Who decides your school place? council or school? anyone know?

[AFuckingFestiveKnackeredWoman]

Just asking because i thought it was the council.
We are moving our nine year old, we we got the letter from the council on Monday saying we have a place at xxx school from the 5th of jan and that they would contact us ect... I assumed this meant we had a place there

Today we went to visit the school and meet the head, at the end of the meeting she said she will now ring ds's old school have a talk with her and then decide if they will take him or not.
'And hopefully the decision will be made before the holidays, we will let you know our decision'

So we are not guaranteed a place? If she says no do we have to start again?
We rung ds's current school to tell them about our decision and that he wouldn't be in today, and they said they will take him off the roll for next term.
Does he have no school now if the other head says no?

Its not private or anything just a normal primary.

Oh shite this was meant to be in schools, sorry

Council.

Don't worry. He has a place. Turn up at school on 5th Jan with a smile on your face.

The head's got it wrong. They do that sometimes :)

(Especially if they don't have many new pupils arriving)

Really? good!
I was having a brief panic, i would of rung but don't want them to think i was a right tit on the first meeting.

Its a bloody tiny school (about 200 children, 17 in his new class) so maybe you are right Indigo.

Legally it is absolutely the council's responsibility to allocate schools.

It may take them a while to communicate this with the new school :)

But all the new school has to do is ring up the admissions dept to confirm.

Maybe you could get admissions to send you and the new school an email?

Is it a community school or a church Voluntary Aided? VA schools are their own admission authorities so may have more of a decision making role in the place being offered, although the LA will be dealing with the admin (for this year).

I think its community school JWIM.
It says on its website its not affiliated to and religious denomination. And i've seen nothing saying its a faith school.

I might give them till Monday afternoon then ring under the pretence of inquiring about the uniform

I think it's probably because you're doing a mid-year move. It's not the same process as at the start of the school. Parents of a friend of my DD were trying the same thing recently - the old school has to give the OK to the move. If you've not spoken to the old school about why you want to leave, they may want to contact you to check if you're having problems there that they can sort out. But if you stand firm and say you are sure you want to move, you should be fine.

There is an agreement between heads locally where i work, that they talk to each other about children who move mid year. This is to avoid 'flouncers' just moving round the local schools when they don't get their own way about which banana their dc got given at playtime .

No, HTs can and will talk. But they can't stop anything.

No one can stop a child leaving a school.

And if a school has a place the school has to give it to your child.

There is no room for anyone to decide - besides you.

Well hopefully it will be fine and Monday I will get a call from the new school.
I can understand why they would like to talk to the old school although god knows what they will say About us

Hallo
I'm moving this into education
Thanks
M Towers

The LEA allocate places the school can make noises but have no say

Boat to Bolivia Purpleroses
Anybody can flounce out of a school for any or no reason.They can start at a new school if there is a place available.No headteacher can do anything about either of these things

I would guess the consultation between heads (and this happens here even if a parent just looks round or makes an enquiry) is a child protection thing.

This is a slightly ridiculous situation of two schools who do not seem to know what the rules are what they can and cannot do.
The good news OP is that the LA admission office allocate the place and if you have letter saying that, then you should just turn up on the 5th Jan, no matter what the head says. The school has absolutely no say in the matter at the present time.
The head is perfectly sensible to want to talk to your previous school and see what the situation is, but they can't then dictate what then happens, though I accept that some think they can. Your previous school is also wrong as they are required to get written confirmation of you as parent that the pupil is leaving the school before they remove your child from their register of pupils. Have you lost that school place? In law not until you have confirmed you are leaving in writing.

Sorry should also have said that there is a time limit on non-attendance at a school after which a school can withdraw the place.

Keep the letter safe, the one that says your DS has been allocated a place at xxx school, if they say anything on 5th of Jan, when you turn up, show the HT the letter.

Sorry 'ADMISSION' didn't read your post.

Good to know thanks. I will ring on Monday as the head didn't give me the uniform forms.
I do still have the letter so i will get it copied in case i need it