questions regarding admissions

[cherryblossoming]

We are applying for two school places in another county. There is no place in the RY for our younger one. The county sent us a list of schools nearby which could give us a place. One school which is good but is more than 2 miles away from where we will live. We have signed the tenancy contract already. I have checked the admission numbers for many primary schools in that area and some nearby schools has admitted more. The school which could possibly admit my older one has a waiting list for reception. If there was a bus to the other school then it would not be a problem. I also do not drive and my cycling is not great. I just would not be able to bring two children on time in two schools unless there is a school bus. Interestingly that the school the county says could admit my younger one is full. I checked their admissions available online and they are full. 60 children in R for 2013. How it is possible that some schools take more? One thing that the school which could give my older one a place had more children in one year three years ago. So who decides it? I know that the school will deal with my older child's application whereas the county admissions team with my younger son. So confused and the time is going. The schools will be on holidays soon. I shall find out if there is a school bus but the school is really in a bad location. The locals regularly complain of the extensive traffic. Both children need to be on time. My DH will have to leave early for work.
Sorry for a long post.
Thank you.

It is quite possible that the information you found online is out of date and the school does now have a vacancy. If it is genuinely full up the other possibility is that the LA has decided there are no places available within a reasonable distance so has used its Fair Access Protocol to allow a school to admit your child even though it is already full.

There are a number of reasons a school can go over the admission number. For example, it could be a result of successful appeals, pupils admitted through the Fair Access Protocol or children getting a statement of SEN naming the school.

If you are applying now the applications should both be dealt with by the council. Until September they are responsible for all in-year applications.

Depending on how far the offered school is from your home your child may be entitled to free transport to and from school.

Thank you so much tiggytape and prh47bridge. It is good to know that we might be eligible for the school bus. The headteacher of the 1st choice school is behaving rather strange. Now he says there is another applicant whose family does not live in the catchment area but they would probably get accepted because they are from the same county. The county admissions team, on the other hand said that if there is an in-year place then anyone could get it even from another county without needing to show the tenancy agreement. To me this school looks rather selective. It is sad that we have been asked to push on our letting agents to sign the tenancy agreement to apply from the catchment area which really did not matter. Now if we do not get a place we would have to travel to another school and again look for accommodation to rent in 6 months. That is so expensive.
If we do not get the place we could appeal but what are we going to achieve --a head who did not want us? How would they behave towards our children? I have heard before they are selective but did not know why. We have applied first from the catchment area yet the 2nd applicant is preferable.

Admissions, including in-year admissions, are decided based on the school's admission criteria. If you come ahead of the other applicant on those criteria they must offer the place to you.

If there is a waiting list (or two applicants appear at exactly the same time) then admissions will go by the admissions criteria, which probably state distance from school as tie break; in which case the head is suggesting he thinks the other people live closer than you. If there is no waiting list, then as the county say, anyone who wants it can get it - but you have to be able to take it up!

The head actually has no say in admissions in a normal state school, the LA run reception admissions, so he can't be selective.

The application is for year four and the other family is not even in the catchment area. The head just thinks that the other family has priority over us because we are from another county. The school hurried us to show them the tenancy agreement and there was no-other applicants. According to the admission team we should have been admitted once we had applied. It makes me really angry and upset. We had to find a shitty accommodation just because of the catchment. What nakes him, the head, think that he can ignore the rules? We are a nice family. What else does he need?

There was no waiting list. It was that simple.

If there was a place and you applied they had to offer the place to you. If someone else applied at the same time they must use the admission criteria to decide who to admit.

The school should not be offering places to anyone unless it has just converted to an academy. It will change in September but right now the offer should come from your home LA (and you should have applied through your home LA).

At the time when we did not have an address in a new county we had applied via our. We applied again through the new county once we got the address. Both the county and the school got our applications. We were told no-one else had applied. It is only this week the head said he might take another family instead because they live in the county. And according to what we have been told by admissions team we should have already gotten the place. The head says the admissions do not know that the school sets their own rules for year four and also they cofe scho so have more power.

"cofe as CofE school".

I would get back to the LA and ask what is going on and why you haven't received your place yet.

OP - is the school Voluntary Aided or Voluntary Controlled? Voluntary Aided schools are responsible for their own admissions policies - but they must apply the policy, the HT cannot pick and choose who to admit. It is the Governing Body of the school that sets the policy.

We will get to LA again as it is all very stressful. Only one week is left before schools go on holidays.
It is a Voluntary Aided school and as the headteacher is in the governing body I guess he has some influence to decide who they would like to take. Whatever the reason I am not happy as we have wasted lots of time on this school and also on signing up the tenancy agreement which the school had required. The LA said the school did not need to ask for this. It means that we are who are going to live in the catchment area are not suitable for this school but another family who does not live in the area is. That is unfair but it smells with connections.

"the admissions policy is determined and administered by the governors in consultation with the local education authority and other relevant schools in the area"

Do you know for certain there is a space at the school in yr4? Or is the head talking about what might happen if and when a place comes up? If he thinks you still live in the other county, then he will think you come below someone in county as you will live further away.

There have been a place for the whole year. We have already signed a tenancy agreement in the catchment area thus someone who lives not in the catchment area should not have priority over us. We applied much earlier too. I think it is their personal choice.

Even if the school is a VA school they are subject to the Admissions Code. If there were no other applicants when you applied through your own county you should have been offered the place. If there were other applicants the admission criteria should have been used to determine who was offered the place. The school can't make it up as they go along.

If the facts are as you say the school is definitely getting this wrong. If they don't offer you a place you should appeal.

We wi see how the school behaves. I do not want my child to be there if they are like that. Our current head is so nice and welcoming. I can compare and see the difference and can also imagine what ti expect.