Help! is there any thing I can do other than appeal?

[met429]

Can any one give me any advice please
2 years ago we lost our home, we then moved to Wakefield into rented accommodation.We applied for our children to go to a school just around the corner 4minutes walk. The school told me there were 2 places for year 1 and 1 place for year 2. I contacted school admissions who confirmed this.I filled out the applications and took them to admissions my self. A week later admissions phoned me on the Tuesday to ask when I would like the children to start, school was breaking up for the 6 week holidays.I told them I had already stated asap, the lady told me she thought after the holidays would be better, I agreed. On the Thursday we went to look around the school and were shown the class rooms the children would be in.
On the Friday the school was closing for the holidays, the school phoned me at 2.30 to tell me they had made a mistake and there was no places left in year 1. I was very annoyed, how can that be that in the 3 days there were 2 places now none!

I went to the appeal which took place 7 weeks later, I stated my son had autism and lung disease and his sister was at the school, I also stated that I was told an error was made.
The head of school admissions stated that it would be detrimental to other children if 1 more child was admitted to the class. She told the panel I would be entitled to school transport so getting to another school was not an issue. The panel agreed with her.

I contacted education regarding transport and was refused as my son had not got a firm diagnosis for autism, we were going through the system. She said as he had lung disease she could not provide transport because it was difficult to walk, but if he had one to one in school they would provide transport. How ridiculous, if I was disabled they would also provide transport, so I was refused!
So my daughter was in school around the corner and my son was allocated a school 1.9 miles away. I took my son to school after taking my daughter, as where I live the buses run every hour, I was then in a meeting with school welfare at my sons school complaining of his lateness???
I had no option but to remove my daughter from her school after 2 weeks.

My son has had lots of support but only when the psychologist told them he had autism, they forced me to go to parenting classes as they believed it was my fault he was like he was, other wise they would not refer me to as specialist. Any way, in the 2 years he has had lots of help and he is a lot better behaved.

Last year my husband lost his job, we lived off the redundancy, it has now gone, we did not claim benefits. My husband eventually found work with an agency on minimum wage, we cannot claim tax credits as he earned too much the previous year.
It costs us £100 to get the children to school and back per month. We are having problems paying for our heating so I enquired once again at the nearby school which is now an academy. I was told 8 places for year 4 and 4 places for year 3. I contacted admissions immediately and they confirmed the vacancies. I asked for the forms to be emailed, I printed them off filled them in and the school sent them while I waited by Fax. This was a Tuesday. I contacted admissions on the Thursday, they told me they would phone me back. Friday morning a voicemail was left to say they were proceeding with the applications so the children could start the new school in January, schools broke up that day.
I kept the children off school on the Monday the schools reopened. I contacted admissions who confirmed all the paperwork had been sent to the school.
I telephoned the school everyday and she told me they had received nothing.I phoned Thursday she said she would get the person in charge to phone me back, she didnt. I phoned Friday morning, spoke to the same woman who declared she was dealing with it, she had spoken to the head master the day before, so why did she not speak to me?
She then informed me that there was no place for year 3, I was shocked and told her that how could her staff tell me that paperwork was sent, a phone call to say they are proceeding with the application so they could start in January, how can 4 places be filled from Monday? She replied.......
I am NOT continuing this conversation if you insist on going down the path of accusing my staff, I told her it was true and that I had this done to me at the same school 2 years ago, she replied, yes, I know, I went to the appeal.
She was the same woman who refused my children entry 2 years ago.

Sorry its long but I needed to let you know all the facts!

Please can any one advise me, she also stated she would go to the appeal and refuse entry, even though it should be the panel, she persuades them otherwise.

Thanks in advance x

Thank you for the advise, its much appreciated.

I will break things down too, now that Ive put the full facts, so you know what Ive been told and what I cant do even though I have tried.

I was hoping some one could point me in a direction for help that I havnt tried.

It is not the school telling me there were definite places as such, they told me that it was admissions that would know the exact figure.

1/
It was admissions that told me there were definitely 3 places in year 3 so I sent in my papers immediately that day.

2/
I was told by admissions on Monday that the papers for both children had been sent to the school that day, I asked does that mean they can start soon, she said 'yes, but wait for the school to contact you with a start date.

