Still no reception place for September.....

[OzBrit]

I posted back in April about our situation and wanted to give an update to make sure I have done everything I should/could have done. This is the story so far:

• 27th April - found out our DS had been offered no reception place. Were informed we would hear more by 8th June
• 8th June - no letter so rang Admissions (letters were sent out late and it di arrive a day later) - still no place and they "anticipate" a place will be offered at the end of June

In the meantime:

• We are on the waiting lists for all 5 local schools
• The 3 closest schools, we are 12th, 13th & 13th - so no chance of getting a place from the waiting list
• We have put in an appeal for these 3 schools (we don't meet faith criteria on other 2). Appeals had to be in by 29th May. We are appealing on the grounds that the LA have acted "unreasonably" by not offering any school place (this will all fall apart once we are offered something however)
• I rang appeals last week - we have 3 appeal dates for mid-late July. We still don't have this in writing.
• We have explored the private school route in order to get some control back
• We did a FOI and found out there were 8 others in our area in the same situation. I have heard along the grapevine that 2 have since been offered a place
• I have used contracts to dig some more and they are unaware of any schools in our area taking "bulge" classes. I did ask this in a FOI and was told that because it was still in negotiation with schools & governors they weren't able to provide this information at the time.

I ring Admissions regularly to see if there is any movement on the waiting lists......hardly any since end of April.

Is there something else that can be done or is it a case of waiting for the "letter"? It has obviously been a very stressful few months.

Any advice appreciated.....

I have no help but wanted to offer my sympathy, what a very very stressful situation. Reading between the lines they are probably trying to get 1 school to agree to a bulge group but haven't got an agreement from anyone.

I'm not sure there is anything else you can do. There is a strong incentive for them to come up with a place before your appeals as they will be in a very weak position for the appeal if they don't.

As RandomMess says, the response to your FoI request suggests they are trying to set up a bulge class somewhere.

Hi, this is interesting. We also do not have a school place for next year. Our area is a complete black hole for admissions and I have learnt that there are almost 60 children without school places in our postcode alone (and well over 200 in our borough). We are waiting and seeing, and hoping to move up waiting lists, although depressingly we are moving rapidly down them all!

Interesting, I got loads of advice from various sources not to bother appealing. So I didn't. I was told that I had no grounds since an appeal would only be in relation to getting into a school and "no offer" was not relevant. Reading your arguement has made me rethink this. Perhaps I given poor advice?

It is true that - especially for an infant class size appeal, where essentially the panel can only allow the appeal if there has been some serious error by the LEA - having no school place is not, strictly speaking, relevant. In an ICS appeal, the panel is looking at whether the LEA has measured the distance between school and home correctly, has noted whether the child has a sibling at the school, has applied the school admissions code correctly and complied with the law, has not made a decision which is no unreasonable it is perverse etc etc.

However, some panels might take the view that if the parents have done everything correctly - used all their choices on the application form, not chosen schools at which they stood no earthly chance of getting a place - and the LEA still has not made them any offer, then the refusal of a place at the school being appealed for is unreasonable. That's quite a long shot in an ICS appeal, but less so in other appeals, where the panel is looking at the balance of prejudice (disadvantage) between the child and the school and its existing pupils.

PanelChair, that is interesting. We applied for nearest schools and had two on our list that were undersubscribed last year to be safe. It seems no one at the council accounted for the double whammy of baby boom + increased popularity of our area for families with children. And additional housing, load of them, but never any extra school places. To me, that is most definitely unreasonable!

At any rate, this is academic as we have missed the deadline for appeals now. [sigh]

There is no concrete deadline for appeals. There is an administrative deadline by which LEAs ask people to submit appeals, so that they can timetable all appeals for the same school together, but they cannot refuse to accept your appeal just because it is 'late'. The disadvantage of a late appeal is that you're not being heard alongside other appeals for the same school - and if others succeeded the school may be even more full.

