Losing my mind and considering homeschooling

[Pinkjellyunicorn]

Moved house to get into a specific school.
The policy is that children in catchment are prioritised. Found out today that we didn’t get in despite living in catchment when other children out of the catchment have got in. I’m genuinely unsure if there has been an administrative error or we have no choice but to appeal which is going to cost £250 . The school we have applied for is the closest and is 0.4 miles from home. The school we have been allocated is on the other side of town, almost 2 miles each way and will take 45 minutes of walking due to hills and driving would be about the same. I’m going to appeal but would I be unreasonable to homeschool and potentially change my work hours as I feel that the stress of a 3 hours of walking too and from school would be too much? I have health issues and chronic illness and couldn’t manage it guaranteed every day.

Feeling so broken and haven’t stopped crying all day.

AIBU to homeschool rather than commute if the appeal fails.

What criteria do they apply if there are not enough places for all those who qualify against any of these criteria?

Usually it's distance?

If you genuinely think someone you know of is out of catchment and got in but you are in catchment and haven't, and there are no other circumstances at play (adoption? Ehcp?) then appeal. Nothing to lose, genuine mistakes are sometimes make. The basis of your appeal will need to be that they have not applied the admissions policy correctly.

Parents don't have to pay for appeals. I think the charging information you found refers to what the school have to pay for appeals.

I'm not sure what year you are applying for year - you should be aware that for R,Yr1 and Yr2 there are Infant Class Size Rules that mean it is harder to win appeals.

If it is not an ICS Appeal then the appeal panel will be weighing up the difficulties the school face in taking an extra pupil against the reasons why you want a child to have a place at this school.

Looks like they only take 20 children and distance from the school is the last criteria. So if all applicants are within the catchment and some also have a sibling at the school or an EHCP or medical condition stipulating the school, or are LAC, they will be ahead of youm

So being in the catchment is a priority, but you don't appear to have any other special needs so this in combination with distance from school will have placed you behind others with higher needs.

I expect the child who lives 6 miles away is either LAC (in which case they trump everyone else and are placed top of the list, rightly so), or they are within the catchment and have some additional need (sibling, EHCP, medical need) that places them ahead of people just applying on distance.

20 places isn't many!

At my son's secondary school, which is 8 form entry (so about 250 kids per year), quite a few children living around half a mile away, did not get in.

Find put what their last distance was for your criteria. Also ask what criteria they offered out to. If they offered to the one below you. Then there was a mistake and they should rectify without an appeal.

If they offered beyond your distance. Again a mistake and they should offer without an appeal.

I would love to know the specialists comment on the charge. Never seen that before.

This is completely untrue. I'm disabled with chronic health problems and perfectly capable of home educating my daughter, who is thriving.

That's what it costs the school, not you.

Did you not get offered any of your choices?

@NowGetUp the OP said she is under category b...

Are you 0.4m towards the town centre? Could it be that the child 6 miles away is from one of the villages served by the primary school?

I'm local and know this school. It won't take you 40 minutes in the morning once the roadworks are done. It's a perfect storm of roadworks at the moment for the power cables for the new prison.

Reading the admissions criteria you’ve posted the only way the child 6 miles away could’ve got in is if they are LAC or previously LAC. I mean I guess you may not know whether they are?

unlike Other posters i think it’s v unusual for a 20 form entry to be filled after allocation to LAC and children <300m away AND there are 24 people ahead of OP on the waitlist who live closer?

according to the posted criteria distance comes before siblings. They haven’t even taken any siblings

Sorry also to add- I guess it’s too soon for the local authority to publish their admissions stats?

thats the appeal cost the school pays, not parents - that would be illegal!

It does look as if an error has been made given out of catchment kids have been given places. Phone them tomorrow and find out what address was used, and why they regarded you as an out of catchment applicant.

I know this whole thing was brought about to give parents “choice” but it’s a ridiculous system if the children who live in the area aren’t prioritised to get into their closest school.

In Scotland you are guaranteed a place in your catchment area school except in exceptional circumstances. You can ask to place in another school, but if it is full of catchment kids you have no chance.

This isn’t how it works. The allocation is followed in order. So in this schools case, any child with an EHCP or who are looked after were admitted first, regardless of catchment. Then any child in catchment was admitted next. There was no priority given to siblings - siblings in catchment are the same as first borns in catchment (which is really unusual I have to say). It appears the class filled up on these 2 categories alone. We also don’t know that distance is the tie break clause. A lot of schools with defined catchments use random allocation if over subscribed. All applicants are put into a hat and assigned a number of priority. I reckon that’s probably what’s happened here, if there hasn’t been an error.

I have read everything but may have missed - how old is your child? Is this entry into Primary or Secondary? You can always go on the waiting list and home educate until you get the place? Is there generally much movement on the school waiting list?

Are you also definitely sure that you are in the catchment area? I do school admissions and people quite often misunderstand these and are shocked at not getting in when I can see very quickly that they did not have any chance. Do the other children on your street go to the school?

I don’t think there are 24 on the waiting list. I think OP is in position 24, ie 4th on the waiting list.

And 0.4 miles is more like 650 metres. Depending on the type of housing, there could well be 24 4 year olds looking for a spot in that radius.

You must appeal but I am shocked that there is a fee for doing so.
it must be very stressful for you.

I've googled it and nobody seems to agree on whether there's a difference or what it might be.

There is no fee. That charge is for the schools.

School office may well be closed as it is Easter.
£250 is charge to school not you.

There is a catchment map on the schools website which shows an unpopulated rural area. It all seems very weird.

also seems odd that the school needs to pay for an appeal if the local authority made an error in allocations, which certainly seems possible here. Maybe it’s refunded when the local authority is at fault

ediyed to add- it would be hard to get into my children’s primary school from 650m away, but it’s very densely populated. They also put siblings before distance, and over half the spaces are taken with siblings each year. They are lower priority at this school, seems mad

also seems odd that the school needs to pay for an appeal if the local authority made an error in allocations

Or even if they didn't and the school is simply oversubscribed. It's still not the school's fault or mistake.

ediyed to add- it would be hard to get into my children’s primary school from 650m away, but it’s very densely populated. They also put siblings before distance, and over half the spaces are taken with siblings each year. They are lower priority at this school, seems mad

I don’t think having a limit on the distance a sibling can get in on is a bad thing. In areas without catchments where siblings take priority over straight line distance it stops people getting DC1 in then moving far away. But I do agree not prioritising siblings in catchment seems crazy!

Appeals are free to the parent.
Should you withdraw to Elective Home Education then the local authority has no obligation to offer an alternative place (even in the event of a mistake having been made)
Accept the place offered
Go on the waiting lists
If the application is for reception (which I'm assuming otherwise it would have been an in year admission application) then be aware that infant class size legislation applies and it becomes difficult to win an appeal unless a mistake has been made in the application of the admission criteria.
If its for junior school (yr 3) then your appeal needs to demonstrate the outweighing of the detriment to the school of taking another pupil. Transport, parental disabilities etc will not be relevant. Remember that appeals are for the school you prefer, not against the school you've been offered.