my dd didnt get into any of preffered schools and was offered place in very crapy school,please help,what to do?

[helenbicari]

Hi, I just received letter from school addmission and my dd not only didnt get into first choice school, she didnt get into any preffered schools and was offered placel in the worst school in our borough,Im soo upset, crying all day as i made all the effort,even moved closer to the school and missed the place by 0.018 mil. the school she got place offered is over a mile from my house and i have a sick husband, who has a back problem, one year old baby and cant drive,so i really dont know how would i manage to take her there every day,cos my husband cant help either with walking her there or looking after the baby. im going to appeal for the school, but can anyone give me some tips, how to build a strong case, cos i dont know if what i just has described will be enough. also im thinking to contact MP and if nothing helps, im gonna home school her until she gets place in a good school. do you think thats a good idea? i just dont want her to go to that school, the ofsted is 3 and i just really hate that school

I think you need to tough this out, and go on the waiting list for this school, and any others that you find acceptable.

Find out where you are on the waiting list. Also find out what the turn over of your preferred school is, ie last year how many children did not take up places (perhaps went to a prep school instead). Also how many children left during Reception last year.

I also think you need to accept the place you have at the moment. Contary to popular belief, children allocated no school do not get a higher place on waiting lists than children that have accepted an unfavoured school.

You want a double form entry school. Assuming your favoured school is not a faith school you should get it.

So I put my daughter on waiting list today and also will appeal,as u said I have nothing to lose. They wont tell me what is her position on the waiting list yet. Also I went to see a headmaster of the school today but they said is nothing to do with him and didnt even let me see him. I live very close to the school, last year, my friend put these school as her 3rd choice and lives 0.4 mil away and still got in, so I think we were just unlucky. I wont put her to the unfavoured school not because i think she has got higher chances to be accepted in favoured school, but I just dont like the school and she deserves better, she is very bright and clever,very popular and u can slate me as much as u want, but all i care about is her going to good school.not all parent care about the school being good or bad, i know many mums who dont even know what ofsted is and they only want school close to their house. its not a faith school.

No-one is slating you but you need a backup plan in case your appeal fails and you don't get in through the waiting list. If you reject the offered school and don't get in to the preferred school what will you do then?

The headmaster is right that admissions are nothing to do with him but I would have expected him to at least make an appointment to see you. If he wouldn't even do that I would be questioning whether this is really the right school.

Wel, my back up plan is, if she doesnt get to school through the waiting list and the appeal, which, to be honest i was counting on a lot, before i started this thread :-) fails, she will stay in a nursery until next year and the i will try again.there is a talk they will open one extra class of 30 pupils next year,but even if they dont, id like to believe she will be more successful next year or she will get there through a waiting list during the year. I know u are not trying to slate me, but im in a bit of state rite now cos i didnt expect this at all as we live so close to that school and the letter came yesterday,the day before my holiday, so right now im not even in uk and all i can do is wait and its killing me cos i wont know anything for sure until summer probably.the headmasters secretary actually didnt let us see him and i was in a bit of rush so because there is nothing they can do now, i just put her on the waiting list and will take it from there when i come back, hopefully be able to get to headmaster and find out more about the turn over of the school and where is she on the waiting list

and also im gratefull for all your tips and advices

The waiting lists will become official and disclosed in a few weeks when people accept/decline their offers. Your LEA will be able to tell you - here it's 17th April. Try to focus on the fact that you'll have a better idea where you stand in a couple of weeks. Also, do accept what you have been offered - it so won't be the end of the story but you do need to be realistic.

I also think you might have got peoples' backs up a bit with your references to a 'crap school' that you haven't actually ever set foot in...

I don't know when your daughter was born but she doesn't have to start school until the start of term following her 5th birthday. You can therefore delay until then in the hope that a place comes up.

What you have said suggests that she is young enough to delay for a full year. You need to be aware that if you do that most schools and LAs will insist she goes straight into Y1, missing Reception completely. If that is the case for this school it won't help you if they open an additional Reception class next year as your daughter will be looking for a place in Y1.

Good luck with the appeal and the waiting list.

Rosebud05 i actually have been to that school and didnt like it even before i read the ofsted. it also was in a local paper that the school needs a big improvement. and why did u say i need to be realistic by accepting the place in that school?

I know how horrible the feeling is to not get the school you want.

Been there, done that. DD got into our third (of 3) choice school 4 years ago. I was gutted. Cried and cried. We live 6 mins walk from the preferred school. A mile from the one we got. First school had good ofsted. Third choice, satisfactory (with a pretty crappy reputation).

