Primary School Off Revoked

[SameAsYou]

I'm the childminder of a boy age 4 who is starting reception class in September.

When application was made for the school they lived in the area and when formally accepted still lived in the area. A month later they moved away from the area.

It has been brought to the attention of the LEA and parents have received a letter saying that now he as moved away from the area the place has been revoked as no longer entitled to his place. Deep down they realise they should have thought about this more. The LEA have said they are unable to say how they were informed and just said an undisclosed report. Someone must have told them that they have moved away (we think).

They could appeal but they say if being truthful - they really aren't in the catchment area so have to accept the letter.

After the upset has settled throughout today, they now have to choose another school - my question is will they take into account her original request of her second and third choice or a case of what places are left within the wider area?

Any advice of anyone who has been in this position would be great

I imagine it would depend on available places and if a popular area many spaces might be full.

I am no expert but I hadn't thought LEA's removed offers when you move house even if its out of catchment area. I believe they do remove offers if they have reason to think somebody has defrauded or played the system eg short term rental in area of school, moving out again soon after or falsifying addresses.
How long had the child's parents been living at the address and did they have a genuine reason for moving away? I would imagine if they had been living at the application address for a considerable period of time and or had a change of circumstances necessitating the move then they could challenge the LEA. I would imagine if they don't in some parts of the country there will be significant limitations on available spaces to unpopular schools, possibly further away.

They've been in the previous property on a years contract, but for four years previously they've been very close to the school (I guess nearer the other primary school in our area).

They bought a new build approx 3 miles away. The reason was mum owned a house prior to marriage and it just wouldn't sell so they did a part ex just to be able to sell that house. It's a lovely new large estate but schools are not perceived as better than the one they've accepted.

They've bought uniform (from the school) done the introductory days and childcare sorted, I just don't now if enough to challenge?

*know not now

An admissions expert will be along at some point to give you some sound advice. I am not an expert but I think the parents should challenge this. You have no choice but to apply for a school where you currently live at the time. Admissions authorities will not take account of proposed moves. So they presumably had no choice but to apply from their address at the time? Now they are at the back of the queue and will be allocated a school with a place which may not be one of their preferred schools.

Some may argue that they deliberately defrauded a local child of the place and the local authority appears to share that view. The parents should look at the admission guidance for their local authority to ascertain what is stated about people moving and at what time in the admissions process. I would also want to look at how anything that is proposed in the guidance discriminates against people who have no choice but to move house during this time and consider bringing this up at appeal but I don't know what weight this would have.

Thanks kla73 - ill pass this on to them

I'm assuming you are in England.

Paragraph 2.12 of the Admissions Code says that an offer can only be withdrawn if it has been made in error, the parent has not responded within a reasonable period of time or their application was fraudulent or intentionally misleading. This provision is compulsory. The LA cannot withdraw an offer on any other grounds.

It seems the LA is justifying its action on the basis that the family has moved away. They cannot do that. They can make the case that the application was fraudulent if, for example, the parents moved into the area just before applying and moved out again as soon as a place was offered, but they cannot withdraw the offer simply because the parents have moved.

The parents should contact the LA, point out that withdrawing the place because they have moved is a clear breach of paragraph 2.12 of the Admissions Code and ask them to reinstate the place. If they refuse the parents should appeal.

Thank you so much ill pass it on - yes in the UK (West Yorkshire)

You do need to look carefully at the admission arrangements for the local authority and see if they have anything in their arrangements that says that they will take this action if anybody moves between being given a place and starting at the school. If it does then there might be some justification for their action. If you are prepared to divulge either on this post or as a PM the actual LA then I will check to see if I can see any such arrangement.

Having said that, I agree with PRH, paragraph 2.12 is explicit in saying the admission authority must not withdraw an offer unless...... Moving house well after the date at which places were allocated is not such an allowed reason. What is even more interesting is that it goes on to say Where an offer is withdrawn on the basis of misleading information, the application must be considered afresh and and a right of appeal offered if an offer is refused. From your original post they have not considered afresh the application, they have simply decided to not allow the place.

I agree send a strongly worded letter saying what PRH has said, they have absolutely nothing to loose and actually need to take it further so that they can appeal. The problem is that the LA will not consider their second or third preferences unless they have places available, they now simply give them a school place where available

The council may say they were fraudulent if they see them renting when they already owned a property. They check council tax records to see on which property they were paying. Hopefully they can make them see sense and get the school place back.

May I ask what local authority they are dealing with?

Hi Both - it's Leeds.

They have spoken again to them today and just been honest about the situation.

Further info - They have been together for 8 years and always rented in catchment area (so four years prior to their ds being born and four after), so they didn't swoop in on a six month rental to apply for a school place. They accepted the place on April 16th and moved on June 28th - so not sure if that's classed as immediately after.

LEA have just asked them to write down everything (its not appeal situation yet) with dates and copies of tenancy agreements (and dates they gave notice) and will look at the situation within four working days. So no confirmation as to whether they are still revoking the place.

Any opinions are welcome

Will update the outcome

Leeds admission policy says, "When we make an offer, we assume your address will be the same in the following September as we have on record. If you plan to move house, you must still give your current address. If you move house after the deadline of 31 October 2012 for Secondary places or 15 January 2013 for Primary and Junior places, you must tell us your new address as we may have to offer your child a place at another school."

I don't think that is very clear. The primary school booklet has a question "What happens if I move into the area or change address". The answer says you must tell them immediately of any change of address but in terms of what actually happens to your application or any offered place it is as clear as mud.

Given what they are asking for it sounds like they suspect fraud although that isn't what they said in their letter. As the parents have lived in catchment for 8 years I think the LA will find it hard to justify an accusation of fraud. I would hope that they will realise their mistake and reinstate the place. If they do not do so the parents should appeal.

I think that Leeds are taking a bit of a flyer saying that they may have to offer a place at another school. If they were going to have such a policy then it needs to be very explicit and say that if you move then you do need to tell us and we will remove the place if you are outside of catchment. However the flip side is that if you have to move school because of not being in catchment then surely they then have to provide a place at the catchment school. In many cases they will not be able to because of infant class size regs etc.

There is also the little problem of what is called the Greenwich judgement going back to 1989 which held that pupils should not be discriminated against in relation to admission to school simply because they reside outside the local authority area. By a bit of lateral thinking surely the same applies in that what Leeds is saying is that we are discriminating if you are out of catchment, even though if the school was not full by law they would have to admit a pupil that lived in glasgow if they applied.

The time period could also become an interesting debate as the move was two months after the place was offered and accepted. There are legal cases about when a place can be considered to be removed and allowed. The judgement is about when the parents or pupils have a reasonable expectation that they are going to the school. The current belief is that this is about three days, from the court cases. Two months is rather longer than that!