Advice desperately needed on appeals process

[FnD]

V long and complicated story but please bear with me....

My Oldest DS has been at an out of catchment infant school and is now in year 1. We applied for him to go to the linked junior school. However they take 75 places at the infant and only 60 at the junior.
At the same time, we applied for my middle DS for the same infant school. they will start Yr 3 and reception respectively this september. My youngest DS ( and the middle one) has a childminder whose own children attend the infant and junior schools above and she therefore does the school run as well for my DS.

On Wednesday we were told in writing that both boys had got places at the junior and infant schools and all was great.

On friday, we got a letter saying they were terribly sorry they had made a mistake and offered too many places at the junior school and were going to have to retract my oldest DS's place and offered one at another school ( a rubbish one, which is nearer where we live but miles away from the infant school and chidlminder)

They have also ( I think to make up for their screw up) offered 64 instead of 60 places at the junior school which makes the chances of a successful appeal even harder.

So I have an oldest DS nowhere, the middle DS starting at the infant school in September and my youngest DS who has Down's syndrome and who I am desperate not to move from the childminder who is ace.

I need to start tackling this on Monday. HELP!!!

I'm no expert but I think you have to prove that they have not applied the rules correctly. What is the entry criteria?

I think you need to speak to the LEA. I'm not sure that, once offered, they can withdraw the offer of a place without there having been something wrong with your application.

FnD, sounds like a nightmare situation but don't panic yet... is the junior school a community school or a faith school?

If it is a community school and your first letter was from the admissions authority (usually the LA admissions department) then they have no legal basis for withdrawing the place.

If it is a faith school and the first letter came from the LA i.e. not the actual school admissions authority then it may be possible for the place to be withrawn.

We had a similar experience in January when my DD was offered a place at the school I teach at having come to the top of the waiting list, she'd started Reception elsewhere in September. We received a letter during the Christmas holiday but the day before she was due to start I was told the LA had 'over offered the vacancy, twice' . I went through the school admissions code (a statutory and therefore legal document) and found the relevant section which I forwarded to a couple of solicitor friends. As the LA was the admission authority for the school and it was its own mistake they could not withdraw the place. I made sure the LA were aware that I'd taken legal advice and promptly enrolled my DD at the school.... funnily enough I've not heard from them since!

Document is this: it's useful to note that must is statutory, should is guidance: www.dcsf.gov.uk/sacode/downloads/SchoolAdmissionsCodeWEB060309.pdf and relevant section is: Withdrawing offers of places 1.50 Once an offer of a school place has been made it is only reasonable for an admission authority to withdraw that offer in very limited circumstances. These may include when a parent has failed to respond to an offer within a reasonable time or the admission authority offered the place on the basis of a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application from a parent (for example, a false claim to residence
in a catchment area) which effectively denied
a place to another child; or where a place
was offered under co-ordination by the local
authority, not the admission authority, in error. If a parent has not responded to the offer of a place within a reasonable time, the admission authority must remind the parent of the need to respond within a further seven days and point out that the place may be withdrawn if they do not.

1.51 A school must not withdraw a place once
a child has started at the school, except
where that place was fraudulently obtained.
In deciding whether to withdraw the place,
the length of time that the child had been at
the school must be taken into account, for
example, it might be considered appropriate
to withdraw the place if the child has
been at the school for less than one term.
Where a place is withdrawn on the basis of
misleading information, the application must
be considered afresh, and a right of appeal
offered if a place is refused.

Apologies for the dodgy formatting (or lack of).

SE13 I think I might love you!

It is a community school so it is the LA who offered the place originally and which I accepted immediately.

They screwed up by "forgetting" that the junior school does not have as many places as the infant.

In the 2nd letter, they say"...as a result of an administrative error we have allocated too many places...the school cannot accomodate the extra children and therefore I have to advise you that it is no longer possible to offer.. a place"

Actually, having just read 1.50 again surely the above is a place that has been offered under co-ordination by the local authority in error.

What do you think??

I'm not a solicitor but if they're admitting it was an administrative error then they are on dodgy ground indeed. It might be a good idea to write a formal letter to the LA (and cc it to the head of children's services, your local MP etc.) and paste in the relevant section of the admissions code and simply state that you trust they will honour their offer of a place in the light of what their legal obligations. If you have a friend who is a solicitor it might be worth getting them on side so you can state that you've taken legal advice and believe blah blah blah.

In our situation the LA legal department got completely confused and I believe the result was that at least two of the three children places were offered to were taken on by the school, the third was a different set of circumstances which had been handled wrongly by the LA.

