School admissions

[Deedee1082]

First time posting, but I’m hoping people can shed some light on this fiasco!

My kids are in reception and year 2, they’ve never settled properly into school and so we looked at another. We spoke with the receptionist and the headteacher and they both said.. the class is full for one child but not the other, but dont worry.. we will go oversubscribed for him.

They invited us to look around the school, head assured me he would have a place with his brother. Invited us to the school fete, showed the kids around.. introduced them to people..
They then invited them to 2 transition days to meet their class and their new teacher, they gave them their class and p.e groups.. kids were really so excited to begin a new school!

We had applied to council whilst this was going on, my little one got in.. but my eldest didn’t as the class was full.

So now head is saying ‘ not sure why that’s happened. I said we were fine to go oversubscribed for him, we want him at the school’

so I’ve appealed a few weeks back , and they can’t do the hearing till 17th September.

Headmastee is saying ‘ oh it’s weird they are being this way.. start the younger one and the older one should get in’

Is it me, or has he been massively negligent? I’m furious.. he’s said bye to his old classmates this week and now he hasn’t got a place in his new school. He suffers with anxiety anyway, I’m so angry. I would never have even looked at the school had he not assured me that both would get in.

Do I make a formal complaint?

thankyou x

Currently yr2, or going into Yr2 in September?

The school can't just say yes, they have to follow the proper procedure.

Sorry.. he’s currently year 2, going into year 3 in September.
youngest is going into year 1

So now head is saying ‘ not sure why that’s happened. I said we were fine to go oversubscribed for him, we want him at the school’
Why are they so anxious to have him at the school?! It all sounds most odd.

1. Even if there was a place available in the year group, unless your DC was the only pupil asking for the place, at which point, the place should have been offered upon receipt of a formal application, they would have to be ranked along with all the other applicants and the one ranked highest against the oversubscription criteria offered the place. This may not have been your DC- there might have been a sibling living closer, for example.
2. If there was no place available, the school can't just randomly create one, whatever the HT told you. For instance, if there was already a waiting list, with DCon it who would rank higher than yours, that action on the HT's part would likely guarantee that an independent appeal panel would uphold the appeal of any of those you leapfrogged, should the parents choose to appeal the school's refusal to create a place for them, too.

Infant Class Size legislation doesn't apply past year 2, but most if not all schools will not just admit at random above the 30, for the reason at 2) above. They may be directed to take a child 'out of waiting list order', but this would be e.g.where thete was no school place for that child within a reasonable distance, not to accommodate a child with a local.place, not moving house, just wanting to change schools.

1. Much as HTs really ought to know the law surrounding school admissions, some really are woefully ignorant. I'm assuming that this is a Local Authority school?

Unfortunately, by giving up.your DC's original place without official confirmation of the new one at the sibling's or any other school, you have essentially told the LA that you intend to home educate, at least pending the outcome of your appeal.

Don't give up hope, though - I have known a school do something very similar (in this case not even someone with any part to play in the application of the Admissions policy) and the panel be very sympathetic to the parent (or more especially, the child).

Unfortunately, by giving up.your DC's original place without official confirmation of the new one at the sibling's or any other school, you have essentially told the LA that you intend to home educate, at least pending the outcome of your appeal.

No, she hasn't. The child won't have been taken off roll at their current school, or if he has, the head acted unlawfully and must reinstate the place. By law, a child's name can only be removed from the register in very specific circumstances. One is that he has been registered at another school. Another is that the parent has informed the school in writing that he is now being home educated. Neither of those conditions has been met in this case.

So the child might well be confused and upset that he isn't changing school as he was told, and the OP might now decide to home educate him rather than send him back to the school where he was unhappy while juggling school runs to two different schools. I can see why she'd be angry that the head of the new school was so badly uninformed about the admissions process. But she hasn't "given up" her child's place at the first school.

Is it possible there's been an influx of children from private schools seeking places in your target school since Labour won the election?

Does your child have any EHCP or are they a 'looked-after' child/fostered?

For these reasons the school can accept a student over the published admission number, I can't remember if it's just these 2 reasons or if there are any others!

They should not have said they will go over the PAN, it's the local authority's decision, not the school.