3/
Head of admissions is telling me she will NOT talk to me if I continue down the road of saying her colleagues give me wrong information. I told her it was fact and im no liar, she then said, it doesn't mean they were papers to attend school, again I tried to say what I was told and she spoke over me and threatened to put the phone down on me. Her manner was awful!

4/
Head of admissions said if I was to appeal she would be at the appeal stating it will have a detrimental effect on the other children.

5/
I tried the route of my son's needs to go to a school 4 minutes walk away, most importantly his educational needs because of his behaviour and the importance of being with his sister and the walking distance. Education and admissions have told me that these grounds would still not change in an appeal for year 3.

6/
Im on a 2 year waiting list for the final diagnoses to be recorded as fact, im following the procedures, until he has been acknowledged as having autism as fact, I cannot claim disability for him so therefore do not qualify for transport.

7/ school has to be at least 2 miles away, its 1.9

8/
Low income qualifies if Im on benefit, we are not we are on a minimum wage, so therefor we would have to be claiming the high tax amount, we cannot claim working or children's tax because his wage last year was high, crazy, wee need help now as we are not on a good wage but the system works on last years wage.

Head of Admissions has no choice but to be at the appeal stating that admitting your child would have a detrimental effect on the other children. The Admission Appeals Code requires them to put that case. Don't take it personally.

Not sure what you mean by "Education and admissions have told me that these grounds would still not change in an appeal for Y3". These won't result in your son being admitted without an appeal but they are valid grounds for an appeal. It is for the appeal panel to decide whether or not these arguments are enough to justify admitting your son.

Make sure you get everything in writing from admissions in future. If you go to the appeal saying what you have said here about their behaviour it is likely they will deny having said the things you report and the appeal panel is likely to side with them. If you have it in writing there can be no dispute as to exactly what was said.

Thank you

What I meant was that even if I appeal admissions would still state it would be detrimental to the pupils at the school to allow one more child into the year group, the same as they did at the appeal for ks1

I have just spoken to the head teacher at the school I applied for, he has confirmed that admissions sent an email to him at Christmas asking if they had places for both children in yr3 and yr4, he confirmed there were places.

so my question is, if this is trued and he has the email, why has a child been given a place after he confirmed there were spaces. Will I have grounds to appeal on being misinformed? or, will it still be a case of they gave it to another child and I have no grounds to appeal

You can claim disability if you have a working diagnosis of ASD. Do you get DLA for your DS? You most probably would qualify for it if your DS can't walk far and has ASD (Even if not yet had the ADOS done).

What I meant was that even if I appeal admissions would still state it would be detrimental to the pupils at the school to allow one more child into the year group, the same as they did at the appeal for ks1

I know that's what you meant. They have to do that. If you appeal they cannot simply say, "we did everything right and met429 didn't get a place". They must make the case that admitting your child will cause prejudice to the school, which is another way of saying it will be detrimental to the pupils already at the school. If they did not make that case they would be in breach of the Admission Appeals Code and you would automatically win your appeal.

if this is trued and he has the email, why has a child been given a place after he confirmed there were spaces

Confirming the place is available does not mean it is reserved for you. If several people apply at the same time (or at about the same time) they have to use the admission criteria to decide who gets in. If you could prove that you had been promised a place that would be grounds for appeal. However, without written confirmation of what was said that would be difficult.

ok,

Are the places given to children as a first come first served so to speak?

How do I get the criteria to find out why my child was refused.

I know I can only appeal with written fact, but surely admissions are given individual schools to deal with applications, so the school application would be given to one person, she would then send an email to the school to check they have a place on their system, surely then it would be put on the admission teams computer, therefore each time they emailed they knew as fact what places are left.

I cannot get my head round the fact that admissions told me they had sent all the paper work to the school for both children, the school will phone me with a start date, then told that I have not been given this information and refuse to tell me why?

I am now trying to work out if I move one child and not the other, to give me a better chance for my youngest if and when a place becomes available, how long will I have to wait is any ones guess. Or do I ask for help with funding for transport and keep both children in the school they were in :(

My child has autism, is on a waiting list for a confirmed diagnosis, he has seen numerous psychologists and physiotherapists. He has lung disease too

No, it is not first come first served. If you are the only person applying and there is a space you will get the place. If several people apply they will use the admission criteria to decide. In most cases that means whoever lives closest to the school will get the place.