Local comp not coping with in year transfers?

[wibwob]

We are experiencing a bumpy transition from private to state, despite applying for a place at local comp as soon as we we're permitted to do so - curious if others are having a similar experience. We have moved DC from small independent (chosen for SEN reasons) to the large local comp as we cannot afford VAT fee increase and want to avoid disruption to GCSES. DC does not have a start date as school apparently has so many new students to accommodate that they cannot commit to admissions meetings until after the new academic year starts. We won't have a date for the admissions meeting until after other students start back. Not only can DC not start until a start date is set at this meeting, GCSE options cannot be confirmed. We started the transfer process conversation with the school and local authority at the beginning of the year so it is frustrating to be in this situation. Hearing new education minister's comments on importance of attending the first day/week of the academic year, and the hardline crackdown on fining parents for absences, adds insult to injury. Perhaps a Ministry for Unintended Consequences will be required at some point.

OP isn’t asking for special treatment or to jump any queues. Quite the contrary. She just wants her DC to be able to start the school term along with all the other children, or at the very least to know when they’ll be starting school.

But they are forcing them out , and doing so in a way that inflicts maximum chaos for families and schools - it is shameful.

If you have a place, send him on day one
If you think because of his SEN he needs a meeting first then wait.
It won't harm him to start on day five or ten if certain things need to be put in place for him. Might be better for him as things wil be calm they can allocate a buddy etc

Don't do this. School won't have allocated a form group or his timetable. He will be sent home. This will be extremely embarrassing for him.

@RedToothBrush what absolute nonsense. Kids move schools all the time, for lots of reasons. Every child in the UK is entitled to a state school place. It's perfectly reasonable, when you accept a school place a number of days before the end of the summer term, to expect your child to be able to start on the first day of the September term - particularly when they're starting the GCSE course and every lesson counts. I think it's very poor of the school to insist on a delay, and I'd think exactly the same if the OP's son were transferring from another state school. When I worked in state school admissions, we would happily enrol a child the day after a place was accepted if necessary - much better than for them to miss induction and lessons. We've even done it on the same day, in fact. Slightly more complicated when you've got a GCSE timetable to sort out, but still an unreasonable delay imo.

We were an in year admission due to relocation, had confirmation of the place from the LEA and the school before Easter holidays, and still had to have a meeting with the year head, pastoral lead and other school staff when they had returned for the summer term before a start date was confirmed (which was very soon after the meeting). DC didn't require any special adjustments, I guess it's just the way that some schools operate.

But Labour are forcing them out of fee paying schools into state!

They aren't being forced by Labour. They are being forced by parents not planning for bills rising which has been completely predictable.

The government penalises the education of a child based on the parents decision every day, so I'm not quite sure why kids who have previously been to private school are a special case who should get privileged extra special treatment.

“would you want to live in a country where a government penalises a child’s education because of his/her parent’s decisions that they had no say over?”

Some of the comments on this thread read to me as if their author’s would like the ex private school parents and their children to perform public penance for their politically incorrect past behavior. Bit like the Cultural Revolution in China…

I've seen people on mumsnet saying they were going to apply for a place at state school that they didn't intend to take to make a point about the VAT charges. Hopefully once term starts and it becomes clear who is actually taking the place, the school will be able to sort this out. The people making a point probably thought they were punishing Labour, but it's more likely going to be other private parents who genuinely want a place who experience delays.

Quite. The fact this has been pushed is notable.

The school isn't legally obligated to do anything until it takes legal responsibility for the children. That's on the first day of term and not before.

They don't want to do all the running around before the end of the year before the holiday only for the parents to 'change their mind'.

They've seen it all before and will have had parents do this multiple times for transfers. They don't have that kind of time to waste on kids who may not show up. They need to focus their energy and time on the kids who are already in the school.

This is the exact same treatment that refugee kids from Ukraine had so I don't see why private school kids should get special treatment. It's pushy parent syndrome. Just be patient, contact school as told and get the information then.

Gosh. There are a lot of judgemental comments happening here. I am not messing the school about, I did not make financial miscalculations- and while we are on the subject of Ukrainian refugees, I have personally relocated several Ukrainian families, found them homes and hosts and helped them get their kids into schools, both independent and state. I have sent my children to both state and independent schools in the past. I have done everything by the book and am not being unreasonable. As a tax paying UK citizen, it is not unreasonable to expect your child to start school on the first day of the academic year when you have followed the process exactly as required. Regardless of where one's political allegiances lie (and mine has never been with the Tories) the labour government have been short sighted- state schools don't appear to be able to cope with the knock on and I wonder if they were even properly consulted.

Thank you to all the actual helpful and considerate posts - I think I will just wait for the school to confirm the meeting. If DC misses a couple of days or weeks, we'll deal with it and it will be okay in the end.

@wibwob apologies if I've missed this, but which year group is your DC joining? You mentioned that GCSE options cannot be confirmed until the meeting takes place? I suspect that this may be at least part of the issue. The school cannot not find places in classes for the core subjects, and if this is a normal in-year admission (that is, you applied, there was a space in the year group and therefore the school offered a place, rather than your DC was 'imposed' on the school e.g. via a successful appeal), space in classes, even if not necessarily initially in the correct sets, for those subjects wouldn't be an issue.

But classes for some option subjects may well be full - not necessarily a big deal to squeeze an extra body into a History class, perhaps, but options such as DT may be at their limit, both equipment- and safety-wise. Once term has started, the school will know who has / hasn't returned for this year, which may have a bearing on what options are available to your DC, and their personal timetable.

The Admissions Code says that once an in-year place has been offered and accepted, the pupil must be allowed to start at the school as soon as possible. Part of the 'possible' at KS4 will be checking what options can be offered.

@MarchingFrogs thank you, that is very helpful.

Just out of interest, do you apply the same thought process to parents who have 3rd or 4th children and complain about the 2 child benefit cap?

Personally I would want a meeting to discuss setting and ability of your DC and how they will monitor progress. Does your DC have any state school data from eg primary? Are the independent sending data across? What sets they will be in for GCSEs and how that will be monitored- I would want to know. I would be most focussed on Maths/Science - double or triple?/English and go there with a mindset that you may have to compromise on options/MML. Is it year 9 or 10? I would also try and get as much info as possible as how they do things. Like in DS grammar unless you manage to get on the comsci gcse, it’s very difficult to get on to the comsci A level (not enough places, everyone gets a 9).

You have not read the OP. The OP isn’t choosing a school. She has already chosen this school. She just wants the kid to start the school she has already chosen.

@Pythag - which part of what I wrote makes you think I do not know she is starting at a specific school?