they'd think "A year later and she's still not got a school place yet? We are now obliged to give her one." bur half the schools said no and the other half didn't bother getting back to me. DD was devastated. She told me "Mum, I just want to go to school and be normal. Why am I being treated like some kind of criminal? I've done nothing wrong." Wow, a teenager wants to go to school and get an education, how awful! I ended up in actual tears writing a letter to my LA and another begging them (literally begging) one of them to give my DD a place somewhere as her mental health was in dire straights. Of course they both said "If her menral health is in a bad place then focus on getting her into CAMHS rather than school for now."

So, here we are. End of Year 11. DD has no friends, no social life and no GCSE's. Luckily she got into college on a Childcare course (was only offered foundation level which is fair enough, it's not the college's fault) so I'm hoping she will begin to feel she has a purpose and make friends and her life will improve. But we are both still so so angry about how we were treated. Our area is well known for having good schools (people move round here from all over for the schools) and it being difficult to get a place after Year 7 but we applied to 6 bloody schools (2 of which were the worst schools in the area, we were desperate so weren't picky) and none of them gave a shit. Yet I've heard cases of scrotes getting thrown out for stabbing someone, they do a month in young offenders then get a place at a different school immedietely :(

Wow OP, that sounds like a really stressful and difficult time for you and your DD.

I had no idea that schools could refuse places for year 10. How naive of me.

I’m glad she now has a place at college but wow, that must have really been difficult.

Yanbu op...this is an absolute disgrace. Can you get legal aid?

Thats awful.

I assume these are state schools not religious ones. Surely the local authority has a legal obligation to find her a place? Did the education officer not come round asking about why she wasnt in school?

Caileachian Yes, state schools. I know the LA had an obligation but this was never enforced other than recommending schools for us. Education officer came around a few times and even he didn't seem to believe everywhere was rejecting us. Me and DD just got ranted at and told I could end up in court unless I registered her as legally home educated (Refused. Why should I when that's not what we wanted?) or she went to school. Luckily nobody ever bothered about court but I was shitting myself about that as well.

That sounds awful. And why was she only offered a place in Welsh medium when you moved to Wales?

Kokeshi123 The school she went to wasn't Welsh medium. It was English speaking where they had Welsh lessons. All the kids seemed fluent in Welsh anyway though and a lot went to Welsh medium primaries according to DD.

I second a pp's suggestion, I think you need legal aid.

This is unacceptable imo.

Can you ask your local MP for help? This is appalling.

I’m not sure whether you’re in the same area as me op, but recently we’ve had lots of posts on Facebook pages of people moving into our area for the good schools and not getting a place for over a year,some of the have moved between reception application acceptance and start dates. There’s just no room in the schools as they keep building more and more houses but no more schools. I would think by now we need at least 3 other primaries and another secondary. I too though LA had an obligation to educate but there is physically no room.

I would speak with citizen advice. Is your daughter doing maths, English and science GCSEs at college? If not it would be worth doing at least these alongside childcare course

Perhaps home schooling might be better?

Beautiful3 DD starts college in September. We are beyond that. Though she was always adamant she didn't want to be homeschooled. She wasn't a child who didn't suit school, she is very sociable and outgoing and was fine in Year 7 and I believe she would have been in Year 10/11. The issue in Wales was that everyone in the town was interlinked and spoked Welsh half of the time so she struggled to make connections.

Lifeover What region are you? She is doing maths and English, not sure about science.

Shocking that you were able to fall through the cracks in the system.

Hindsight being what it is, is there something you would do differently if you could?

How awful. I had no idea year 10 pupils were not allowed to transfer.

This is something that should be publicised. People move house all the time!

You can't get legal aid for school admission cases. It is however a pity you didn't have legal advice, as the simple situation was that if any school you applied to had a place in the relevant year group, they had to offer it to your daughter - the fact that you'd chosen to move was utterly irrelevant. Likewise the council had an absolute duty to find your daughter a place or, if they couldn't, to provide home tuition. It could be worth a formal complaint to the council which you can take to the Local Government Ombudsman.

NancyJoan Absolutley. I'd have still moved back to England as we were lonely and unhappy in Wales but I think I'd have gone somewhere different other than my home area where the schools are less in demand. I've read threads on MN where kids have recieved places in Year 10 and 11 so I have come to the conclusion that the reason DD didn't is because the comps round here (spanning 2 LA's) are so sought after and full to the brim. Even the "bad" schools round here have been filled up by people who moved into the area for the good ones but didn't get a place. They need to build another but fat chance of that, that would cost money

Year 10 pupils are certainly allowed to transfer.

YANBU that is shocking.

However I’m amazed you let it happen. Come September of year 10 I’d have been talking to the press, hounding my MP and making a daily nuisence of myself at the council offices until they found her a place.
You shouldn’t have had to do these things, but unfortunately needs must sometimes. I hope she settles in well at college and things get better for her next year.

In fairness, your DD has been given two opportunities to a right to an education but both have been rejected by you due to your circumstances. You took two big personal risks in both of your moves. It is a shame that the last one has resulted in no room being available in any of the schools when you have moved back to.

If I was you I would see if she can get. A few. Gcse while in college, it might take a couple of extra years but it may be that she has a fave subject that she wants to pursue beyond that level.

And yes I would pursue the failure of the la to provide a space

I'm afraid the biggest error you made is assuming your DD would automatically get a place at her old school. Every LA has to publish admissions information on their website, which includes the appeals process. Which LA do you live in?
If a school has a place, they cannot refuse you, unless it is a selective or private school. You do not apply directly to the school, you apply via the LA. Your point about being taken to court sounds to me that you were offered a place but didn't take it up, therefore you were denying your child an education, not the LA.
Hindsight is a great thing, but what you should have done is found her a school place before you moved back to England. At that point you would have been made aware of there being no places where you wanted to live.

There is no restriction on year 10s moving. How bizarre. If the schools had places, they would have to offer you a place. I find it hard to believe no school at all had a place, but maybe as a PP said it's due to too many kids and not enough school places. But you'd think the LA would then be responsible for ensuring a place was found? Sounds a little too late now.

I sympathise with the moves. I'm moving area right now for work - I'm really struggling to get the kids into schools. BUT my LA is good, and I'm sure they will find a place somewhere, even if it's a drive away.

Do you have any tips for appeals? Were you able to get any help with your appeal? Did you appeal more than once?

She wasn't offered a place anywhere. I applied to every school that would be somewhat possible to get to and was rejected by all. Even if she'd got a place from the one I least liked out of the 6 we were so desperate I wouldn't have cared.

I'm assuming I never got taken to court as the education officer couldn't find evidence I'd rejected a place.

If you did take this further you would be taking it on as a case against the LA and not the schools.

It would be a case to prove that either the LA didn't go through the correct processes or that the process isn't fit for purpose.

I know you say she didn't want to be home educated but presumably she didn't just sit around for two years doing nothing while you were looking for school places? I mean, you must have made some interim accommodation for her to continue working under her own steam so that when she got into a school (which obviously didn't happen in the end), she wasn't too far behind?