Guest post: "My son wasn't offered a primary school place"

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No offer possible.

Unfortunately it is not possible to offer a place for your child at any of the schools you stated as a preference in your application.

The email came in at 7.45pm, after a day of texts from relieved friends who had got their school offer, and growing panic at the multiplying 'WE GOT IN' statuses on Facebook.

Rewind three months to this time two years ago and we had just submitted our primary school application form for our son Buster. We'd diligently visited and included six schools all within a mile of our house, and all with great reputations. While a lot of people seemed to be a bit panicky about not getting a place, I was confident in the system – and with so many good schools near us, and all our neighbours at our most local school, I thought we didn't have anything to worry about.

When we got the news, my husband Doug was working away. I phoned him immediately, shouting at him that he must have cocked up the forms. He hadn't. The main issue for our closest school was that of 60 places, 42 were taken up by siblings and a further six went to church places. That left 12 places, so the catchment was a tiny 399 metres.

There's thought to be quite a lot of mystery around how schools allocate places, but most of the time it's pretty straightforward: most councils have criteria for looked after children and those with special needs, then siblings are prioritised, church places allocated (if they have them) and then it's down to location. Despite this, it's easy to get caught up in the hysteria as people around you start attending church or temporarily move to an area to improve their chances of getting in to the best school.

I was surprised at how emotional I felt about it. I resented the people now talking to their kids about big school, getting excited about uniforms and moving on with their lives. There were a couple of heartbreaking moments when Buster walked past our local school and said 'I'm going there mum'. I felt utterly useless.

So, we started our campaign for a school place. Alongside 22 families without places, we met and fought with the council, drafting documents supporting a bulge class in an existing school. The issue for us was that two new free schools were scheduled to open, neither of which we'd applied to because of their locations – and why should we, with so many great schools on our doorstep?

However the council wouldn't budge, because despite the fact that the provision wasn't 'ideal', it was there (albeit in the wrong location), and apart from our group of parents, it didn't feel like there was anyone else championing the cause. By July, it was clear we weren't going to get a place at any of the schools on our list, so we started talking to one of the free schools.

As it turns out, Buster is having what is probably the best possible start to education that he could have. He has no idea that most primary schools aren't a Portakabin in a car park. The staff are fantastic and the school, fully aware that the circumstances weren't ideal for most, have done everything they can to make everyone ok with the situation, getting families involved in transforming the concrete play area.

Instead of being one in a few hundred pupils, he's one in 13. They do things that wouldn't be feasible with more children: go on welly walks, make use of the local park, go to swimming lessons. He started to read and write in the first term and the class have really bonded. After the first few weeks settling in, he has regularly said to us 'I love my school'.

I've learned that ultimately the staff, children and their families are what make a school, but I understand that in the end we've been lucky – this wouldn't be the case for everyone. The system is wrong. For example, the sibling policy needs looking at; something isn't right if someone who has moved out of the area retains a school place for future siblings which means that people who actually live and work in that local community can't get in and have to travel to another community.

There is also huge contradiction with two areas of policy; the pressure to build housing versus an increasing demand to build schools. The two compete with each other for space and invariably schools lose out.

The biggest issue is that these fundamental concerns are fairly fleeting for most. Those of us who have borne the brunt of it end up making the best of a bad situation and moving on. So who is fighting to improve the system?

My bugbear is in our city, Birmingham I.e not exactly a quaint village location, there are a few schools which still have 1 form intake despite some parents having to drive across the city to get a place (several friends are in a black hole for schools despite as I say still being in a big city).

Where is the forward planning? 2009/10 saw a spike in the birth rate giving councils time to plan and build / extend existing schools yet they do nothing! Plus we have a high immigrant population which means more children are arriving all the time.

These schools with 1 form have the space to build yet nothing happens. Of course small schools are lovely but not practical in today's world.

Just bonkers.

Beware of new primary Free Schools springing up. In my borough they are are opening in temporary portacabins in areas where the need is NOT the greatest. Then the EFA buys another permanent site for the school - beware again as these sites are often in terrible polluted areas by dangerous main roads and probably purchased in a panic and because the site was cheap (why because no "locals" like the site!). Desperate parents will find these
schools are the only ones allocated to their children

You will only get your first choice of school if that school is actually mentioned in the statement (i.e Primary is the only Primary that can deliver the education required for this child). It does have to stipulate that the school you are selecting is the only school which can offer the specialist provision required for your child, and the reasons for this.