If your child has no additional needs and it's a junior school place then the class size prejudice doesn't apply and the school is unlikely to need lots of extra resources to accommodate him.

We ended up having to accept a letter from the school stating that our child's place may be withdrawn by the LA due to their overallocation of places but by then we knew they didn't have a legal leg to stand on so have filed it and not mentioned it.

FnD.. I hope SE13Mummy's advice helps so you can get your DSs school place sorted and get back to reading smutty vamp books

SE13 - thank you so much, I have posted on legal in case anyone has any advice. A solicitor is one of the few people I dont know! Oh well the battle commences tomorrow!

TeamC - you have brought the first smile to my face since Friday. And yes, this is most inconvenient, occupying my mind so much I can't even read!!

Actually, having just read 1.50 again surely the above is a place that has been offered under co-ordination by the local authority in error.

As it's a community school the LA are also the admissions authority, so it makes no difference.

I think this one is meant to cover the case where a VA church school (who are their own admissions authority) give the LA a list to use under the co-ordination scheme and the LA offer a place to a child in error. As the admission authority hasn't approved admission of that child then the place can be withdrawn.

One more thing FnD, this is a situation that is out of the ordinary (or not as my case demonstrates!) so the usual advice about admissions appeals that people offer may not stand.

Your youngest son' needs are unlikely to have any impact on the LA's decision to retract their retraction so I'd definitely make your complaint about their error and the illegality of withdrawing a place: ...or where a place was offered under co-ordination by the local authority, not the admission authority, in error is the phrase in the admissions code that applies but you may need to remind them that the Local Authority is the admissions authority and therefore it is not possible for them to argue 'limited circumstances'.

As it is a junior school you are applying for then the LA can direct a school to take over the published admissions number if need be. The school may try to argue that they do not have enough physical space to take an additional child but as a teacher I know that we often have to squeeze additional children in even if it's only temporarily - tell them you'll pay for an extra chair if it really makes that much difference! My own school asked the LA for additional funding for the two surplus children and was told no even though that was for Reception... as a result the Head now has the LA over a barrel because the class sizes are over 30 courtesy of an LA error.

Also wanted to add although I totally understand your concerns with the childminder re youngest son I don't think it can have any bearing about whether or not your eldest son gets a place at the school. If you do end up going to appeal it will be all about making a case about why this is the best school for your eldest DS, childcare, work, travel and any other external issues don't come into it.

If you do go to appeal it's worth finding out what the maximum number of pupils the classrooms can physically hold is. School and/or LA should be able to tell you this information. Luckily you aren't battling the 30 limit at KS1, but there will be a physical limit.

(totally mad to offer less places at juniors than infants though, what were they thinking... ,.)

crossed posts x 2 SE13 - great minds

Yet another thought... does the oversubscription criteria for this school give any priority to children who have siblings in the infant school? As you've accepted a place for DS2 at the infants you may find that also goes in your favour.... this isn't always the case for linked schools though so do check it out in full just in case! The LA should also provide you with a breakdown of how many children were awarded places under which categories of the oversubscription criteria which may help you to work out where you've missed out.

I find that section really confusing. So Betsy does it mean they cant legally withdraw my DSs place or they can?

I am thinking of saying that I believe they are not acting legally and want the matter referred to the school adjudicator prior to it even going to appeal.

Are you talking about the published admissions number section? That is the number of pupils which the school is expected/required to admit essentially without argument. That's not to say that it can't/won't change or in fact that it represent the maximum capacity of the school as it may not. In some cases schools like to admit 25 instead of 30 because that works better for them but if their PAN number is 30 then they have to admit 30 if 30 children apply for a place and meet the entry requirements (where relevant).

A school I used to teach at had a PAN of 60 (per year group). Due to the estates it was on being demolished it was undersubscribed and teachers had to be made redundant. The PAN remained at 60 so all sorts of class combinations were dreamed up including the merging of two Y6 classes to become one (bad advice from the LA housing department suggesting that a large number of families with children in Y6 had accepted relocation packages). There were technically 42 children in the Y6 class but as the year went on and more pupils joined it went up to 48 because the PAN hadn't changed - not much fun for anyone!?!

If the Junior school has already exceeded its PAN then do push for information on how the places were allocated and definitely push the legal side of things before going to appeal.

Yet another point from me - sorry! From my experience I would say that not all of the staff in LA admissions have a clear knowledge/understanding of the law related to admissions/school entry. Not only did our LA have no idea about overallocation and a handful of other things relating to offering places to another pupil illegally but they also didn't understand about when a child is considered to be of statutory school age.

