Anyone who applied to state school for backup, but is sending their child to private school…

[thehonscupboard]

…please can you decline the state school place asap?

A school near us expects places to open up in September term once kids don’t turn up. Apparently this happens every year because people don’t decline their kids’ places even though they know they won’t be using them.

This means in September, parents are given the option for their first preference school after their child’s already started elsewhere. It’s obviously not ideal to move a child’s school a few weeks into term; an emotional upheaval for the child, and a financial burden for parents who have to buy a second set of school uniforms.

Obviously some of the September places are due to other factors; last minute house moves etc. but this is a plea to those who know for sure that their child will not need a state school place. Please ensure you have declined the one they’ve been offered as lots of councils automatically assume your child is enrolled unless told otherwise. Thanks!

You have to actually accept the place offered in our council, do private schools not confirm places at the same time as state?

You have to accept the place. If you do nothing and ignore your offer, it hasnt been accepted.

I suspect the parents you're talking about are accepting the place , and will spend the summer thinking about what they'd like to do. There will be lots of movement end of August and then up to October half term.

I think it might depend on county. We get notified of a place but I’ve never had to accept it. Primary and secondary

Who knows anything "for sure"?

The child of the private-school-using family has every right to a place in a state school, and was allocated that place in a fair process. It is theirs.

How many people can declare in April/May with 100% confidence that they are certain that by September there won't be some kind of financial disaster that causes them to fear redundancy, or that they get diagnosed with cancer or suffer a life-changing injury in a road accident?

If they are only 99% confident that they will reach September and all will be well, they have a right to hold on to their backup plan and they do not have to consider anyone elses needs but their own.

Meanwhile from the point of view of those on the waiting list, I think the system works well. When the last couple of places are released in mid-September a couple of weeks into term, the detriments you mention are an excellent filter for ensuring the place goes to the right child. It's not at all unusual for a beyond-the-last-minute place to go to a child who was 5th on the waiting list because the families in places 1-4 all decline the place because of the disruption, but the child for whom the disruption is "worth it" accepts. I think this is a good thing, and it's a benefit which wouldve destroyed if people heeded your plea.

Have you checked this with your council? Pretty sure being offered a place is just that, an offer. Unless parents actively accept the place, the child doesn’t get it. I know that’s true of where I live.

Erm, but why should they? Clearly they are more entitled to the place than you are, it they were offered it and you weren't, based on admissions criteria?

I held onto a state school place for both my children, past this point, despite intending to send them to private school. Anything could have changed in those months. We wanted to make sure it was the right choice, both financially and for our children. Why would we have given up the security of a place in the local state school if we didn't have to??

I did actually inform the school itself that we were planning to send the children to private school but we were hanging onto our place for now and they said they thought that was very sensible. I don't know if they informed the next person on the waiting list or not.

In the current situation, with private schools folding every week, you can't seriously expect people to risk having a school place altogether to make it easier for you..? It would he foolish to do that.

*The child of the private-school-using family has every right to a place in a state school, and was allocated that place in a fair process. It is theirs.

How many people can declare in April/May with 100% confidence that they are certain that by September there won't be some kind of financial disaster that causes them to fear redundancy, or that they get diagnosed with cancer or suffer a life-changing injury in a road accident?*

This. A lot can change in that time. The private school might even announce closure. Giving up a state school place is a big deal. I'm amazed you think it's okay to ask people to do this.

A lot of people do this though because they did not get their first choice state school and if they decline their further down choices now, the system kicks them out of a chance of getting their first choice. Everyone is entitled to a state place. So unless it is people who 100 per cent are going private and not waiting for a higher option choice, I am not sure you are being fair.

Also your issue is not just with potential private school parents. A lot of state school parents change their minds too on their choices and where I live you can join any waiting list late and be bumped up, if you fulfil the criteria. DS has a friend who was going to go to the same grammar as him, but has changed his mind and is now on the waiting list for a further down choice which they will likely qualify for on further waiting list allocations, due to their high score in the test. This kind of thing happens all the time when people actually get on the bus and trial the commutes involved or someone gets a divorce or whatever circumstances change. So trying to moralise against a subset of parents is not OK.

I agree with the OP to a point. If you know you are going to go with the private school option, to the extent of realising that you will have to pay Autumn terms fees whatever, then I think it is right to decline the state offer. I know of someone who was bragging that their child had an offer from a good state school and three private ones but still hadn't made up their mind. Someone at the gathering made it clear that in their opinion they were being extremely selfish because they were preventing 3 children from securing places at the respective schools. The bragging parent went very quiet when others agreed with the person who had spoken up. I understand they decided on their final decision the very next day.

A lot of people do this though because they did not get their first choice state school and if they decline their further down choices now, the system kicks them out of a chance of getting their first choice.

Firstly - preferences.

And you can decline the place that you were allocated and still remain on the waiting list for the schools that you named as higher preferences on your CAF and hope that at some point, a place will become available and your DC will be ranked at the top of the waiting list at that time

What won't happen, though, if you decline the place offered, is that your LA will magic up a place at your first preference school, or actively look for another alternative to the highest of your preferences/ nearest under subscribed school that you have already been offered.

I actually think it's sensible, not selfish, to keen options open. Private schools are folding left right and centre at the moment. Definitely sensible to hold onto the state place until at least the end of the school year (I say this as a teacher).

you can decline the place that you were allocated and still remain on the waiting list for the schools that you named as higher preferences on your CAF

Nope, not here you can’t. You have to accept the one offered and sit on waiting lists. Declining the one offered boots you from the whole system.

Wow, so selfish and yet not knowing. People are happy when private school children are unjustly being attacked and now want their state places!

Who is attacking private school children? You should contact the police!