As someone who has worked in more than 10 primary and state schools as a consultant including the top three prep schools in London there's not much difference academically teachers tend to be happier in the private sector which does help but it's definitely not more than 10 per cent difference private school kids get a lot more homework tutors are usually the ones picking up this bill ... No need to worry if your kid doesn't get in think of the child first then the school rather than the opposite way around if one knew what really went on in these schools there wouldn't be such a huge push to go to them ..!!

I have a lot of friends who do Home Ed. I must admit that I didn't know a great deal about Home Ed and how the education system worked, to begin with. So I found out. I talked to people, including educators, and found out about the rules and regs.

I admit that I was surprised. I didn't realise that Home Ed is the default for us in this country and that we choose to relinquish out right to that by placing our children in school. I also didn't realise that a lot of Home Ed groups exist where the kids meet up in groups, with different parents often teaching different aspects.

The parents I know whose children are now grown have amazed me. They have all done fantastic jobs - and like the OP, because their children have been taught in small groups or individually - the kids have flourished. I know people who children, having been taught through Home Ed, are now in Oxford University. I know those who have become nurses, doctors, etc.

I have to admit that watching children develop over the past few years since I first encountered Home Ed has been a great experience. It is something that I have come to respect a great deal. There is no state-assigned curriculum, which means that children are taught subjects that parents deem appropriate - I've seen parents turn cookery into a chemistry lesson (what happens to the ingredients, how does the heat affect them and turn them from liquid form to solid? etc)

Sometimes the things that we initially dread, that we think are the worst thing that could possibly happen, turns out to be the best thing. It sounds like the OP's son is in a great place that is allowing him to flourish. That's great to hear!

Does anyone know which primary school is better - Tatherdown or Rhodes Avenue (both Muswell Hill)?

I think they are a mile or two apart so it's kind of irrelevant which is better. Do you actually have a chance of getting into either is a better question.

We need to move into the area specifically for school (currently in west Hampstead). It's really hard to understand which of those schools is better....

You should probably ask on the MN local page for the area. Or in Primary Education. This isn't really the place.

We were offered NOTHING AT ALL (not just 'not one on our list'), as despite applying to all four of our nearest schools, we weren't within the catchment area for any of them. We're not in the sticks, by the way - just in the most densely populated area of our town, where being 500 yards from a school is too far away to qualify. We were under no illusions - DD was at a local primary for her nursery year, but we'd got that place on clearing and knew that at 750yds away, we'd be too far away to get in there for reception without a miracle. She has no special needs, no dealings with social services, and no siblings, so it's solely down to distance.

We were eventually offered a place at a school with a reputation for parents fighting outside the gates (!), which was too far for us to walk to, would mean I wouldn't be able to start my commute to work until after 10, and would also necessitate finding new childcare for work days (a nightmare in itself). It was unacceptable on every level but we had to accept as we had no other choice at that point (homeschooling and private neither financially viable or a desirable lifestyle choice for us).

In the second round of clearing, we were offered the third school on our original application - one we would have been delighted with from the start! DD loves it, is thriving there, and we feel really involved with the school community. But those few months were so miserable - there is no choice at all for many of us, and the frustration of knowing there's nothing you can do to affect the outcome is awful.

I remember all this from two years ago, and while I wish everyone well with their applications, there's still a bit of me that wants to yell 'Oh, f*ck off!' when I read a smug 'we got in' post...

"The issue for us was that two new free schools were scheduled to open, neither of which we'd applied to [...]Buster [...] has no idea that most primary schools aren't a Portakabin in a car park."

Sorry, Steph, I do admire you for being positive and I hope that things really are working out well for your son. But honestly, I think this is tragic and terrifying. "Because some have-a-go-heroes have opened a mini-school in a shed, we aren't going to find your son a place in an established school run by experienced professionals." Shit. This is so fucked up. this education business is getting more and more bonkers all the time. I am terrified.

My children are 5 and 7 and who knows what sort of business-orientated wild west is going to greet us when it's time to apply for secondary school places.