But you know what? I love love love the school she's in. It has been brilliant. So lovely. Reputation completely unwarranted. Superior grounds, fields, settling in process, attitude to reading schemes, SATS refusing.

While I hear lots of positives about the first school from the many people I know with kids there, I also hear negatives. Things that I'd have concerns about. And there are aspects of dd (and now ds1's) school that aren't amazing, in the main and in general it is the right school for her. She has thrived there.

The journey - well lots of people walk further. I had a buggy board for dd to ride on when she first started. Then she scooted. Then ds1 got bigger and he scooted. And now if I walk (sometimes I do drive if I've places to be straight after) ds2 is in pram and ds1 and dd walk/scoot.

I don't know the school you've been allocated. But I just wanted to say that I've gone from crying and bemoaning dd missing out, and not knowing anyone at new school, and feeling like the poor relation, to feeling very satisfied and happy with the school she was given.

I didn't appeal in the end. There really were no grounds upon which to appeal.

We were on the waiting list for the first year, just in case. Went from 17th, to 3rd, to 10th, to about 8th as people moved into the area, closer to the school. But you may be much higher up the list. The 60 child reception list went as far as the third child on the waiting list by the time school started.

Speak to the LA rather than the school about the waiting list - the school doesn't hold that data. I rang once a month to find out if DD had moved up or down - sometimes she'd moved down so prepare yourself for that too - but they were always very nice and very helpful. And like I said, the place came up (I also know of someone whose place in their preferred school came up when she'd done a term in the school she'd been allocated - the list stays open for after term begins).

You're understandably really upset - I know exactly what that feels like. The disappointment is sickening and gutting. The worst thing is that people call this a 'choice', when it isn't a choice really.

When you're feeling a bit calmer about it all and the shock has died away you'll be able to think about the whole thing more rationally. You might realise that trying to appeal isn't worth it - that's what I realised. As someone says above, the rules are the rules and you have to think about whether your reasons will truly stand up in front of a bunch of people who don't know you or your circumstances, and are treating you in the same way as everyone else who is appealing.

I hope this doesn't sound patronising as I don't mean it that way. I think you should cry for a bit, have a good rant at DH/friends/mum/sister/brother etc then take a deep breath and put a positive head on. And don't despair!

helen I completely sympathise with you and I am in the same position at the moment! My DS has been at the nursery of our preferred school for the last year and he still hasn't been offered a place. He has been offered a place at our third choice school which is rated as 3 by OFSTED. His education means so much to me, he is very bright and I know he will do well wherever he goes but I also want to give him the best possible opportunity and start in life. Ultimately I know that the school does not make the child but he is very happy there and it is a good school. I have applied to be put on the waiting list and will appeal if need be. I have been upset about this but I know I will get him in and refuse to give up hope with this. Good luck I'm sure your DD will get a place! If you need someone to rant to give me a shout!

Because once the shock has died down and you can think more calmly and visit the school again and think through the realities of HE you might decide that you do want the place.

You might not, in which case you don't have to take it but in your situation you have absolutely nothing to loose by keeping your options open.

onehelloffaride so what u gonna do? are u going to put him in to that school and then wait for a place to come up in your preferred school or u gonna keep him in nursery until he gets in? me and my hubby are not giving up that easily, cos exactly like u said education means to me so much as well. i am very very upset and already send the letter that i dont accept the place in that school. someone may think its stupid thing to do but thats what i feel and will feel the same even when i calm down. as i said earlier she missed the place only by 0.018 mil so she must be high on the waiting list. im sorry ur son didnt get the place in ur preferred school and hope that he will get there. my daughter didnt get place in any of our 4 choices and was offered place in the worst school in our borough, thats why i don wanna put her there,cos i never even considered that school.

helen to be honest if he doesn't get a place at all even with appeal I have considered moving completely out of the area. It would be possible with both mine and DH jobs to move to another area around an hour away but I think that would be quite hasty at the moment. I think all I can do it sit tight and hope he gets a place for now. Home schooling is not an option for us as we both work very long hours but if it was then it is something that I would seriously consider. Alot of people think IABU and that alot of parents are happy with the school he has been offered but I am not alot of parents and frankly I don't think enough parents give a shit about their children's education. I will probably get slated for that but I'm only expressing my opinion and I'm not saying that's the case for the majority of parents.

MissM im happy it worked out well for u at the end, i can imagine your relief when u got that letter saying ur child got the place, i think i have to wait another 10 days to find out where she stands on the waiting list and maybe i will put her on waiting list for my 2nd and 3rd choice schools cos u gave me quite a hope :-)

wow I actually sound like the parent from hell don't I I'm really not that bad!

