Please help- place withdrawn!

[StellarforStarofAfrica]

DD has had her place withdrawn for our 1st choice school, on the basis that her foster sibling won't be starting in their nursery until January, and not September.

They have just picked this up now due to an internal audit, and for the last 6 weeks, we've been telling her she's going to the school attached to the nursery she's been attending.

I am devastated. Not only has she missed the first appeals date, she is now probably at the bottom of the waiting list, all because of an admin issue at the admissions office.

The admin officer I have spoken to was very lovely, and explained all the protocol to me, but I am still fuming! Ther is NO WAY she is going to go to the school they have allocated her, she wouldn't last a week there, so it's either get through to first choice on appeal (I have no idea how likely this is) or home ed (gulp) which I have no idea of how to do.

Has this happened to anyone else? If so, how did you get through it?

Sorry this is a bit of a stream of consciousness, but I am really shocked and upset.

Honestly I am pretty sure they can do this, I really hope that one or al of the admissions experts will be along soon to help you, I really feel for you.

Assuming you've had the offer for more than 48 hours no they can't do this. There has been an LGO ruling to this effect (others will be able to give you the reference). You need to quote this to your LEA and ask for immediate reinstatement of your place. They may well refuse and you will have to appeal but the appeal panel should be knowledgeable enough to realise this shouldn't happen and give you your place back.

Obviously this assumes you didn't mislead the LEA about the sibling link and dates when you applied....

I don't think they can do this. I read on here that there is only a very limited window of time in which they can withdraw places (in a test case, 3 days was considered too long) in the event of their own mistake. And this is their mistake, not yours.
One of the experts will be along shortly, I expect, and tell you how to fight your case.

No, I didn't mislead them about the dates! DFD has a funny birthday, and I asked at the nursery when she would start and was told september- I asked this for the form!

Oh, posted too soon- thanks for your help- I am getting a phone call tomorrow form the boss, so I'll run this by her and see what she says.

My understanding is that there is legal precedent for this, and that if there has been a genuine mistake (as opposed to a deliberately fraudulent application, in which the place can be withdrawn at any time) then the place can only be withdrawn within the first few days after offer.

It will probably hinge on whether you werre absolutely truthful in your application (ie that it was clear that the sibling was not starting until January) and filled in the form correctly, with the admissions office making the mistake [= too late to withdraw the place] or whether you made a wrong or misleading statement in your application, or omitted relevant information, which could be interpreted as an attempt to gain admission when you should not [=no time limit to withdrawing the place].

Search through other similar threads - the admissions experts on here have previously provided links to the relevant case and would be able to advise on who to address your concern to to get it sorted.

X post!

On the face of it, it seems promising but i imagine it will hinge on you having got the info about dfd's start term from the school, is there any proof they told you this? Was it in writing?

Well, I'm not an expert, but everything I've ever read on here leads me to believe that they will have to honour their first offer. You can take it to the Schools' Adjudicator (?) or something.

foosa The OP wouldn't have to prove what anyone told her. It's the admissions department's job to check out whether an applicant qualifies under the criteria and offer places accordingly. If they cocked it up, it's hardly the OP's fault.

I did not mislead anyone, I (foolishly, in retrospect) asked the school secretary, as I was filling in DFD's application for the nursery (which goes directly to the school) at the same time as DD's school application,and she told me September- I didn't get it in writing.

I don't even know if DFD has got a place at that nursery yet, as those offer letters don't come through until the end of this term.

So, although the DFD starts in January, she's still on roll for the same academic year that would qualify your dd, surely? If the school had just the one intake, as many do, there wouldn't be an issue. Why should you be penalised for that?

Hope you can keep your place, but I'm not sure why a nursery place is relevant to a school place

I think it's because DFD is "in care" and can pretty much go to whichever school she wants.

I'm trying to get my DD's school application form up (it's web based) as I am very sure I put DFD's date of birth on there.

Seriously, I feel sick!

Talk about stress, I am obviously a numpty that takes too many people at their word, and in future, I need to a) get stuff in writing, and b) get stuff in writing!

You're not a numpty at all. It doesn't sound as if it's your mistake, but County's.

Clam, of course - but i read it that the place was offered on the basis that dfd also had a place there. And if that was not actually the case then it offers the only likely get out for the admissions people - that op put misleading info on the form.

The bloody website is "closed for admin, please try later" I hope they are not adminning my form!!!

I am so sure I put DFD's dob on the form.

How frustrating!
If the dob is on the form then what can they possibly say? The info was there for them to work out.
Was there an actual question on the form asking if a sibling had a place there already?
If not, then i cant see how they can blame you for misleading them. If thats what they are saying, i mean.

There was a question about siblings already attending, I didn't fill it in as it was not relevant.

In the extra info box, I put something along the lines of DFD is due to start the nursery in September (as I then believed)

However I also mistakenly completed the web form for DFD for nursery before I completed the paper form for the school, so the information was on my original admissions "webpage" if you like, as the forms were connected.

It's still the admissions department's responsibility to check sibling links. Otherwise, anyone could put down a sibling and get in that way.

What did you mean by your dfd's "funny" birthday?

The place is offered on the condition that the info provided is accurate. If after ther offe is made any of the pivotal details (such as sibling places) are then found to be untrue then they can withdraw the offer.

So yes, absolutely its their place to check that info and thats what theyve done - this is the result.

But if the OP wrote down the dfd's birthdate, then that should have been checked by admissions.
Although I'm a bit confused about how the dd is counted as a sibling to a child on roll if the dfd hasn't even received her nursery offer yet (and yes, I understand about LAC being fairly certain of getting the school of their choice).

But they've checked the info too late, foosa. 6 weeks after the offer of a place.

I'm not sure what has happened, but where I am, siblings can't get into a school because a younger one is there iyswim.