Primary School offer withdrawn - Advice please

[tlb240]

Hi,

I've read a few threads on here about this problem but some are very old so was wondering if anyone could offer me more advice.

In Summary I was offered my first choice of school by the LEA on 16th April which I accepted straight away. A friend who lives further up the estate from me wasn't offered a place (non of her choices were offered). She had already calculated that she should have got in over me.

She put in an appeal which has never been heard against the decision of me getting in over her because she lives closer. (This I believe to be true but not 100% sure there won't be much in it)

On Saturday 5th May I received a letter saying

I am writing regarding the application for your daughter.

Unfortunatly an error has been made in allocating a place at . As the school is oversubscribed with applicants, the place offered will need to be withdrawn.

I then get a text from my friend saying great news I've got in and our kids will be going together!!!

I believe from reading stuff that this is unlawful due to the amount of time it has taken them to tell me.

My daughter goes to the pre reception class (although this does not make a difference in the admission policy no advantage)

I'm already in legal battles with 2 other goverment bodies (nothing to do with schools/kids) so my energy is low for another fight and I'm 7 months pregnant!

Should I be writing to the LEA and say what?

I think I have to appeal to the school direct but when I pick my daughter up I will go and check with them.

I would be thankful of any advice/wording for either the appeal/letter to the LEA.

Regards
T

You will need to appeal. It should be seen as unreasonable for them to withdraw the place after so long. The school admissions code does say if a place is given in error it can be withdrawn.

I hope you get it sorted.

Oh, I really feel for you! You must be so stressed.

I would think that, unless you had applied fraudulently (which you haven't), then the offer should stand. It is the school's error and so they will have to sort it out. Stand your ground as your acceptance of having the offer withdrawn will just make things easier for the school. Ask a friend to help you with the fight, if you can.

Hopefully someone will come along on here with a more reassuring answer.

You poor thing, that sounds very stressful!

Have they offered you an alternative??

A place can be withdrawn at any time if they believe the application to have been fraudulent.

If offered in error, it can only be withdrawn in a reasonable time. Since the roll-out of the new Admissions Code, there is no exact precedent for how long that it. Under the old Code, the precedent was 3 days, and the expectation is that it will remain pretty much that.

Three weeks from offer letter to offer withdrawn is a long time. Try to use this fact in your appeal.

Under the Admissions Code they can withdraw an offer made in error. Precedents set under the previous Code suggest they have 3 days to do so. Beyond that they have to honour the offer. The new Code is significantly different to the old Code and it isn't clear if the precedents still stand. However, you need to appeal on the basis that they have taken too long to withdraw the offer.

In your appeal you should:

• Say that you understand the admission authority only has 3 days to withdraw an offer made in error, not 3 weeks. Refer to LGO case 99C01876 - this is the one that set the precedent.

• Point out that if the place was withdrawn to keep below the infant class size limit because another child should have been admitted this was unnecessary. Under the Admissions Code the additional child would have been an excepted child and hence would not have counted towards the limit.

• Point out that you have been disadvantaged by the delay withdrawing the place. If you have missed the deadline for submitting appeals mention this. They still have to hear your appeal but it may disadvantage you if it is heard later than other appeals. If you have spent any money in anticipation of your daughter attending this school.

You could also try writing to them in the above terms - email will do. It is possible they will decide to reinstate the offer without an appeal but that is probably a long shot.

Have they offered another school? If so, is this the school you would have been offered if they had got it right the first time? If the answer to either of these questions is no that is also worth bringing up. If they are simply going to offer you a place at an unpopular school which was not one of your preferences you have been disadvantaged again.

Thank you so much for your advice.

I've been so upset about it I couldn't phone the LA today as I would have been so emotional but I know I need really to put it in writing.

On the letter it said I had to appeal to the school but I was also going to go to the LA.

I went into school today who have said they want nothing to do with it as the LA will be doing the appeal on there behalf this time. Great!

The secretary did ring the LA to confirm this which they said yes and that the appeal wouldn't be heard till at least 30th June!!

From what I know but none of it official.

My friend got my place as they calculated the wrong distance at the LA she pointed this out to them from what she knows there are 3 of them including her closer than me (could be more). The 3 of them has demanded the distance be redone and presumably this caused me to have my place taken away.

She has declined the place as she now prefers another school who has guaranteed her a place.

Do I ask the LA to confirm why I have had my place withdrawn. Please note there is no fraud on this even double/triple checked I'd put the right postcode....

Thanks for the support it is really helping :-)

T

really sorry this has happened to you, appealing is going to be the way forward, but if this school is the one you'd like your dc to go to, make sure you are still on their waiting list and also ask where abouts on the waiting list you are.

dd got her reception place in the end, and she was 9th on the waiting list, places do end up getting declined if people are moving, going private etc.

