Primary School - No Offer - London

[TZS]

Apparently 1,500 primary school applications out of 100,000 accross London did not get offered a primary school place. My DS was one of them and I feel helpless and guilty. And angry and disappointed. and weary.

I did everything by the book, applied to 5 local schools, did not bother with the ones I was not close enough to and thought long and hard about the application, got it in on time and complete. I had steeled myself for a place at a school lower on our list by preference but not to be totally overlooked by the system.

And, we have no grounds for appeal (I checked, alot) there are just more children then places and those children apparently live closer than we do. Some responsibility must lie with the lax planning rule which have meant that there are too many houses being turned into flats, too many tower blocks going up without the schools being built alongside. I admit I never thought about this point until now.

Anyway, is there anyone out there who has an uplifting story of being between 6 and 11 (and lower) on waiting lists where one school has had 30 acceptances and another last year only made offers to numbers 1 and 2 on the waiting list but still getting a place.

My fear is that the term after DS 5th birthday will come and we will be offered a place at an Ofsted rated 4 school miles away in the wrong direction for our commute to work.

Thanks for listening Mumsnet, I feel better for the vent and any advice gratefully received.

TZS x

Hi, I am sorry I have absolutly no help or advice to give you ,but wanted to reply as I feel so sorry for you having to be in this position ....Hopefully someone will be along soon to help you ....good luck

If it is 4 miles away you are entitled to transport. Not sure if thats much help though

That's crap. Maybe you can make a fuss? I am in Bristol and the primary school situation is a nightmare. Local parents have got together and made their displeasure known with the result that two of the local primaries are taking on a 'bulge class' this September and my school is going to go 2 form entry.

See if there are other parents in the same boat. Write to your MP. Every primary school child ought to be able to walk to a decent school. Maybenthe is scope for a local school to take on an extra class.

It is not acceptable that you don't have a place. Your LA is required to come up with an offer for you. Keep chasing them. Saying you are 11th or whatever on the waiting list isn't good enough. Ask them what they are doing to create places for your child and any other children currently without a place. If they have a number of children in your position they should be setting up bulge classes.

Also, even though you don't think you have grounds, I would appeal for at least some of the schools for which you applied. If nothing else it may push the LA into coming up with an offer.

If you end up being allocated a school that is more than 2 miles walking distance from your home the LA has to provide free transport for your child.

My friend applied to two boroughs a couple of years ago - got offered sixth choice (miles away). By June she had a place in ofsted outstanding second choice, by July a v rare community place in massively over subscribed church school they had most wanted.
So yes there is hope! Massive movement of lists in London but absolutely terrible fir you in meantime. So sorry.

TSZ I sympathise. We are sort of in the same position as you, applied for 5 local schools blah blah blah... The only difference is we were allocated a school but one 2 miles away and we are not happy about. We are 6th on the wait list for a very good CofE church school and 11th for another local school our positions on other wait lists (30-ish and 40-ish) not even worth mentioning! I have written to the local councillors, director of children's services etc and to no avail, they basically really couldn't care less. We now have a place in a very lovely prep school a few miles away. We are almost 90% sure we will take the place in the prep school though we are still on wait lists.... At least we have the option of private though ouch, the amount we will spent with 2 DCs will be eye-watering...

I'm no expert but I think the LA has an obligation to allocate your son a school place for the whole of reception year. It is not acceptable to wait until the term after he turns five. Keep on at the LA and appeal - you never know you may find a sympathetic panel who allow the appeal on the basis that the LA hasn't come up with an alternative even though strictly speaking they probably shouldn't. Keep a record of all your communication with the LA - you may want to use this at appeal. Follow up phone calls with an email to confirm the conversation you had. Good luck.

Thank you all so much for your support, I just got home and its uplifting to think that you all took the time to reply - the whole thing does not feel real, how can there not be a school place for my DS?!

I looked into it (in quite alot of depth!) and the LA is only obliged to offer a place, not a place in a school with a good Ofstead rating or walking distance and in my borough they have until the term after DC's 5th birthday to sort it out, although kla73 may be right and I'll look into it again, thanks for the tip. As for an appeal, we considered this but after reading the grounds, speaking to a specialist and looking at the statistics of a successful primary appeal we decided against it. We can only appeal on distance and there are just more DCs who live closer. They cannot tell me the other addresses (data protection) so I cannot compare measurements independently so I am not even sure what good

I am phoning the LA every week, twice, they recognize me now! I am also going to go to my local counsellor's surgery meeting next month and face them down on the subject. I really hope that we end up getting the sort of offers PollyParanoia's friend got but even if not for us its not acceptable generally that there is not enough places at primary.

I would not wish this waiting game on anyone.

Thanks again for your kind words and support.
TZS

No, they do not have until the term after your child's 5th birthday to sort it out. They may like to try and make you think that is the case but they are required by the Admissions Code to come up with a place for every child in the September following the child's 4th birthday.

I would again advise you to appeal. I know you don't think you have grounds but you do (and I don't think much of the "specialist" you consulted if they said otherwise). The LA has broken the Admissions Code by failing to offer you a place. And appealing should force the LA to come up with a place somewhere - they won't want to go into an appeal hearing when you still don't have an offer of a place. It may not be at a school you want but at least it will be a place.