Waiting list problem!

[bigbrownbearz]

Hi this is a question for prh47bridge and Admission I have been reading a lot of your comments on school admissions and you keep making the point that you can request to be on as many waiting lists as possible for reception class.

My situation is that I didnt get DS into any of his three choices and I have been offered a school over 2 miles away, I am no 15 on first choice waiting list and number 39 and 40 on 2nd and 3rd preference. Surrey County Council are repeatedly telling me that I can only be on three waiting lists and I can swap 3rd and 2nd preference if I like.

First question, without sounding rude, who are you? what I mean is under what authority do you know that it is illegal for the LA to restrict waiting list like this. Who can I speak to to get Surrey LA to change their mind/policy? Just trying to get to the bottom of this and speak to the right people in the right places and I just thought it would help if I could back it up with the legal facts. hope you can advise - thanks!

Hi,

I am in a similar situation too and would be interested to know more, I know one poster on here did take it to the schools adjudicator yesterday and they said that the council were within their rights to have a 3 school waiting list limit..so that does not sound promising.

This whole system really stinks I feel like nothing is done to help people in our situation, I think an additional criteria should be applied for people who have been offered a place outside of an area (set to where travel assistance can be claimed) so that we are given a higher priority on waiting lists than people who already have a place within a reasonable distance from their home. We should at least be able to go on lists for all schools that are closer, in my case there are 9 and I now have to choose the 'best' three and risk missing out on others. Some area's seem to be school 'black holes' and seem to drop out of every catchment for local schools even if only by a little each time.

Good luck with your council and finding a more suitable place for your child. I am finding this whole process so frustrating and upsetting it's like every avenue I turn down I hit another brick wall...

Admission sits on and chairs appeal panels. Panelmember also sits on appeal panels.

I became familiar with the admissions system following a complicated appeal to get my son into the local primary school when the LA were applying the rules incorrectly. I was helped in this by a number of people including the person who headed up the team at the DCSF (as was) that wrote the first version of the Admissions Code. I have since helped some parents with their appeals as well as providing advice online. I must emphasise that I don't know either Admission or Panelmember personally (as far as I know).

The information we have given regarding waiting lists is the position as we understand it. Indeed, a lot of admissions experts share this understanding. However, on our advice an MNer has referred a case to the Schools Adjudicator who has initially ruled that the LA may restrict the number of waiting lists on which a child is placed.

I haven't seen a comment by Admission yet but both Panelmember and I are puzzled by this ruling. However, that was not a determination (i.e. an authoritative decision) and the wording reported suggests to me it may just be the opinion of a junior member of staff. On the thread "School admissions and appeals - some general advice and tips" I have put in a detailed post to go to the Schools Adjudicator explaining why I believe an LA may not restrict the number of waiting lists on which a child is placed. The fundamental point is that we are now outside the normal admissions round. Paragraph 3.23 of the Admissions Code therefore applies. This requires the LA to consider such applications without delay and seems to say that this must be unconditional, which would mean that they can't insist you come off the waiting list for another school before considering your application. If your application is refused you have the automatic right to go on the waiting list. Again, this is understood to be unconditional. I therefore cannot see how an LA can restrict the number of waiting lists on which a child is placed without breaching the Admissions Code.

If the Schools Adjudicator makes a determination that this practise is legal that will be the end of the matter and I will have to accept that my interpretation of the rules was wrong unless a parent is willing to take the matter to judicial review.

Hello. As Prh47bridge says, I sit on appeals panels (and occasionally chair them). As far as I know, I have only 'met' Admission and Prh on MN.

Please look at the other thread that Prh mentions. I am not won over by the reported comments from the SA. The SA apparently takes the view that as LEAs aren't specifically prohibited from limiting the number of waiting lists that parents join, they can legitimately do so. But this reasoning could just as well be applied to parents joining as many lists as they choose - it's not specifically prohibited, so it must be allowed. The whole spirit of the admissions code is about increasing parents' ability to make choices about their child's education, so it seems to me that if there's any ambiguity about the Code, it has to be interpreted in the way that fits best with that. Hence my view and my agreement with everything that Prh said on the other thread.

But my view is just that - a view, drawn from my training and experience. As Prh says, we will only get a definitive interpretation if and when the SA hands down a determination on this point or it goes before a court under a JR application.

Hi,

Thanks for the information, do you know how we can push for a determination on the matter? Is it a case of going back to them with the arguments from para 3.23 of the Admissions code and asking them for an official determination on the matter?

Thanks,
Catherine

The MNer who raised the case with the Schools Adjudicator has already gone back to them with the arguments based on paragraph 3.23 and various other grounds. I hope this will lead to the Adjudicator confirming the position as we previously understood it. Whilst that will only lead to a determination regarding one LA the principle will be universally applicable. However, you may want to submit a complaint about your own LA to the Adjudicator. Feel free to use the arguments I posted in the other thread if you do.

All I can say is that having chaired panels for a number of years across 4 local authorities and knowing others who sit on panels for another 2 LAs, all 6 of the LAs are working on the basis that the appealant has a right to ask for a place at any school, to be on any waiting list and has a right of appeal for any school. There has never been any consideration that the LA as the admission authority could limit the number of schools applied for.

There does need to be a formal determination by the school adjudicator over this. If they do continue to accept the LA limiting the number of waiting lists you are on, then it brings into question on what basis are they doing this. The LA is responsible for the administration of the system but I would suggest that it is the admission authority that is responsible for making a decision about who can and cannot be on the waiting list for a school. As the number of academies increases, then it increases the number of schools (all faith schools etc) that are already their own admission authority and who can decide to appoint their own independant appeal panel. How can it be fair if a school who is their own admission authority is not being allowed to know about pupils that want to go to their school because the LA is artificially stopping them knowing about the pupil?