As I said, not having a school place won't guarantee that you'll win an appeal. If the LEA has done everything correctly, the panel may well reach the view that it's unfortunate that you've been left without a school place but that's not sufficient reason for allowing the appeal. However (and this is probably the less likely result) a panel might stick its neck out and, even though it probably should not, order the school to admit your child on the grounds that it's unreasonable to leave a child without a school to go to.

So, Hodel, if you have the time and the energy, it may be worth going to appeal for any of the schools you'd be willing to accept.

As a complete lay person I should think appealing increases the pressure on the LEA to do something to rectify the situation, they can't ignore the children with no place when by appealing the parents are making it clear they won't be going down the independent route!

prh47bridge and PanelChair - thank you for the replies. I realise that once an offer comes in the appeal becomes an ICS appeal. The LA encouraged us to appeal......?!

You are right - they do intend on putting bulge classes in, however where will be the interesting bit. There were originally 160 without places across the city and about a month ago it was 72. The city is wide and thus the children without places will be spread out. Trying to get a bulge classes within a 2 mile radius of all children will prove interesting!

Hodel - I am sorry to hear that you are in the same position. It's not a great place to be in is it. We spent hours researching and writing our appeal as it was quite difficult because you don't usually appeal because you haven't got a place. However, like Panel Chair siad, if you have the time and energy you have nothing to lose. We know we have a very, very, very slim chance of winning and didn't want to come away from the whole experience not having tried everything. Also I suppose we wanted to point out what a ridiculous situation it is and because we could potentially be in the same position again in 2 years! Good luck!

RandomeMess - I agree and thank you also for your support :)

OzBrit and Hodel I remember you both as I posted on both your threads as despite putting down 5 schools on our list, we got nothing and sent to a school out of our borough. We didn't appeal either as after lots of research, we decided it wasn't worth it. The council was pretty much next to useless and blamed parent governors at the local schools for not putting in any bulge classes this year despite the clear demand for it. Anyway, DS1 is now down for a very small prep school that we loved when we visited it in the immediate aftermath of the admissions 'results'. We are lucky we can afford to do it and we found a very nice school that still has a place for DS1. We have stayed on the wait lists for all 5 schools and at the moment - we are 6th, 7th and 20-something for the other 3. No chance IMO of us getting in before September. If we do get a place sometime in the school year, we will have a very difficult decision to make but we need to think of the implication of 2 in private school as we aren't rolling in it and DS2 will be in reception in 2014). Good luck and keep us all posted.

P.S. A mum I know (but in another London borough) had her appeal heard on Friday. Her son was given a place 7.5 miles away and none of the local schools! She turned down the place as she felt it was impossible to do the school run. She said the panel was very sympathetic and she was very hopeful, she just got the news today her appeal wasn't successful so she has no school place as of now... :(

I'm always a bit when people say the panel was sympathetic, as if they were expecting three ogres!

Of course I don't know anything about Angel1976's friend's situation, but the fact that the allocated school was 7.5 miles away isn't enough on its own to win an appeal - especially if it's an infant class size appeal. I would be sympathetic to anyone who faced a 7.5 mile journey to school, anyone would, but all panels have to abide by the appeals code.

I do hope that Angel1976's friend did not turn down the school place because she thought it would help her win the appeal, because (as she has found) it doesn't. The appeal is decided on its own merits. I hope she finds a school place for her child.

Angel1976 - the poor mum in London - what is she going to do now? We too are considering independent but are not rolling in it and it is not an option to have both children there. I do feel like we have been bullied into the situation though (even though the school is lovely) - will be good to hear if you do get a place over the summer - good luck

What area of the country are you in?

Manchester.....

Hi Angel! Sorry to hear you are still in this mess. And OzBrit, wishing you loads of luck as well.

In our case there is only one independent school in the area and they are so oversubscribed that even their waiting list is closed, so we don't have that as an option. I'm not sure what we would do if it were an option... I appreciate your dilemmas. My current contingency plan is to leave the UK. (Drama queen alert!)

