Primary School offer withdrawn - Advice please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 As the school is oversubscribed with applicants, the place offered will need to be withdrawn.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

'if you had named your local school as a preference you would have got a place there' -from letter you received.
It does sound like a point being made there op.
A lot of parents here avoid the school on their doorstep 'as wrong sort of parents/ children' and then get very cross when don't get their preference. [My children happily attend frowned upon school].
However, I really do sympathise with you as to be offered a place at your preferred school and have it taken away is very stressful indeed.
Good luck getting something sorted asap.

I suspect that the LA are busily blaming the school in what they say about what has to happened over this mistake.

The process that should have been followed by the school when it was the original allocation was that the governing body or much more likely a small 3 person committee of the governing body would have met to confirm the order of all applicants based on the admission criteria of the school. The reality is that this is a list compiled by the LA, including the distance measurement and on that basis you were within the 15 who could be offered the place. What is not clear to me is whether the quoted distance of 4.493 miles was the original distance on which the offer was made or the revised distance which meant that you should not have been offered the place. You do need to establish that so that the two measurements can be confirmed. At the appeal somebody has to explain how the mistake happened, not just that it involved your application.

When the mistake was realised the LA were correct in going back to the school,as the admission authority, to say oops we have a problem and to offer the two alternatives. It would be the admission committee who would have theoretically made the decision to keep to 30 pupils but I wonder whether the risks associated with the decision made were pointed out to this committee. For instance that there were plenty of legal precedents for saying that the time span before discovery was too long and that most such appeals had been allowed.

I think you need at appeal to ask some pointed questions about who was making the decisions and based on what. The regs say it has to be a committee of the governing body, but experience tells me it is sometimes the head teacher or office manager making the decisions. I wonder whether the conversation and decision was between LA and head, in which case that would be considered maladministration. The committee should have been called to a meeting and the decision made, it will be very interesting to see whether there are any minutes of the meeting confirming the decision.

The other point is the reason for the refusal "This was because * would not have been the first child refused a place on offer day based on the correct distance". I would say this was information that the school should not have been privy to. Their decision should have been remove the place or add an extra place on one error having been made, not the pupil, who we made the offer on, lives much further away than originally suggested, so it is ok to remove the place.

tlb do look carefully at the admission criteria of the other two schools and whether they prioritise siblings regardless of distance otherwise your younger child might not get a place. Where we live in order to count as a sibling you need to live either within 2 miles OR have lived in the same house when your 1st child was offered a place OR have moved closer than you were when your first was offered a place. If oversubscribed with siblings then places are allocated on distance. Other schools might have different criteria such as prioritising children in catchment over siblings out of catchment. A good school can suddenly become popular with a good OFSTED or having bulge classes which disappear leaving lots of siblings. Worth checking before you decide. Hope the appeal goes through anyway and you get the place.

How bizarre of her to appeal and not even want the place. Is she aware of what has happened to you now? How silly of her.

Very silly of her. She obviously ddin't think of the consequences this has on a family whose place was withdrawn - as it was, yours! Does she actually realise that her not wanting the place but appealing anyways ha in fact meant that your child is no longer going???? If I had done that, I'd feel absolutely rotten.

But when the friend first got the news in the OP she was happy that the dc would go to school together. I think it is only subsequently that she has had another offer that she prefers and no longer wants the school under debate.

I think I would be keeping my distance from the silly woman...

What a horrible position to be in anyway. Just make sure you don't request the same school as her! Perhaps try to think of it in a positive way and have a look at the surrounding schools you have a chance of a place in. You may find you prefer one of them even more.