Very disturbing: Have been offered a school place - can they now withdraw offer?

[MummyofOnly]

My daughter is due to start school Reception class this September.
We applied to several local state schools; a local faith school and other community schools based on distance.
I recieved a letter from the LEA stating that the Governors of the Faith school have approved my daughters application and as it was the school I ranked highest out of all the preferences, this is the school they are offering us. I had to return a form stating we would like to accept (or decline) the offer. I have sent this to the LEA (deadline is end of month).
A friend of mine has recently had a bad experience regarding her son's Secondary school application so, being extra cautious, I decided to take a copy of the acceptance letter to the school in person.
Anyhooooo..I handed it in to the secretary only to be told "Oh no. Well that's not right. That name is not on my list" (?????)

The school is highly oversubscribed. 60 places - 250+ applications.
The secretary among other things said "a lot of people who were "assured" (I am guessing in a nudge nudge wink wink kind of way) of a place and are now bitterly disappointed - "perhaps we were one of those?" "Is this an appeal letter?"

No and no.

Slightly panicking I phoned the LEA to ask if they have confirmation of having recieved the acceptance letter. "No. It is not on the system yet."
I shall now have to send signed copies of the acceptance by recorded delivery.

However my worry is this. If my daughter is not on the school secretary's "internal list" - perhaps a nudge, nudge...list, but I have an offer letter from the LEA stating the opposite - Does she have a real offer? Can it be recinded?

The application was an honest one i.e. real address used (yes I know, shocking ) a very strong supporting reference from Parish Priest, we live locally and {whisper} attend church.

Can I/Do I need to appeal if the school do not send joining instructions?

Is is the LEA who deal with allocation? If so, the school should have no say WHATSOEVER in who gets in or not, no matter how much nudge nudge wink wink.

But was is a letter saying YES SHE HAS A PLACE or was it a letter saying THANKS FOR APPLYING WE HAVE YOUR DETAILS.

You need to be very clear.

You need to get back on the phone to the LEA and explain all this and see that they say.

Is you have a letter saying YES SHE HAS BEEN ALLOCATED A PLACE there should be no issue. Perhaps paperwork etc is not all on the system yet.

I know here it is the LEA who sends out the letters not the school, so who sent you the letter?

if you have a letter from the LEA saying she has a place, then she has a place. (as long as you have not misunderstood the letter, double check!)

the secretary is probably bombarded by all sorts of people claiming they have a place, were promised it by the priest etc etc... all of which are now irrelevant.

i would be 100% confident your DD has a place so stop worrying.

the LEA may not have it inputted yet
the school secretary may be looking at a different list (nursery, appeal list etc..) or may just be thinking you were one of those thinking they had a place, trying it on and batting you away.

If it is a c of e aided school the school offers the places and lets the LEA know who has got in. The LEA sends out the offer letters. Then you have to accept the place and give the letter in to the school by the deadline.

If you have received a letter offering you the place and returned the form accepting it to the correct place your child should have a place.

I would contact the Head of the School and the LEA and get to the bottom of what has happened. Could it be that you have sent the form to the LEA and they have not yet sent it on to the school?

As far as I know an offer of a place cannot be withdrawn. You would only lose a place if you don't return the acceptance of the place letter to the required place by the deadline.

Once the initial offers are made if anyone doesn't want their place I think the schools manage the waiting lists.

This is my experience. May be a different system in other counties.

How big is your LEA?
Is there any chance the application has gone in against a school with the same name?
In our authority there are 3 schools named St Joseph's, 3 named St. Mary's, etc etc

It does sound very odd otherwise, and I hope you get peace of mind soon, as I'm sure I would be panicking!

Thank you all for your replies - SO QUICK [SMILE]

It is a Catholic school. The letter is a 1st Preference offer letter sent by the LEA; so it is a definate offer letter. Attached was a form that has to be sent back to them (LEA) by such and such date stating whether or not I accept or decline the place on behalf of my daughter.

Paranoid much?

The reason I have panicked is because the Headteacher overheard/got the gist of the conversation between the secretary and I, and she was having a kind of "side conversation" with them (you know the type - when the object of your conversation is there and you try and talk about/around them without revealing too much)

Anyhooo...it she seemed she felt adament my daughters name was not on her...radar, for want of a better word. Very adament and the Headteacher mentioned something along the lines of "do check, get back to me" looking over at us.
She did start mentioning nursery lists and admittedly I had my daughter with me who is VERY small (an ex preemie baby). However, she then started talking about schools places and how X amount of people applied, X amount of people seemed to think they were promised places, so many people disappointed querying etc.

I do understand that. I really do. However I was simply just wanting to hand in an extra copy of the acceptance letter.

I think maybe you are right...they are bombarded with people who have been disappointed. The thing is I don't "do" politics - office, friendship, schoolground type politics etc it is sooo time consuming and annoying and so am not the type of person to be on the inside track (nudge nudge wink wink lists)

We are fairly new to the church and I have made an honest application on behalf of my daughter; the parish priest seems to really like us and want her to go to the attached school.
Thank you for all your replies and reassurances. I am off to the post office to send acceptance letter again - by Special Delivery

I wonder how they even have a list since surely they would only get the actual list of names from the LEA when the acceptance/decline letters are all back. Not a friendly welcome, but as other posters have sadi maybe she in inundated at this time of year by people trying to barge in.Very best of luck and please let us know the outcome!!!! (I do understand your paranoia becaue I have always hand-delivered every school application/acceptance )