I absolutely agree with a sibling rule because it's hard enough being in one place at 3.15 never mind 2 or 3 places.

However. I believe there are 2 forces at work with school places; those in parent's control and those outside. Where you choose to live and the form preferences are within your control; how many children live in house nearer and were born in the same year as your own child are not in your control. Therefore if you do not move house between applications for child 1/2/3 etc you should get sibling preference. For example, you get into your first preference catchment school with DC1 but a baby boom year puts DC2 31st out of 30 places if first borns living closer are considered above siblings in catchment. DC2 should get preference if you haven't moved house between DC1 and DC2.

Alternatively if DC1 is 31st out of 30 places for the catchment school due to geography and gets a place 3 miles away that you accept, then when you apply to the 3 miles away school for DC2 because you're happy with the school and you can't be in 2 places at once and you haven't moved house you should be given sibling prefence above geographically closer first borns. It's not your fault you couldn't get into your catchment school the first time round due to high birth rate, you shouldn't be penalised for wanting both children at the same school when you've accepted and made the best of your situation. The LA might say 'well you should be happy you got catchment for DC2' but that leaves you with a logistical nightmare outside of your control.

We moved 163 miles because of my Husband's job and this happened after the application date for school places. We were treated as doing something wrong by the new LEA, but we finally got a space in a school just under 2 miles away from our rented accommodation.
We had no choice to rent initially, as we had a property to sell, and the property we rented was the only one available in the area at the time. But the area did have 3 local primary schools so, in our naivety, we thought we would at least get one.

Anyway to cut a long story short our oldest boy is now settled in this lovely school and is doing well and we have moved into our new home, which is an additional 1/2 mile away from the school and we need a space for our youngest.
We have never qualified for my son's school for catchment, so we are hoping to get in on sibling, if we don't get it on sibling I will be taking two children to two different schools for the foreseeable future.
It just galls me that this isn't even our decision as we have had to accept the school we were allocated just because we had no access to a crystal ball!!

Maybe it's time for the gov to offer tax rebates for private school fees?
We live in an area where the schools are all oversubscribed and will likely be forced to go private when our daughter is school age. We are in the highest income tax band and the second highest council tax band but are unlikely to get a school place.
Fair?

I started school in the 1950s when schools were also overcrowded. The solution then? I was in a class of 48, no TA just one poor woman and 48 kids. Little wonder they relied on corporal punishment.

We didn't have a school hall at all, by pushing back dividers between 3 classrooms we made a hall and if you were in one of those classes you started the day by pushing back the dividers and moving the desks and chairs out of the way.

The fact is councils and the government have NOT kept up with building or expanding of schools to cope with the population increase. There are areas of the country that do not have enough local places for local children and therefore you get situations like the ops. I am extremely lucky that my child has JUST missed most of the very very extreme demand on school places which started around 2010/11. He started in 2009 and is now in year eight but in the last 4 years several new primary schools have had to been built or existing primaries have been extended. and as from this September existing secondary have to expand and a whole new secondary school is being built. Too many houses and not enough infrastructure IMO

Years ago when my older DS was about to start school I applied for two , the nearest two . .One was apparently over subscribed but I wanted that school for my DS .. I appealed but was told the school I wanted was so oversubscribed that some lessons were in a corridor .. Offered choice of two others and opted for one within waking distance should the car break down etc . In the end I was pleased with it as it was a good school and DS and then DD done well there.

As I understand it LEAs cannot open new schools these days, but they have some role in planning for the expansion of existing LEA schools.

Well that would leave our area in the sh*t - the LEA has pursued a policy of forcing all schools to become academies, so they can't expand them. There are no free schools - unlikely to be in our sleepy town just 20 mins from a city where a free-school got notoriously shut-down by ofsted.

Where I live (Australia) your local catchment school must offer your child a place - composite classes are quite common as they offer the flexibility required to accommodate fluctuating enrolments. Siblings get preference, but if you move catchments you're expected to move all of your children to the new catchment school. I know some people who move into catchment - or pretend to by living with relatives/rent for a while - and then move back home once at least one child is enrolled in the school of choice, and keep their residential address very secret. This is pretty rare though. This system works really well.