The School Admissions Code 2012 says

3.9 Fair Access Protocols - Each local authority must have a Fair Access Protocol, agreed with the majority of schools in its area to ensure that - outside the normal admissions round - unplaced children, especially the most vulnerable, are offered a place at a suitable school as quickly as possible. In agreeing a protocol, the local authority must ensure that no school - including those with available places - is asked to take a disproportionate number of children who have been excluded from other schools, or who have challenging behaviour. The protocol must include how the local authority will use provision to ensure that the needs of pupils who are not ready for mainstream schooling are met.

3.10 The operation of Fair Access Protocols is outside the arrangements of co-ordination and is triggered when a parent of an eligible child has not secured a school place under in-year admission procedures.

So (setting aside the uncertainty about whether this Code applies now, as it says both that it takes effect from February 2012 and that it applies to September 2013 admissions) I'm not at all sure the FAP kicks in, in the situation that an LEA has no place for dozens of chidlren. First of all, because this failure to offer to places is not "outside the normal admissions round" but is part of it. Secondly, because if there are dozens of children without a place then admitting them as additional pupils to existing classes isn't likely to be feasible, simply because of the numbers.

Other than that, though, it's always been my understanding that FAP can kick in as soon as it's known that a child does not have a place and all schools are full with no suitable vacancies. This is being discussed on another thread at the moment.

Tiggytape, it is an interesting question. The fair access protocol only refers to pupils of compulsory school age and is for in-year admissions. In the 2012 admission appeal code it also says that it is for children who have been out of education for two months or more (in the 2009/10 version it is a term).
So I think that FAP can only kick in two months after the pupil reached compulsory school age.
Having said that it is far from clear and I could be completely wrong on this. I know some LAs are saying that they do not need to give the pupil a place until they reach compulsory age but I personally think this is wrong.

We dont have a school place for our son either. It's a nightmare there are 16 children in our area without a place. Our appeal is 3rd july for our only catchment school but im not holding my breath as its an ics appeal.

panelchair she went to see the school, she doesn't drive and it took 1.5 hours on public transport. She just couldn't see it working. I don't agree with her turning down the school place either before she had another real choice but that was her decision HOWEVER she is 2nd on the wait list of her 4th choice school. I think she has a good chance of getting in before Sept or right after term starts.

tiggytape not sure what help the council offered in terms of transport but 7.5 miles might not sound a lot in a rural area but can be a real pain to get to in London so she must have felt it wasn't viable even with help!

Hodel we didn't bother appealing either because we felt there was no mistake, just bad bad luck!

OzBrit my thoughts are all tangled at the moment... The school we are most likely to get into is in a lot of flux lately due to new HT, joining a new federation etc. I also know someone who has their child in current reception year who is pulling her out of school to go into DS1's school-to-be because she is that worried. We are keeping an open mind and staying on wait lists but feeling is that it will be really hard to pull DS1 out of the prep school once he starts there... Argh!

If an LEA has no places to offer to dozens of children, then I think the only viable solution is more bulge classes. Parents can help the process along by putting pressure on their elected councillors to get something arranged soon, so that parents and children have some certainty about what's happening in September.

Looking at some of the side-effects of creating bulge classes in schools in the LEA, I feel that actual school expansion (moving from 2- to 3-form entry and so on) is a better option, but it's not always achievable simply because of the difficulty of building on a site which is still functioning as a school, schools not having enough land to sustain expansion without losing outdoor play space etc etc. And (as far as I can see) LEAs do try to predict future demand for school places, but where (as in my LEA) there is a highly mobile population, inward migration and an economic downturn with fewer parents opting for independent schools, it's never going to be a very precise science.

Appeal panels are going to be sympathetic in any case where a child doesn't have a place for September, but (as I've said before), in most instances like that, an appeal panel would probably be exceeding its powers if it allowed the appeal simply to give the child a school place.

Hi Oz. I remember your first post back in April - don't know if you recall but I mentioned that I knew a couple of mums who live (I presume) quite close to you who didn't get any of their listed schools and were offered schools some distance away. I was chatting to one the other day and she has now decided to go down the private route (and believes the other lady has too). I can't really offer any advice - it sounds like you are doing everything you can. Really just wanted to wish you luck and hope that you get a good outcome x