Fair Access Panel - Should parents be made aware?

[Masonj377]

Hi

I made a normal application for my daughter to attend Y10 at a local school.
I only named one school - my daughter has been EHE for some years , is autistic and has high anxiety.

I purposely only named one school.

The LA referred my application to the Fair Access Team who have allocated her a place at a different school which is unsuitable

The LA did not advise me that out application had been referred and not processed as a normal application

I am trying to establish if legally they should have advised me. Can anyone help or advise?

Thank you

Tbf year 10 is not a usual entry point for secondary so your application was treated as an in year one. I presume there was no space at your preferred school (not sure if you were able to check this beforehand) so the LA offered you a space at the next nearest, as they have to under FAP.

Sorry you are having this issue. You can appeal for the preferred school.

Or do you have an EHCP which names the preferred school?

I don't think they did anything wrongly. You applied for an in year place at a school. That school is presumably full. Under the FAP as your dd is not currently in school they have to find her a place somewhere. That is the normal procedure.

Yes, you should have told. See attached

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6124ab6ae90e0705410757e8/FAP_Guidance.pdf#page5

I think from your other thread that your argument would be that should you have known, you would supplied other information?

However, If there had been a place at the school of your choice, you would have to have been given it, and there would have been no need for the FAP. The FAP panel would not have decided to give you an alternative should there have been a place.

The FAP is designed to ensure vulnerable children with a need for a place can be placed in a reasonably local school asap despite schools being full; it must have been decided that this school was the best placed school to take another pupil, of all the local full schools.

You can appeal for the school you prefer of course, and you should cite the fact that you were not told, and thus not given the opportunity to explain more fully. The LA may argue that you should have given all the relevant info at the start, but the panel would then see the full picture. I would appeal asap though.

Hi it was treated as an in year application. The school I have been offered was full as well as the one I applied for.

if I had known my application was being referred to FAP I would have provided supporting information as to why I was applying for that school and not others.

i was not informed it had been referred to fap and I think I should have but I’m trying h to find out legally if the admissions team should have told me that they had decided to refer the application? x

Well from what a pp who knows a lot about appeals, yes you should have been told.

Thank you so much for this. To my knowledge both schools were full. The FAP have allocated the nearest school to me.

Had I known about the referral and that the FAP could place else where it is correct that I would have supplied further evidence

I was aware of a child who had left the year group / school. I applied as a normal application hoping to fall lucky that at the start of the school year that my application may coincide timing wise of the removal of other pupil

The offered school is unsuitable for two reasons. My daughter is estranged from her fathers side of family - a half sibling and cousins attend the school so that is one reason

my other reason is my daughter was EHE due to severe physical bullying in primary school ( at worst she was stabbed ) the pupils responsible are in attendance at the school we have been allocated. My daughter suffers from high anxiety ( is on medication) and is autistic - I cannot send her back into that environment

admissions now know this but say my only option is to appeal 😞🤦🏼‍♀️

Well I'm not an expert but from what I know when you appeal you need to show the detriment to your daughter in not attending that school is more than the detriment to the school in admitting an extra pupil. As the school you have been allocated is also full with your particular circumstances (the extreme bullying) you may have a case.

The estrangment I'm not so sure of unless you have particular reason that youdr daughter must not come in contact with that side of the family. (threats etc?)

You posted about this the other day - has something changed since then?

Yes the original question in this thread is different and about the guidelines of the FAP, the other thread was about our circumstances

I was aware of a child who had left the year group / school. I applied as a normal application hoping to fall lucky that at the start of the school year that my application may coincide timing wise of the removal of other pupil

Unfortunately this would only have resulted in the offer of a place if your DD was either the only applicant for a place within the year group, or, if there were others, was the highest ranked when the school considered them all against its oversubscription criteria. Obviously, neither pertained in this case.

A new list was started for Sept 2024, and if you wish to remain on the list you need to reapply again for that academic year. With the timing of our application there’s a strong chance that my daughter would have been at the top of the wait list at the time the other pupil was removed from the register - my daughter was never added to the wait list as admissions chose to process her application under FAP,

This thread is to try to ascertain if legally the admissions should have told me my daughter’s application was going to be processed under FAP

The document @PatriciaHolm quotes is government guidance. It is not statutory guidance, so it is not binding. They should have told you that your daughter would be allocated a place using the Fair Access Protocol, but legally they didn't have to.

However, the FAP does not override the normal admissions process. If a place was available at the school to which you applied and your daughter should have been at the head of the waiting list, you should have been offered that place even if they had allocated a place through the FAP. Your daughter should have been added to the waiting list even though you have been offered a place elsewhere. If they failed to add your daughter to the waiting list and, as a result, she missed out on a place, that is a clear breach of the Admissions Code. Concentrate on that rather than whether they should have told you they were using the FAP.

Thank you so much for this

This happened to my daughter when there was a place at the school she applied for. I copied in local authority and school, and successfully argued for a straightforward application. She was accepted.

That’s positive news sadly my LA aren’t even replying to me 🤦🏼‍♀️

That's appalling.

I'm afraid you may need an appeal to sort this out, but you could try pointing the LA at paragraph 3.18 of the School Admissions Code. This makes it clear that eligibility for the FAP does not take away your right to apply and appeal, and that admission to a school must not be refused just because you may be offered a place via the FAP.

Thank you

I have just received this from admissions

Please let me assure you that, even if XX application was not considered by the Fair Access Panel, she would not have secured a place at ZZ High School.

The school is currently 4 pupils over their admission limit in year 10, therefore, even if a child leaves, they will not be replaced.

The waiting list will not be used unless the year group falls below its admissions limit and a place becomes available.

Given that this school has very little pupil mobility, it is highly unlikely that the waiting list will be referred to this academic year.

Applicants who were eligible for the Fair Access Panel were prioritised over the summer to ensure they would be considered at the first meeting of the term.

Applications that were not being considered by the panel are taking longer than usual at present due to the high volume received over the summer holiday.

The guidance you have referred to confirms local authorities “should” inform parents that the application is being considered by the Fair Access Panel, it does not say “must” which is a mandatory requirement.

Local authorities should adhere to “should” requirements where possible. Due to the unprecedented number of applications, and the desire to process them as quickly as possible, notification letters were not sent out. However, you were notified in an email on 4th September. ONLY BECAUSE I CHASED IT

Please be assured that your views were considered by the panel as the application form is shared with the panel, there is the opportunity to explain in detail on the application form your reasons for your preferred school.

I don’t even know how to respond

Whilst all that might be true, you still have the right to appeal and at appeal you can present your extenuating circumstances.

Appealing is your way forward here.

Have you been given details of how to appeal?

I agree that your only way forward to get the school you want is to appeal. The LA is saying there was no mistake, but it is still possible to win an appeal for Y10 if you can show that the disadvantage to her from not being admitted outweighs any problems the school will face from having to cope with an additional pupil.

Thank you everyone - final general thoughts have the LA made an error or not ? Or shall I just let it go where they are concerned

I’m exhausted fighting - I do have details on how to appeal xx

I don't think they have made an error that cost you a place - the year group is over PAN already so even if someone has left,
the space would not have been filled, so you have not missed out there.

I would appeal asap and stress the urgency as appeals can take some weeks to arrange.

Agree with @PatriciaHolm - if they were over PAN there has not been any mistake. You can still appeal if you want, and you may be able to win if you can show how your daughter is disadvantaged by not going to this school. You would need to identify specific things this school provides that are not available at the allocated school and are particularly relevant to your daughter. If, for example, this school offers a particular subject at GCSE that your daughter wants and the allocated school doesn't, that would be part of your case.