In Years admissions - help!

[Sarannie]

Hi, my daughter is Yr7 and very unhappy at school. She is on the list to move to a reasonable secondary school very nearby. (The secondary school she is currently at is the nearest catholic school, a 25 min bus journey away). It is likely they will have a place in a couple of weeks altho this is not definite. We are on Easter hols still and as we near the time to go back she is getting more & more desperate. I think I'm going to have the mother of struggles to get her to go back on Tuesday and I don't know what to do.
I've explained why she needs to go back and that she can't just stop going because she's unhappy but it is just making things worse.
Does anyone have any experience of this sort of issue and what I could do?
Thank you

Are you after help with the admissions process or help with how to deal with your daughter?

On the admissions side, I suspect that the school is expecting a child to leave but don't want to offer the place yet in case the parents change their minds. If that is the case I'm afraid there is nothing you can do in the short term other than wait and hope. You could appeal for a place but that is likely to take a couple of months with no guarantee of success.

I'm wondering about home schooling while we wait for the place but am concerned about how this would affect our position on the list for the new place (if at all?).
I simply cannot get through to anyone at the LEA to ask these questions. The woman who deals with In Year admissions for our area is off sick and nobody is doing her work as they are too busy. I have left a message but her office say that they can take 3 days to return a call. I have also e-mailed but apparently that can take 10 days to receive a response.

Home schooling would not affect your position on the waiting list.

Oh right that's great.I realise that I mustn't de-register her though so I'm not quite sure how to play it and what to say... Any ideas?
Thank you

You can deregister her from her current school and home educate her until a place comes available at the other school. But it would be a good idea to also speak to the other school to make sure they understand that you do still want the place there - you still have just as much right to a place as you do now, and it won't affect your place on the waiting list, but they could get a confusing message from the LEA when the current school pass on the deregistration information so it's always safest to speak to them directly and make sure they understand what you are doing.

Ah thank you that's very good advice.

Thanks very much for your advice. A place at the new school has come up and my daughter starts on Monday