gah - primary allocations LA fuckup

[zoemaguire]

We just got our primary allocation, for our second choice (our catchment school) meaning ds has been given a place at a different school to his sister, aaaaarg. Only the council information sheet states that places for our first choice went to criterion 4 (out of catchment with siblings) to 1.4 miles. We only live 0.6 miles away!!! So on the face of it there has been a fuckup somewhere and we should have been allocated a place for ds at our first choice, on the basis of sibling priority. I've re-read our application online and we definitely entered all the information correctly, including the sibling priority information.

What happens?! Do we have to go to appeal, and can the LA say 'yeah sorry we got it wrong but too bad because there is no space?' (Would be infant class size appeal as pan is 90). Or do we ring up the la tomorrow and they say 'oh yes sorry quite right, have a place after all!'

I am having palpitations at the idea of two kids at different schools, the logistics don't bear thinking about. How can the la possibly have got it wrong?!

Tiggytape the intake is 90 not 60, so there should have been 34 places for out of catchment sibs. Thanks for all the info and hand holding everyone, really can't believe this has happened as we were pretty much shoo-ins!

Make sure you follow up this phone call with an email zoemaguire, so that they can't wriggle out of it.

Yep all good points re distance, but don't think they can apply here - even based on walking distance including all possible detours. Think lots of city streets all perpendicular off a main road. The friends pass our road on the way to school. And there is no way there are 30-odd out-of-catchment siblings living closer than us to the school - the school catchment boundary is one street away from us. Hard without showing you a map, but it seems very clear cut.

Agree with making a "paper trail" with follow up emails & getting yourself ready to appeal anyway

fingers crossed you won't have to, but best to start preparations your grounds for appeal & thinking if what supporting evidence you can provide if you need to - distance & the mistake been one & exceptional needs for your DS to be in school with sibling because if his background etc etc

Keeping everything crossed for you that you don't need to go to appeal, but if you do, there's fantastic advice to be had on here by the likes of Chair & its nit half as daunting as it first seems.

Interesting point about the distances too .a we've found out that our LA uses a completely different criteria than seems normal - DDs allocated school is nearly 5,1/2 mile away according to bus routes & google maps - whatever system our LA uses shows it up as 3,1/2 - yet our 3rd choice school shows up as further away than google etc.

Interesting point about the street name - that's something that never occurred to me as happening here, but we do have another street with the same name in our town & it is closer to DDs allocated school - mmm, you've got me wondering now

I agree with Tiggytape that this sounds very much like a mistake has been made. The LA should rectify it without an appeal. Even if they do insist on an appeal it should be a formality. The only situation in which it won't be is if a lot of people are affected by the error. In that case the appeal panel will have to decide how many to admit and choose those with the best cases.

In your shoes I would:

• chase the LA and pressure them to correct the error without an appeal
• put everything in writing (on emails) and keep the paper trail
• submit an appeal in case the LA don't fix the problem
• start thinking about reasons you can put forward as to why your son needs to go to this school so that, if there are a lot of people affected by this mistake, you can make the best case possible as to why your son should be one of those chosen by the appeal panel

I hope this will be sorted out without an appeal but best be ready for all eventualities.

Oh no! One thing to check - the school will have a waiting list and it's a long time from January to April so there will be quite a few people who,have changed their minds and are trying to get a place elsewhere now. Can you confirm where you are on the waiting list and explain why you should be at the top (because you should have got in!) With luck Lucinda Many-Acres' dad will be phoning today to say that actually Lucinda has a scholarship to somewhere so they won't be going after all and you can get the place nice and hassle free!

Arg, I should have read all the great most recent advice before firing off my email just now. I basically restated our case with particular reference to our friends, noted that government guidance stated that we shouldn't need to go to appeal, and reiterated that all the details were correct on our copy of the application. Then told them I looked forward to them investigating and awarding us our place:)

I didn't refer to the phone convo. Should I email yet again saying we got a phone assurance it would be investigated? It'd be the third email in 12 hours, don't want to come across as totally insane! Even though I feel on the verge of sanity right now...

Advice taken re paper trail and launching appeal if no movement within a week or so. Do we accept our place at other school pending appeal as well? You are all a gold mine, thank you so much!

Thanks prh47bridge also. Ds is an extreme ex-prem (26w) who is not even in the correct year group based on adjusted age (born June instead of October) and is desperately insecure in new situations. I think he really needs the security of being at the same school as his sister, and he knows it well after two years of school runs. It also has a special 'nurture' group which I fear he may need the use of. Would that be the kind of thing that would help?

It would be wise to accept the place you've been offered, simply to show that you're a reasonable person. You're very unlikely to need it, because either you'll get the place in the next few days or you'll win the appeal.

Good point re waiting list. Do i have to ring and ask to be on it? There is a second round of allocations, so I'm not sure if waiting lists are actually open yet.

Those things would be helpful, but they are secondary to the fact that a mistake was (apparently) made. Generally, those sorts of considerations don't carry much weight at infant class size appeals because they are all about looking for errors and illegalities, but in your case I think you could run with the argument that denying him a place at the same school as his sister is so unfair as to be unreasonable in the strict legal sense (which is one of the grounds on which an infant class size appeal can be won).

Presumably if they've got your distance wrong then you need to contact them anyway to ensure you're in the correct place on the waiting list, and not in some random position due to their mistake, otherwise they may compound the error by giving a waiting list place to someone who should be below you.

Sending you all .

Panel, do you mean so unfair as to be unreasonable in strict legal sense because the la made a mistake, because ds is particularly vulnerable, or both?

Thanks tiggy, i will fire off some more emails. They are going to love me:)

Good point barbeasty!

They are claiming we are no.17 on waiting list!!!! Clearly something gone very wrong. Just hope they sort it asap!

OP have they confirmed to you that they have you in the correct category? Is it possible that the LA has not noted that DS has a sibling already at the school so has treated application as 'out of catchment no sibling'. That could account for others further away having a place and the position on the waiting list.

I suspect it must be lack of sibling recognition from our low place on waiting list. Dd is only in yr 1 so definitely eligible for priority. They won't tell us anything more on phone except that we are on their list for a call back. I haven't been this stressed since ds was born, and that is saying something!

Just a thought - did you put your correct postcode on your application? I received an unsuccessful secondary place letter for a child who lived at the same address as me in the next town but the parent had put an incorrect postcode and it had defaulted to mine. They had been notified by email they had been unsuccessful but it was sorted out in the end.
Hope you get it sorted.

The (apparent) overlooking of the sibling link ought to be enough to get you the place administratively or to win the appeal on its own. But, if I were in your shoes and had to take it to appeal, I would also argue that, on top of the serious error in overlooking the sibling link, the fact that your son is vulnerable because of extreme prematurity and needing to be with his sister and (possibly) to access the nurture group makes the refusal of a place unreasonable in the legal sense of being indefensible.

Because of the very strict parameters for infant class size appeals, you need to find arguments that relate in some way to unreasonableness. Generally at ICS appeals, having a sibling already at the school (for example) isn't enough to win the appeal if the school's admissions criteria put out of catchment siblings in a low priority group; not getting a place for younger siblings is in that sense a risk people take in sending their child to an out of catchment school. That's why the fact that there has (apparently) been an error strengthens your argument so much and why you need to emphasise that the consequences for your son of not being admitted would be so severe as to be unreasonable.

As I said, the simple fact of the mistake should be enough to win the appeal, so bringing in these extra arguments may be superfluous but (as has been mentioned already) if this turns out to be some sort of blip that has deprived lots of children of their places, you will help your case by highlighting reasons why your son needs the place even more than others who might be in the same boat.