No advice OP, but I do feel for you, having the place and accepting and then having it withdrawn must be soul destroying. I'm sure you will get this sorted.

You can ask any question you want within reason to help prepare for your appeal and they must answer.

If the LA found that there were 3 children who should have got places ahead of you they had two choices. They could have admitted all 3 in which case they would have been excepted children. Some parents may not have been happy with 33 in the class, of course. The alternative would have been to make all 3 go to appeal so that an appeal panel could sort out whether the school could handle 3 more and, if so, which ones to admit.

If they have, as you suspect, withdrawn your offer to make space for these pupils there should be two other families in the same boat.

As well as everything else you are doing you should make sure they have added you to the waiting list for this school. You should be at or near the head of the list.

Thank you again for advice well from what I know I was the odd one out so the speak the friend knew that if they calculated correctly I should be at the bottom of the list even compared to the other 14 kids (school takes 15 pupils)

So the other 14 are all closer than her. But it doesn't make me feel any better when she has declined the offer!!!!!!!!!!!

I will be writing to the LA to ask why my place has been withdrawn as officially I don't know this is all here say from my friend!

Do you think this is the correct way to go - I will be preparing for my appeal forms as well. Should I also ask that I want to go on the waiting list and where I am on it.

In theory if there are only 3 others - 2 of which may decline the place as they prefer other schools now and the other one does the same I might get it offered me back??????????????? Honestly what a mess...

Just want to say poor you. What a shambles. I hope you get your place back!

What a mess - I thought the system they used to measure was supposed to be highly accurate?!

frillysockmum - The system is very accurate but it can't prevent human error such as measuring from the wrong property or similar.

tlb240 - Email the LA. I doubt they will say any more about why the place has been withdrawn than they have already. As far as they are concerned a mistake has been made so they can withdraw the offer. But you can ask for more detailed reasons and you should set out the arguments I've given above as to why they should not withdraw the offer at this stage. It may be possible to get them to reinstate the offer without an appeal.

Yes, you should check that you are on the waiting list (in the circumstances they should definitely have put you on it without needing to be asked) and find out where you are on the list. Don't put that on the appeal forms. Put it in the email to the LA.

And yes, you should prepare your appeal forms and send them in as soon as possible. You have a good case for getting the place reinstated.

So I got a reply from the LEA:
Firstly my apologies for the delay in answering your email, I have been working away from the office and this is my first opportunity to access all the data I need to give you a full answer.

I would also like to repeat my unreserved apologies for the distress our mistake has caused to you and your family.

As context I have attached the government's rules on school admissions, there is a useful summary of the process in section 15 (d) of the introduction.

It is important to mention early in this email that the governors are the admission authority for * Primary School and therefore responsible for the detail of the admissions policy and using it to rank the applications received. For this reason I will send the school a copy of this email.

Your online preferences for are given below, all these schools had more applications than places and on ranking the applications other children had higher priority than . All the schools had to limit the number of offers for infant class size reasons:

1. *, 4.493 miles; 15 places (future infant class size in the Y1/Y2 class), 40 applications including 18 first preferences. ** is on the reserve list, currently at #3.
2. , 1.423 miles; 30 places, 68 applications including 35 first preferences. is on the reserve list, currently at #13.
3. s, 1.361 miles; 30 places, 79 applications including 38 first preferences. is on the reserve list, currently at #6.

The nearest school to your address is Primary School at 0.746 miles. This school has 30 places and received 44 applications in total including 32 first preferences. The last place offered had a lower priority than would have had if you had included it among your preferences, therefore if you had named your local school as a preference * would have gained a place there. In my view this suggests that the pressure on school places in your area arises from the pattern of parental preference rather than insufficient places to meet basic need.

I have reviewed the offer of School (1.249 miles from home) and concluded that this was the offer we always should have made on 16 April based on your preferences. I recommend that you accept this offer so that if all else fails will have a secure place, this will not be a consideration at any independent school admission appeal you may make.

As you will see from the above data **received more applications than there were places to offer and therefore had to rank the applicants using the school's published oversubscription criteria. These cannot include taking account of "first preference first" as section 1.9 (c) of the code forbids this, in any case there were more first preference applications than places.

In case the only consideration was the home to school distance and the school relied on a measurement made electronically by the local authority. Based on this fell within the 15 places to be offered.

After offer day another parent who had been refused a place challenged the accuracy of the distance measures, so we reviewed them and unfortunately found that in * case the distance calculated was too short, giving her an incorrect ranking and resulting in an offer rather than a refusal of a place. The error we found related to your address specifically.

Once this error came to light we discussed matters with the school as its own admission authority asking them to decide which of the two possible actions below to implement:

1. To withdraw the place offered to * and offer a place to the person top of the reserve list. This is allowed in section 2.12 of the code because an administrative error by the Local Authority led to a mistaken offer of a place.
2. To allow the offer to * to stand and 'over offer' by one place, to the person top of the reserve list, as this child would have been offered the place had the ranked list been administered correctly.

