Where to complain? The Press? local MP?

[RosyBelle]

We live in medium sized village with great primary school 10 minute walk away. DD1 did not get a place in reception - we came 31st in an admission of 30 and so we drive 5 miles there and back to another school.
We have spent 3 yrs on the waiting list for our village school and never been offered a place (sometimes 1st on the list - then bumped down to 2nd & 3rd - then up to 1st).
Just started yr 3 where Head increases class size by 2 places - spent whole yr thinking we would finally get place only to find that 2 sibling preference places were offered and we were not (these siblings from many miles away and been on the list only months as opposed to 3 yrs).

I know this is the system but really getting concerned about secondary eductaion - our sec is only 2 miles away but operates a feeder school system - village school is a feeder school but DD's school is not. So potentially we will not be offered a place at a sec so close to home because we can;t get a place in our village primary.

Do you think this would be taken into account when applying for sec? is it worth going to the press to highlight our plight (not something I relish and TBH I can't see it will help)? MP??

Rosy

Sadly I agree that complaining to these places will not help. It doesn't sound like they have done anything wrong (except not have enough places).

You need to look at the secondary admissions rules in your area. Round here an 'in catchment child not in a feeder school' ranks lower than those that are in a feeder school, but are higher than all children that are not 'in catchment'.

Rosybelle,
The headteacher cannot just increase the class size by 2 in year 3 unless there is some kind of increase connected to infants moving to junior school. I very much doubt this is the case. The class size in infants is 30 because of the infant class size regs and I would expect the admission number therefore to be 30. However if it was actually 32 or another number above 30 then you should have been admitted in reception year because they have to admit to the admission number not to the 30 of the ICS Regs at the point of entry. That is why many primaries are 30 admission number.
I would ask the LA what the current admission number is. Ask them to confirm why 2 extra pupils have been admitted to year 3 and also the date at which this decision was made.
Whilst i would not want to get your hopes up, timing is everything on admissions.
I would question whether the school has been deliberately holding back 2 places at which point you have a very valid reason to appeal to not break the ICS Regs. Secondly I would want to know very clear details on whether the correct process was entered into. It is somewhat fishy that these two siblings suddenly appeared - why were they not on the waiting list like your child for 3 years and you therefore much further down the waiting list. Is it possible that the siblings not in year 3 are actually new to the school rather than having been there since reception. If that is the case there is a question mark again, because immediately before they were admitted the 2 places must have been theoretically available and your son was 1st on the waiting list.

Thank you Admission - when we appealed the original place we were repeatedly told by the County Council Employee that 30 was the maximum class size for infants. When the children enter Yr 3 (Key stage 2) schools have the authority to increase this class size by as many as up to 5 places but it is at the Heads discretion. I emailed the Head in April and asked what number the class would be increased by and he replied 2. I went to the school and found out that 2 children had been admitted to other yrs and these children had siblings on the school waiting list and they were placed above my DD as they had siblings in the school (even though it had only been months)
Who would I talk to about investigating whether the ICS regs had been breached??

i think most school siblings get first priority on the waiting list i afraid. Also i dont think the school has done anything wrong. In infants most school only allow the maximum of 30 pupils per class but in junior they are allowed to have a little more. Can you phone the school again and ask if there any spare places going. Also is your daughter happy at the school she attend it would be a shame if she got moved to this school and she was not not happy just because you like the secondary school. 3 years can change a school big time. It may not be so good when your daughter is in y6.

Rosybelle,
What you are being told by the county council employee is complete tosh, assuming that you are in england or wales, as far as I am concerned, though I am always ready to be proved wrong! Yes it is correct that the infant class size regs mean that no infant class should have more than 30 pupils in it with one school teacher, which is why many schools have a published admission number of 30.

However admissions are governed by the admission criteria of the school and by the published admission number of the year group at entry point.

What that means is that if the published admission number for reception is 30 then it stays 30 unless there is a major change as the year group progresses through the school. The school and the LA cannot simply admit another 2 or 5 at a whim in ks2, there are clear rules about this, though I accept they are broken on a regular basis, as is the infant class size rule.

By guess would be that the other pupils were admitted in-year in KS2 and above the PAN at the head's discretion. I would have serious questions then as to whether the other siblings should have got priority over you child as the head had in effect created the situation against the admission rules, though they appear to have applied the admission criteria correctly. There is also a massive grey area that says if the methodolgy is discretion of the head between 0 and 5 then why stop at 2, on what basis has that decision been made?

I would be very tempted to get as much information as possible and then ask for an appeal for this school, so that a panel can make a determination over this. It also gives you the opportunity to move towards an LGO complaint depending on the outcome.

If you want please email me on [email protected] with the school and LA and I will check out exactly what rules are being applied and what the admission number currently is.

It doesn't sound like ICS regulations have been breached. However, it still doesn't sound right. Are you in England?

It is true that the school can have more children in a class in Juniors than in Reception but that doesn't mean they can admit more pupils. Those are separate issues. The relaxation of the class size limit simply gives the school more flexibility in how to organise its classes, potentially reducing the number of classes required.

A few primary schools have both Reception and Y3 as normal years of entry. This normally happens where there are some infants-only schools in the area, i.e. schools which only cover Reception, Y1 and Y2. Where that happens the school will have a different (larger) admission number for Y3 to that for Reception. However it will not be at the head teacher's discretion and it would not normally be an increase of just 2.

However, it sounds to me like this school has Reception as the only normal year of entry and the admission number is 30. In that case it is certainly not the case that the head teacher has the authority to increase the admission number in Y3 by some random number he chooses which may change every year.

If the school's admission criteria give priority to siblings they were correct to place these 2 children ahead of yours on the waiting list. However, check the admission criteria carefully. Some only give priority if the sibling at the school is older than the child on the waiting list, so a sibling in Y1 cannot give priority for a child in Y3.

It sounds to me like this school and possibly this LA (was it the LA that said the head teacher had the authority to admit more children in Y3?) are playing fast and loose with the Admissions Code. You are entitled to one appeal for each academic year. I think you should go for it. I would argue that if the head teacher is allowed to increase the admission number in Y3 by up to 5, it implicitly accepts that the school can admit up to 5 more children without causing prejudice to the school. As only 2 have been admitted that means they can take your daughter. Given what you have said, the LA would certainly be on the back foot trying to justify the situation, especially if the number chosen by the head in previous years was different.

Admission posted while I was typing but I agree with everything she has said. Unless there is something we are missing this is ridiculous. If I can help you can contact me on [email protected].

The Admissions Code really isn't complicated. Why do so many schools and LAs get it wrong? Sigh...

It sounds like the school isn't big enough for the village. We had this in a school around us and - after much campaigning, they introduced another half class.

Your situation sounds ridiculous - you should be able to go to a school a 10 minute walk away. I mean, what would happen if you didn't have a car. (I guess the LA would have to provide transport)

Civil - they pay for taxi's to the schools for the children but if the parent wishes to go too (wouldn't you if they are only 4 or 5?) then the parent has to make their own way home again :-O
Admission and Bridge - OMG thank you! I will email you when i get a minute....
Puch - yes she is very happy at the school she is at - but I am not attempting to move her just because "I Like" the sec - its because this sec is 2 miles away and the rest are 10 miles away!! And yes it would be a shame to move her at this stage but after my 2nd child I had to go back to work part-time as we have to run 2 cars (when husband at work I have to drive 5 miles to school) - if we could walk 10 mins then I could have sold a car and given up work - what life changing decsions these LA's produce.