Fair access protocol

[Mayhemmumma]

Does anyone know the process for this?

I hadn't appreciated my child applies for this. I don't know anything about it- what is the process if I apply in year?

My child is unhappy at school (I feel her school is dreadful) and wants to move but is very well behaved, good attendance and very able academically - about to start year 8.

We are on a waiting list for preferred school and have been throughout year 7, the school have sent through the application form as it's going into a new school year and I've noticed this.

Are you sure?

FAP is for getting a place when in theory there isn't one.

If a space comes up mid year it goes to the person highest up the admission criteria.

If a space comes up mid year it goes to the person highest up the admission criteria.

This. Waiting lists are kept in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.

@stichguru that’s not what the FAP is for. It might be that all schools in an area are full, so if a child moves into the area, FAP means that one school can be compelled to find a space for them. It’s not to do with regular waiting lists.

You have a place at another school so FAP doesn’t apply. It is not for a school place a specific school anyway, it is to guarantee that she won’t be left without a school place at all.

Just to update on this. DD had been on waiting list from year 6 application.
School asked me each half term if she wanted to remain on waiting list and for year 8 I had to complete another application form to remain on the waiting list. The FAP checklist which id not seen before was on it - as soon as id checked a box on that we were offered a place, within days.

It might be a coincidence but I think it did make a difference although not officially a reason for getting the place.

I'm glad she has a place, but if you ticked a box saying she was entitled to a FAP place and she got it due to that, then that may count as a fraudulent application, so you could lose it even after she starts.

However the chances are that just a space came up and she was the highest on the list.

Why on earth would it be fraudulent?

Because DD isn’t eligible to be considered under the FAP yet you ticked the box.

Although I agree with @MargaretThursday, it is more likely there was a space and DD was first on the waiting list.

Yes she is! It just wasn't asked initially and I hadn't heard of it. See first post fgs

Fap is for dc who do not have a school place that is considered reasonable.
So let's say they've moved house and still have their old school place 150 miles away and also no school places available for them within a reasonable distance at their new place. So if there is a failing school 15 miles away with a space, you don't count under fap because there is a space.
It isn't for people who have a school place they don't want. As soon as the LA has offered a school place, any school place, the dc is not eligible under fap.
As your dc was in a school, they would not be eligible except possibly in very exceptional circumstances, e.g. Witness protection or that sort of level of exceptional.

It's there so if a child needs a place in an area where all schools are full to pan, then they can use that to force one of the schools, of the LA choice, not the parent's choice, to take the child even though they are full. So every child can have a school place.

I expect they ignored the tucked box though.

As people keep telling you, FAP is for children who have not got a school placement and who haven’t been able to secure one through the usual means. I’ve worked in several Local Authorities and FAP has always been handled by a central panel, not by the school direct.

Based on what you’ve said, your daughter was awarded a place via the waiting list based on admissions criteria. And that’s great :)

I hope it’s a much better fit for her 💐

The Admissions Code is clear about the circumstances in which the Fair Access Protocol can be used. The previous version of the Code gave LAs some leeway to include children that did not fall into any of the categories listed. The current Code, which has the force of law, gives LAs no leeway at all. The FAP cannot be used to find a place for a child who already has a place at a school that is within a reasonable distance from home. Also, the FAP cannot be used to get a place at the parents' preferred school. It is just a mechanism for getting a place somewhere. If that happens to be the preferred school that is a bonus but, in most cases, it won't. It will be the nearest school with places available or, if there are no places available, the nearest school best able to cope with another pupil.

You don't apply for the FAP. The LA should use it automatically if the child is eligible. Unless the form specifically said that these boxes were only to be ticked if the child was out of school, OP has not acted fraudulently by ticking one of them. However, if OP's child was awarded a place via the FAP that was clearly a mistake and means that whoever was at the head of the waiting list should win an appeal if they become aware of the situation.

If the form did say the boxes were only to be used for children who did not have a school place, OP has acted fraudulently. If the school or LA become aware of this, her daughter's place can be removed even though she has already started at this school.

boxes were only to be used for children who did not have a school place

This is what I assumed. Surely the LA wouldn’t have FAP boxes to tick for DC who already have a school place since the FAP doesn’t apply to them.

I wonder why they asked?

I don't know hence why I started the thread, I'd never heard about it. But given we were on the waiting list from school allocation day in year six and all of year seven. It did seem coincidence that the moment the box was checked (truthfully, she meets the criteria) we got a place for year 8, I felt it gave her application a bump - we're not in the catchment so were always going to be last on list.

OP

Did you check a box against whichever of the original FAP reasons you thought applied to your DD? From an earlier post this included eg children from the criminal justice system, Roma children etc

Yes

truthfully, she meets the criteria

No she doesn’t because she has a school place. As per the quote I posted from the admissions code, the ”Fair Access Protocols may only be used to place the following groups of vulnerable and/or hard to place children, where they are having difficulty in securing a school place in-year, and it can be demonstrated that reasonable measures have been taken to secure a place through the usual in-year admission procedures”

But it wasn't phrased like that on the application- I included the school she was at.

Whether it was phrased like that on the application form or not, it is what the FAP is for.

I know that I was interested to see the change it appeared to make with the application- all completed honestly and correctly as per the schools asking.

It wouldn’t, or at least shouldn’t, have changed anything. Places are allocated in accordance with the oversubscription criteria.