Request a state school place if you want it or not

[clarkkentsglasses]

This email is doing the rounds aimed at private school parents:

"The idea is to try to flood the Council with requests for urgent school places from September. If they get tens of thousands of emails like this we may see them under pressure."

Basically request a state school place if you want it or not.

Hopefully Councils won't look at an in-year applications in these circumstances for their maintained schools until the child has no school place at all, so keeping them in private education and applying won’t work. I would imagine the academies will take the same approach. They absolutely know that bellends will try this and I suspect they are more than ready.

IIRC the priority for in-year places goes something like:

Looked after/adopted
Forces children
SEN
Sibling rule
everyone else, on a distance basis

Don't be rude Ms Reeves hasn't done her figures yet.

They will still have a school allocated to them.

It may be 20 miles away.

If they haven’t done their figures, how do they know what it’s going to fund? They are relying on the IFS report and figures which is full of ridiculous assumptions.

Why would unions panic about schools having more pupils? Given the drop in birth rates more pupils could help secure the future of some schools that may be at risk otherwise.

this just shows what a self inflated sense of self importance some people have!

Got away with what?
I don’t disagree with the policy, but I get annoyed when people, including Labour representatives, seem to position is as a loophole closing and justice being done! Education has not been subject to VAT - I think you’re confusing this with (some) schools having charitable status.
Id also rather this came from higher earners’ income tax - plenty of v wealthy people playing the system (tutoring for selective grammars / exp house in great catchment, and money going towards a 2nd property instead!) who could be contributing to this.
Someone paying some VAT for a couple
of years (if their children are close to finishing) generates less than an income tax increase

Oh please - spare me the melodrama .

I have had to work with plenty entitled private schooled idiots who have clearly managed to get into their position by attending the right school, having daddy help them speak to right people and by private school spoon feeding them how to pass exams (not how to learn). They are deeply unimpressive.

but yes it is about “innocent children” - the ones who have to work twice as hard as their private school counterparts and never quite succeed in the same way. That’s such a shit society - one that allows the less talented to succeed at expense of the talented.

shouldn’t happen in a democracy.

Unions have warned about the VAT consequences.
@Sirzy @Perfumefun

https://neu.org.uk/advice/member-groups/independent-sector/vat-independent-school-fees

https://inews.co.uk/news/education/state-headteachers-labour-private-schools-fees-tax-3101450

Yes it is.

Right.
Because private school parents are all gonna pull their kids out in midst of gcses or a levels. That's several year groups for sttart.
And many more can afford to pay more

entitled private schooled idiots

Again, why can’t we have a civilised debate without resorting to childish name calling?

Disagreeing with national government policy by taking it out on local government. Or denying another child a place until you back out at short notice.

People who don't like the policy should express their view at the ballot box.

No idea when they get an idea of what's happening.

Though I do know there is a massive black hole thanks to Chancellor Rishi, Chancellor Kwarteng, PM Johnson and PM Truss.

Tens of thousands. Assuming you mean imc each child having two parents. Where are you that has at least 10,000 children in private schools all within the same catchment?

"The idea is to try to flood the Council with requests for urgent school places from September. If they get tens of thousands of emails like this we may see them under pressure."

Councils don't decide government education policy.

My council is running on a shoestring after losing 60% of govt funding since 2010. All your idea will do is create a huge mess, put a lot of council workers under unnecessary pressure and delay allocations for people who genuinely need a school place.

so pleased the Op had shuffled off with tail between legs

The NUT?!

I think we can safely assume that whoever wrote this email struggles with their general comprehension skills.

‘Flooding the council with requests for a new school in September’ isn’t even how the system works. If their child is starting YR or Y7, they needed to have applied for a place last autumn. If they are in any other year group, they apply for an in-year admissions place and will have to take up or decline the offered place asap or it’ll be offered to someone else. No councils will be flooded.

If this email is genuine, there is a lot of misinformation going around and it paints these (small numbers, I would assume!) private school parents in a really poor light.

Planty of school places here, although not in the schools you might want. The “NUT” would be happy that pupil numbers will increase meaning less potential redundancies in the under subscribed schools. Might cause a short term admin issue, but you would only be punishing genuine in year applicants who might be pushed further down waiting lists.

Ridiculous idea.

Any child currently at a private school whose parents didn't already give notice back in April that they are leaving the school at the end of the summer term already has a place for September anyway because they are contractually obliged to give a full term's notice. The local authority therefore will have no obligation to find the child a school place "from september" as they have one guaranteed until Christmas. And likewise if they don't give notice by the start of the autumn term in September they will have a place guaranteed until Easter.

The LA will only have an obligation to find a place under the fair access protocol when the child is actually out of education and without a school place. You would have to give your 1 full term of notice and wait for that to expire and then you can force the LA to take action.

NB the action the LA will take is to give your child a place at an undersubscribed "inadequate" school which is a long commute away, and they will offer a free bus pass because of the journey length. Sorted.

Rich are always tax dodging, it's hardly surprising.

Any child currently at a private school whose parents didn't already give notice back in April that they are leaving the school at the end of the summer term already has a place for September anyway because they are contractually obliged to give a full term's notice.

That’s not the case with some schools. Some schools still haven’t announced their fee increases for this September. There are often clauses in the Ts&Cs which state that, where less than a term’s notice of fee increases is given, a different notice period becomes applicable (eg within a month of being notified of the increase).

There might well be more parents of Year 5/nursery children who will apply for a state school place during the normal period than there ordinarily would be. It would make sense, given the uncertainty. If they get allocated a "good" state school or the private option really is unaffordable then they take up that place. Otherwise it's still available for someone else.

Quite. Just unbelievable behaviour.

So you want to punish the parents and children of local families for the decision of politicians?

Ridiculous idea. Nobody will actually take up the in year transfer place so it will make no difference at all. The council will then offer it to the next person dumb enough to ask for a place.