No reception school place for my son

[mofletes]

We found out last week that our son has not been offered a school place for September. We live 323 metres away from our closest school and the cut off this year was 266 metres. It is very oversubscribed and has a high number of siblings.
We also missed out on places at our second and third closest schools. This has happened to about 60 families in Harpenden and among them, are some living in a 'school void'. They are too far from their closest school (if you can call 267 metres plus far away!!), and then have no chance at second and third closest schools.
This is bad enough but even worse, and what angers me the most, is what happens next. We are put into a system called 'Continuing Interest'. Families with no school place are not given priority over anyone else, so people that have been given a school place but want to change it are also on this list, and distance rules apply again.
Two schools in our area have laid 30 extra places each, but these places are available to everyone on the Coninuing Interest list, not just people without a school place. I personally live too far from either of these schools so am unlikely to get a place.
I can choose to change one or more of my three orignial choices in this 'clear and transparent' process, but the Admissions Authority won't give details of where parents are on the list for each school. So in the battle for a school place (which is very stressful if you haven't been allocated ANY school place at all!), the odds are stacked against us parents without a place as we've already missed out on our first, second and third closest schools and are now expected to make decisions as to which schools to keep or change on our list - without the necessary information needed to make the decision!!!
I was not expecting to be in this situation. We've lived in Harpenden for 5 years and we were confident that with so many schools close by that there would be a place for our son at one of them. Hopefully there may still be, but to let us go, potentially for months, without knowing if we will get a school place locally or not (rumours are being touted about children being farmed out to Tring!?!) is so stressful and upsetting.
If you are thinking of moving to Harpenden for the schools, I would advise that you move to a house outside the school gates, if you can afford it, otherwise nothing is guaranteed.

I work in a nursery in Herts, and the disappointment that a lot of our parents are feeling now is horrible i would say of the 15 children leaving the nursery at least 10 did not get there top 3 choices. My post has not much point but at least you know you are not alone.

So sorry for you. I guess you live in central/southern Harpenden? I'm from St A but it's a similar situation here. It used to be a problem primarily at secondary allocation but has now spread to primary with booming young population. I think it's a drawback of being known as 'a nice area with good schools' - more and more families move here but there for that reason but there just isn't the infrastructure.

I thought by law the LEA had to offer you a school - even if it wasn't one of your three? If you post in Primary Education there are admissions gurus who can give really good support and advice (things can get a bit lost in local) and how continuing interest lists work and what your rights are.

All I can say is that waiting lists do move a lot. There will be people going to private schools, people leaving the area - but this will take time. I've been through this (but at secondary allocation) and it's awful and stressful.

Can't think of anything more constructive to say except to offer sympathies, really.

I feel for you, must be horrid. I'm a governor at a very popular school, and the catchment is shrinking every year as developers keep buying individual houses, knocking them down and building two in their place. Then there's the short-term rental in order to get a school place only to move back out to wherever is the family really lives or wants to live... the LEA has also changed the distance criteria - used to be shortest walking route, now it's as the crow flies which means people at the end of my road that used to count as nearest to the school is now furthest!

Seems ridiculous that families with no place at all don't get priority - did you not even get The Lea? (Usually the one people get when they don't get their nearest/preferred school - perfectly nice school, I gather.)

This is shocking - I really feel for you. Where in Harpenden do you live? Does your son's nursery get taken into account at all?

Does this mean that you will definitely get a place at a Harpenden school, because of the extra 60?

The council seem to have excelled themselves...

Why did they not just put the places in place in the first place?

I would agree with edam.

Yesterday I went to a house in Harpenden which is being demolished and 3 houses are being built in its place. One has 5 bedrooms, the other 2 have 6.

This is typical of Harpenden - the catchment is shrinking at alarming rates.

You'd think the planning department would think to tell the education department. Or the education department would check whether lots of new housing has been built... but no, seems it's not as simple as that and every year parents and children have to battle all the stress of not getting a place and waiting on continuing interest lists. Madness. My son's headteacher has been asking the council to let us increase admissions for the best part of a decade now, only to be knocked back. Last time they put a bulge class in, they did it at St Dominic's, which seemed very odd given it's an RC school - why put the extra class in a school that most children can't get into anyway? (OK, so it would free up spaces at other schools as children moved from them to St D's, but it seems a roundabout way of doing it.)

Try doing a Freedom of Information Request to get your position on the list:

www.direct.gov.uk/en/governmentcitizensandrights/yourrightsandresponsibilities/dg_4003239

Say you will appeal to the Information Commissioner if they will not comply

I think some of the school secretaries are giving places on the list out to those who ask.