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Home ed

Find advice from other parents on our Homeschool forum. You may also find our round up of the best online learning resources useful.

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Original poster

Where would I stand with the LEA?

16 replies

MissPitstop · 30/03/2009 21:12

I am now home educating my DS at home after his school have failed to accept there is a problem or provide him with any support. We are going to fight for him to get a statement and help in school but I really am not holding my breath. He is currently in year5. I want to home ed him for the rest of his primary school but the want to try for him to go to our local senior school where I know the SENCO will provide at least an IEP. Will the LEA give him a place at senior school if he is educated at home till then or I am risking his place at senior school by taking him out now?

OP posts:

rooftop · 31/03/2009 01:31

Hi MissPitstop,
julienoshoes would have the answer to this but unfortunately she is away for the next few days. Can u wait?
I'm sure others will be on soon who may also be able to guide/advise you.
Sorry i can't be more useful.

seeker · 31/03/2009 06:19

I don't think how a child is educated in the primary years has any bearing at all on applications to secondary school. The criteria (apart from for faith and selective schools) are siblings (although that is changing in some areas) special needs and distance to the school. So if you are in the catchment for the scool you want him to go to and it isn't oversubscribed then you should be fine. If you're not you may need to appeal.

Why won't his primary school help with statementing? Or don't you want to go into that here.

juuule · 31/03/2009 08:48

Being home-educated should have no effect on secondary school applications (it shouldn't have any effect on any school application).
We applied for a place at the local secondary school for our dd for Y7 (her choice) and she will be starting in September.
As seeker says the criteria is for a place at the school will apply but home-ed shouldn't come into it.

ShrinkingViolet · 31/03/2009 09:36

check on your council's website, as some secondary schools have different criteria - DD2 wanted to go back to school for secondary, but they chaged the admission criteria and despite living in the catchment area, if she wasn't at a feeder primary school, she would have beenright at the bottom of the priority list, and very likely would not have got a place as the school is very oversubscribed.

ShrinkingViolet · 31/03/2009 09:37

to clarify, the HE wasn't the problem, as children at non feeder primaries were also in the same situation.

seeker · 31/03/2009 10:10

I didn't know that "feeder primary schools" was an admissible admission criterion. In fact I'm almost sure it isn't. Did you appeal?

ShrinkingViolet · 31/03/2009 10:16

thought about applying, not getting a place then appealing, but we decided in the end it would be easier if she went back to school for Y6. Fortunately that's all worked OK, and DD thinks it's very amusing that the school will get lots of credit for her SATS results when for most of KS2 she was at home doing her own thing.
Quick hijack Seeker - were you at the Gilligham comp yesterday? Meant to ask you before so that I coudl spend the day trying to spot MNetters

seeker · 31/03/2009 10:31

No - dd has abandoned trampolining in favour of more riding, and ds is adamant that he doesn't want to do competitions. No more sparkly hair spray and tea from that machine for me!!!!!!!!!!!!

ShrinkingViolet · 31/03/2009 10:51

we take our own flasks of tea and coffee, which just about makes it bearable - that and complaining about the judging .

musicposy · 31/03/2009 19:09

Some schools do operate feeder systems, though more often infant to junior. Unless that is the case (in which case you need to be in the feeder school) then it won't make any difference at all.

musicposy · 31/03/2009 19:10

But, just a thought, you won't be sent the admissions pack sent to parents through schools. Make sure you phone the LA at the start of Y6 and request one.

Original poster

MissPitstop · 31/03/2009 21:20

I have checked the LEA website and they dont have a feeder system but the local senior school is oversubscribed with children living within the catchment area (we live in the catchment area) so were not guarenteed a place. DS doesnt fit other criteria eg. siblings, SN (as must have a statement to qualify) or children in care .... would DS be at a disadvantage if I home ed him now?

OP posts:

AMumInScotland · 31/03/2009 21:30

I don't think they're allowed to take that into account when allocating spaces - same as if he was at a school outside the area or a private school. They have to apply the same set of rules to everyone, so if they don't have feeder primaries, then it won't make any difference to his chances if you HE him.

seeker · 01/04/2009 08:54

No, he won't be at a disadvantage if you home ed - once siblings and SEN are taken into account the rest of the places should be allocated on a strict "crow flies" measurement.

Does anyone know how any schools that use it get away with the 'feeder primary school" criterion? I thought this was an urban myth until I read this thread.

ShrinkingViolet · 01/04/2009 09:48

our school changed this year (09 intake) because it has been seriously oversubscribed for a long time, plus there were long standing "rules" that if you lived in certain towm, you were guaranteed a place which the LA were trying to get rid of as it was making the situation worse. Geographically we're in a peculiar situation in that for a lot of towns and villages, their nearest secondary is in one of the neighbouring counties, which are not responsible to providing school places for non-county children, causing over-demand in other areas.
As to legalities, there was a consultation, lots of protests to get particular schools included, and the Schools Adjudicator said "fine, go ahead". Next on the lists of Things To Change is the sibling rule apparently...

AMumInScotland · 01/04/2009 11:26

It's a common idea up here, but actually it doesn't really apply here either - what happens is that if you are in the catchment area for a primary school, you'll also be in the catchment area for a specific secondary school, and most children in Scotland still go to their catchment schools. But in fact there's no guarantee of a place in the catchment school either at primary or secondary, and if you are in another primary school (via a "placing request") you won't automatically get a place at the secondary it feeds to.

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