Do make sure that your letter is sent (or even better, handed in and signed for) to admissions but also to others in children's services etc. so that it doesn't get overlooked by someone who doesn't necessarily understand the legal side of it.

I'm not saying that all admissions staff are lacking in knowledge but that the ones in Lewisham are - they were very kind and helpful which went some way to making up for it.

I'm no expert, but this sounds like the almightiest of cock-ups on the LEA's part. Heads will be rolling all over the place, as I think they may have to honour the offers they've made. There was a case round here a year or two ago, where the LEA ballsed up the distance criteria, and allocated places to people who lived further away than some nearer who were denied places. They had to offer the extra places and fund a larger-than-normal yeargroup.
I'd pursue this line if I were you. Their ballsup is not your problem. In fact, it might be your saviour.

Ooh Clam - can you tell me what LA it was that had the issue - so I can cite it tommorrow if needs be.

The info given says that children were offered up to rule 6 (being at a linked primary school) up to 2.645miles (we are just outside of this).

SE13 - Where would I find the oversubscription criteria? is it the same as the normal allocation criteria? if so I dont think they count the younger sibling unless they are already at the school at the time the allocations are made. Really stupid as they offered the younger DS a place - they will have to find him another school as well if they wont let the older one in.

Thanks so much everyone for all your input. I have to remember tomorrow to stay calm and not get shouty or

Herts. But won't be just them though, as I think it's fairly common practice that if it's the LEA who've cocked up, then they have to take the consequences. But I must stress that I'm no expert, and I'm hazy on the details.
And for the record, I reckon that your youngest's Down's might have a bearing on any appeal you make. It would after all have an adverse effect on your family's ability to cope with attending the school they've attempted to palm you off with.
Good luck.

The oversubscription criteria are the same as the allocation criteria - the LA website should have them and it'll say something along the lines of 'in the event that more than X children apply for a place the following criteria will be used to allocate places...'

I know that Westminster over-offered Reception places at one school a few years back and so ended up having to fund two classes (it was a one-form entry school) for the entire primary school career of that particular cohort. They offered 36 instead of 30 - duh! It made for two nice small classes though.

Good luck with staying calm. Do you know any of the others who've had places retracted? I guess you may have to make a decision on what if anything to tell them about how you plan to tackle this...

I suppose the difference here is that it's not that they have mis-applied the criteria as such. Just mistakenly offered places. But I was told by an admissions officer (years ago, admittedly, when DS started nursery, so 9 years-ish) that they couldn't retract offers once given.
Also, they're trying to alter the distance criteria round here from shortest walking route to crow flies, as there have been so many appeals upheld due to errors in administering it.

Hi. Just seen this.

FWIW, I am an admissions appeal panel member for my LEA. As I read it, the bit in para 1.50 about withdrawing offers made in error is (as someone has already suggested) for those situations where the LEA has been sending out offers on behalf of VA schools and others for which it isn't the admissions authority. So, not relevant here but note that para 1.50 says that these are examples of what may constitute the 'limited circumstances' in which offers can be withdrawn, so it may be best not to rely solely on this.

If you have to go through the appeal route, you will need to focus on positive reasons for your son to attend the school. Don't rubbish the school you've been offered instead, as that won't address the issue of why you want your son to attend this school. The school set-up (we have nothing like it in our LEA) seems to accept and assume that some children will lose their places between the infant and junior schools, so it will be up to you to demonstrate why this is especially unreasonable for you, above and beyond its unreasonableness for anyone else affected. Generally, the inconvenience of getting children to two different schools or to school and childminder isn't enough to win an appeal, but you can highlight any relevant compassionate circumstances or needs. If you think it's important for your sons to remain with the same childminder, you can point that out, for example.

Contact the Advisory Centre for Education. They're bound to have come across this situation before.

Thanks again, everyone.
Thank you StillCrazy. I will try contacting ACE tomorrow morning before I get going (in between various meetings at work!.

Right in an attempt to stop myself from going insane. am going to watch the BAFTAs instead!

Sorry, haven't read whole thread (am supposed to be working....) but if your middle ds is starting at the infants, couldn't you also appeal on the sibling link? Surely you would go to the very top of the waiting list if nothing else?

Not necessarily, furrycat. It seems that the two schools are treated separately with separate admissions criteria. Sibling criteria usually relate to having a sibling who will be at the same school at the time that the child attends.

Another thought just occurred to me. Did the LEA indicate how it decided which offers to retract? Was it done on the basis of the admissions criteria (ie were the offers ranked and the bottom 11 (by my calculations) withdrawn)?