Appeal on Monday for son with no school place at all for 6 months. Help pls!

[badgermama]

Hello lovely folk, all help appreciated. We moved at the end of March this year to an area where all the primary schools are full. The council have been no help and offered no school place so I have had my 5 year old year R son at home for 6 months trying to educate him whilst taking care of his two year old sister. During this time we have gone from no 2 on the waiting list for our catchment school to number 9. The Head told me it would probably be Juniors before he gets a place.

We have an appeal on Monday and any hints would be appreciated. We spoke to the admissions dept at the council today who gave us lots of information I am sure is wrong eg we think he may fit under fair access protocol as he has been unplaced and the council said FAP doesn't apply to secondary. They also said that he had not been out of school for 6 months as it counts per year so he has only been unplaced for one day (?!).

They also said that the council are setting up a room in a school four miles away till Xmas where all the year R and 1 children who are unplaced in the area can go, with no plans for after Xmas. I can't drive due to a visual problem and would struggle to get him there and feel reluctant to put a nervous 5 year old in a taxi. My son is also very able and was taught on his own for much of the time at his last school as his literacy especially was so far in advance of the other 90 children in the year so the thought of him being in a class with possibly mostly younger children concerns me. He used to come home weeping with boredom from the last school and I can't help feeling that stimulation might not be great in this interim holding classroom. The council official also told me they did not have him on their list as unplaced for some reason so had not got him on the list for this temporary classroom set up, I have no idea why they would not class him as unplaced as we have all the documentation in place to show we applied and are unplaced and an appeal date.

I am sorry to ramble. It had been an exhausting year and I really want to do right by my son and feel pretty hopeless about the appeal at the moment.

thank you to anyone who has stuck with this!

Hopefully they are making things worse for themselves and better for you!

Thank you tiggy.

I hope to god that the LGO are reasonable people who will cut through all this nonsense.

The head of children's services has a CBE...Christ knows what for...

:)

Agree with Tiggytape. This letter from the LA needs to be included in your submission to the LGO along with your response to each of the points raised. Someone at the LA needs to wake up, realise they have seriously mishandled the case and remember that when you are in a hole you should stop digging. As it stands they are simply providing you with additional evidence of their incompetence.

The LGO very definitely are reasonable people in my experience.

Has no-one at the LA stopped to question the logic of their own records - why on earth would be bothering to go the lengths of an appeal for a school place if you really were electively home educating?

would you be bothering

Completely agree that the LA seem to be digging a very large whole and burying themselves in it. Can only assume that the LGO will be able to see through the smoke and mirrors to get to some of the facts in this case which make bad reading.

Hi Badger, I cant offer advice like some of the amazing MNers on here, but I can, and I am, cheering you on from the sidelines Keep the faith, I am certain justice will happen for your family

I'm cheering you on too! Glad to see you are getting good advice. Hang I there.

badger - not sure if you saw my PM - but we should compare notes.

We've had a similar experience (including involving LGO - who unfortunately found against us - but happy to share my experience).

I have no idea if you are in the same LEA as me - but the whole system is a shower of shite.

I'm also delurking to wish you well.

This is such an extreme example of a really iniquitous education system. We have pretty little choice of school here - you go to your village school. But all children get a place.

Counting children and providing a school place for each really doesn't sound like rocket science.

Complaint to local government ombudsman written and submitted. Fingers crossed eh? 6 months after moving and every school in area, many of which are even beyond council's supposed reasonable distance to travel, is full with waiting lists of catchment children.

Here's hoping lgo see sense and realise they are our only hope.

Anyone in a similar position Google the lgo focus study doc 'learning lessons from complaints' about mistakes that shouldn't be allowed to happen again and you may recognise your problems in their case studies.

OP, have you been to your local councillor as well as your MP? They tend to have more influence over council departments and of course they tend to know the relevant officials better so can often be more effective.

As far as my experience of local councillors is concerned they know as little about admissions and appeals as anyone else.

Badgermama this thread leaves me gobsmacked about what you have been through and I have been pondering it.

It may not be ideal, but it might be worth you writing ASAP to some of the private schools in your area and see whether they would be willing/able to make a place available under a bursary / assisted place scheme. They may have a few empty places available, pupils that have been withdrawn at the last minute etc.

Just found this thread again-so sorry things have gone against you OP. On this evidence your council seems totally incompetent.

Keep your cool and keep going, make a nuisance of yourself if necessary, it WILL happen.

As for the MP, sounds pretty lazy, he/she should be looking into YOUR case as you requested, not generalising about the supposed ability of the council to do their job or passing on information from others without any further consideration. Write him another letter, and another, and another.............in the end he and all the others have who have faffed around, made mistakes, told untruths have to man up, find a way around it and do their job. I am cross on your behalf.

It sounds like the experts on here feel you have a good case.

Have you made any progress? Not much I can do to help as you already have the experts on here onside. However, I am offering virtual support.

It is so sweet of people to keep asking.

We submitted out complaint to the local government ombudsman two weeks ago and are waiting now.

A case worker rang us and said she was collecting evidence from the LA and would come back to us.

First time I've posted on this thread but I've been following the horror story from the start.

Any update, badger?

Thanks for asking. Still waiting for news from the local government ombudsmen. Will post when we hear anything x

4 weeks with no word? I cannot believe how appalling your treatment has been .

Here's hoping you get good news soon I won't hold my breath

For anyone still following this we are still awaiting LGO news. We were sent a copy of what the LGO had asked for from the LA, a huge list of things we know they can't provide eg a copy of the letter we wrote to say we wished to hone educate (none existent) and what they offered us in school place in writing (none) what support they gave us in march when we moved here (none) etc etc so to my naive eye that looks promising. The case worker rang us and was very pleasant and seemed to understand the issues. Will keep you all posted.

Meanwhile we get to another half term and my son is still not in school.

I am following this and was so hoping to see good news this time. It is unbelievable you are still waiting to get a school place for your son.

I hope this case worker will get it sorted quickly. Best Wishes to you and your son.