You can't keep them in nursery indefinately....it can take 2 or even 3 years to get in via waiting lists.

I suggest that you put your child's name down on the waiting list for any school that you would find acceptable and would have a reasonable chance of getting into. You can be on as many waiting lists as you wish. A lot of stuff will shake down between now and September, and certainly by the end of the first term.

I think you should also go and look around, with an open mind, the school where she has been offered a place. It tells you a lot more than ofsted, which, let's face it, is basically the opinion of one or two people based on two or three days of putting on a show and how well they complete the paperwork. There are ofsted excellently rated schools near here that are a miserable sausage machine of teaching to tests.

I think that you need to think through the situation with logic rather than emotion, which I know is easy for me to say when it is not my daughter. So the first non-emotional thing to do is to accept the offered place as the final back up.

Your preferred school is full because of the 27 siblings out of 60 with you being 0.018 mile to far away from the school. So you need to put your daughter down on the waiting list with the local authority and also put put in for an appeal. Ask the LA to confirm where you are currently on the waiting list. The appeal will be infant class size regs so the only chance you have of getting in on appeal is if they have made a mistake on the distance. Not likely but it does happen occaisonally. You should assume that the appeal will fail. There could well be a lot of movement and therefore places become available.

Your next obvious move is to go on the waiting list and ask for an appeal for the other preferences that you put down, which just gives the maximum number of opportunities to find an acceptable school place.

Next thing to do is to look at any other schools that might be appropriate for your daughter that you can realistically get to and get on waiting list for those schools.

You then need to establish from your preferred school exactly when they admit pupils - some say they will only accept deferment to the spring term, even though they are wrong and the same for the school you have as the back stop that you do not want to go to. The later then gives you the timeline during which you need to find a suitable school for your daughter before by law your daughter has to attend school or you start to home educate.

That is all you can do, but you should with a bit of luck get a satsfactory outcome from it.

and why do you dislike this other school so much? Can you pinpoint the problems? All you've said so far is that it's crap and you don;t like it. It may very well be that the Foundation stage is good - so you could sned your dd there and wait for a place at the nearer school.

But you need to work out clearly what it is you don't like and see if there are ways to overcome the problems.

i wouldnt edge your bets on appeal,out of 28 schools in our immediate area there was 74 appeals lodged,60 heard and 8 upheld.if you dont conform to the first 2 on the admissions criteria i dont think you stand much chance.
waiting list do move quickly,my friends dd was 28 on the list and got into prefered school.

I don't see how the school can be the "worst in the borough" and "crap" if it has got a satisfactory (3) rating by Ofsted. That means "fine." I also find it hard to believe that a local paper would report that a school with a satisfactory rating needs "a big improvement."
I strongly advise you to think carefully about how you will state your case if you get an appeal hearing, as it really will not help you if you say some of the things you've said on here, like education is important to you but not to some other parents (implication: it doesn't matter where their kids get sent), and that your daughter is bright and sociable (therefore deserves a place at your preferred school over and above a child who is less bright/shy).
By the way, it is fairly standard to have about 50% of places awarded to siblings.

You sound ill-informed. Lots of parents choose schools which incidently are Ofsted Satisfactory schools, they do not choose these schools because they don't give a shit about their child's education, they are not stupid enough to believe that Ofsted reports are gospel - they visit the school and make a judgement based on what they see for themselves.

There are plenty of Ofsted Outstanding schools that are completed slated on these boards for being obsessed with league tables and Ofsted ratings - which isn't the same as being passionate about education and learning.

If you spend your time with the appeal panel making derogatory remarks about the school you have been offered and the parents who send their children there, you will not help your case at all. Your case (as plenty of people have already told you) is weak as it is. The last thing you need to do is antagonise the panel. You need to pinpoint positive reasons why your child should be admitted to your preferred school. Even then, you are not likely to win.

Hm,it doesn't matter how many times I say I've been to that school and made my judgement on what I saw and experienced BEFORE I even read the Ofsted, people will still slate me and try to convince me that school is good. Its not and I'm not going to reason about it. The school I want her to get into had satisfactory Ofsted too but had a big improvement over the past two years and also my friend's son goes there and he is very happy and I really like the school too,so even though the Ofsted wasn't good, I wanted her to go there and by the time I applied the Ofsted changed from satisfactory to outstanding, so I'm not ill informed or stupid to base my decision on Ofsted only. I talked to people, teachers and did my research. Obviously some of the things I said here insulted some people here, but that's not what I wanted.I know many parents care about their children's education but some of them don't,that's the fact.And I only wrote here to ask for help with my appeal. If I do appeal I will carefully think about the reasons why my daughter should go to that school and what will I say to the panel