As you know the school decided to withdraw place. This was because would not have been the first child refused a place on offer day based on the correct distance (you can see that she is currently #3 on the reserve list).

You will be able to appeal to an independent panel against the refusal of a place at any of your three preferred schools. There is more about appeals on our website and it is important to consider the infant class size regulations as these will apply to appeals for all of your preferred schools. I can give you more detail about this if that would be helpful.

I do regret that this has happened, on this occasion our performance has been below the standard we set for ourselves and has caused distress to you and your family and we are sorry for that.

Although very long and somewhat technical I hope that the above explains what has happened, if you have any questions please contact me again.

Best regards

SO IN SHORT IT WAS THE SCHOOL THAT TOOK THE PLACE AWAY IN ONE WAY SO FEELING DEFLATED. AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHH

What to do is the next thing. Thanks for the support.

That email sets out in great detail what actually happened. I don't think you dispute any of it, except their choice between 1. and 2.

They chose 1.

You believe they should have chosen 2, because it is unreasonable for an offer made in error to have been withdrawn after such a long time.

And that is pretty much your case for appeal!

But take their advice to accept the offered school and stay on waiting lists - you won't lose anything by doing so.

I agree with Tiggytape. There is nothing to feel deflated about at all. Quite the reverse. If you put this letter in front of an appeal panel I think there is a very good chance they will say that the school should have chosen option 2 because of the amount of time that had elapsed.

Given that they say they miscalculated the home to school distance, how confident are you that they have now got it right? Do they use straight line distance or shortest walking route? Given that they say they got it wrong I'm guessing it is shortest walking route. If that is the case you need to know what route they used for the latest calculation. I would also ask them exactly how they got it wrong originally, i.e. what was the original route they measured that they have now rejected. This may give you a second prong to your attack if you can suggest that the original measurement was correct.

I think this letter on its own gives you a good case for appeal.

I agree - it looks as if you have got a strong case for appeal and even if you lost the appeal you should refer this on because it is exactly the kind of case that is needed to be adjudicated on.
No one seems to be arguing with the facts, which is good. Your grounds for appeal is that it was too long between the offer being made and your place being withdrawn.

Do not think it is anything personal about the "school" making the decision, its an impersonal decision made because they spotted a mistake too late.

The appeal will be presided over by an independent panel (usually either LA or Diocesian even where the school handles their own admissions).

Do not let this letter dishearten you, it is actually a good letter.

How frustrating for you - hope it works out. What a lot of tiny schools and 4.5 miles is a long way to go ... But hopefully they will see how unfair this has been on you. Do accept the one offered - it may not turn out bad if you have to go there ?

Oh thank you everyone you have been such a support. I won't be accepting the offer of the school they made because they today sent me a list of schools currently with places and I think there are 2 better schools although much further out but come with added benefits of nurseries next to them for when I have my second one due in a few months..

But you have helped me decide I will do the appeal.

Yes I do think it's personal from the school - The LEA have confirmed that they would have needed the govenors meeting held to decide this and I'm not 100% convinced they did but not totally sure so will be asking for minutes from the last meeting.

Why personal because they asked my other friend who's kid is in pre reception to appeal but she was happy with the offer she got and never really wanted this school. They were shocked she told them she wouldn't they almost guaranteed her a place!

I've had a friend help well actually write the appeal so will post here in case anyone in the future when googleing finds it useful as I did a lot of google this week :-). What did we do before the internet.

Thanks again everyone.

Oh thank you everyone you have been such a support. I won't be accepting the offer of the school they made because they today sent me a list of schools currently with places and I think there are 2 better schools although much further out but come with added benefits of nurseries next to them for when I have my second one due in a few months..

But you have helped me decide I will do the appeal.

Yes I do think it's personal from the school - The LEA have confirmed that they would have needed the govenors meeting held to decide this and I'm not 100% convinced they did but not totally sure so will be asking for minutes from the last meeting.

Why personal because they asked my other friend who's kid is in pre reception to appeal but she was happy with the offer she got and never really wanted this school. They were shocked she told them she wouldn't they almost guaranteed her a place!

I've had a friend help well actually write the appeal so will post here in case anyone in the future when googleing finds it useful as I did a lot of google this week :-). What did we do before the internet.

Thanks again everyone.

Just weighing in to say you really need to stress in your appeal the disadvantage you now have with the place withdrawn - for instance, whether you would have appealed for another school but are disadvantaged because you are appealing late, whether you have lost your chance of getting into your second choice school because of this, the fact that the school they are offering isn't one you would choose, whether you told dc that he had a place so that he is going to be really disappointed, etc etc. You need to get through to the appeal panel that it really matters so that they can't tell themselves that you're basically OK with the alternatives, and so that they realise it would be unlawful to refuse the appeal.