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!

We are no further on yet. No word from ombudsman and just getting voicemail from case worker.

The LA have set up a temporary bulge class in a failing school in a town near us and currently the LGO are saying they feel this meets their legal requirements.

The last communication with the caseworker said that she was unable to find fault with the LA and was going to state that we need to take a place at the bulge class and see what help the LA will give us with transport.

We have sent a long document challenging this and queried, amongst other things:
-why the LGO don't seem to mind that they haven't been given the long list of evidence they asked for from the LA
-why they believe the LAs statement that they offered us places in March when we moved here when they have provided no proof of this and indeed in their own appeals paperwork they didn't even say that
-why they believe the LAs notes about calls they said we had with them saying we wanted to home educate when the council supposedly keep all call recordings for 5 years and haven't provided copies of the calls which we know would show we didn't say we wanted to home educate.
-why they are accepting we have to take a bulge class in a failing school in another town that is beyond the reasonable distance from us that it's deemed children his age should journey to school,
-this journey would take an hour and three quarters each way which his little sister would have to do too. The public transport times are erratic and do not match up to school times. The LA have hinted to the LGO that they would consider taxis but have made it clear to us that we could 'apply for a bus pass'. We now know that funds in our area are never used to taxi children without special needs to adjoining towns so do not believe that they would pay for a taxi.

The LGO can also ask for another appeal to be granted (we are only allowed one a year otherwise) and given that, if nothing else, we didn't get our documentation in the amount of time stated in the guidelines for the last appeal this would be something I would consider fair. THE LGO worker doesn't seem to think this would change anything, even though the notes of the appeal say things like that our case has been mismanaged and the LA have communicated poorly and not done what they should and that our appeal should possibly have been a prejudice one rather than class size.

It is currently looking like there isn't much hope for us through the LGO.

Thank you to the people who have mailed me with their LGO experiences which sadly seem to be similar to ours.

I have to say, given that myself and my partner both worked as teachers and lecturers for nearly 20 years before having children and I feel made a good contribution to the education of children in our area, I find it sad that the best our LA can offer us is a dragging our child to a failing school bulge class in another town.

We were told we would hear the outcome this week but haven't, so I am assuming it will be next week now.

Sorry if you have already said this up thread, but have you been to see your MP? Sometimes they can cut through the bureaucracy with these issues - sounds awful for you all.

Sorry stumbled on this thread. But OP feel so very sad for you. What a terrible situation. You have been too patient go to the papers.

We still have no decision from the LGO. Our caseworker gave the LA a deadline of last Friday to get a key document to her and they have not responded. She told us she has been phoning to follow this up and even left a message saying she is prepared to speak to "anyone at all from the admissions team" to get a response as they have not returned her calls.

It may just be me, but I would hope that this alone would make her realise what we have been up against and that if this is their attitude to the LGO, what chance has a parent got...?

Shame on all these people for not caring that what they are failing to look after here is a child's wellbeing.

Can't really suggest anything but it paints a pretty terrible picture of an LA who has no thought for the people involved in this and no respect whatsoever.
As you say if the LGO are getting nowhere, what else can you do. I would be asking the LGO to declare this a situation where they do demand that given everything that has happened (or more correctly not happened) that a place be made available and that they make their feelings known to the Leader of the Council and the Chief Executive. That is the only thing you can do

Cannot believe this is still not sorted, poor you.

Have you gone to the press yet? If I were you I'd be considering it as I suspect that media pressure might be the only way to get this resolved...

No decision yet but after ringing them constantly we had a mail today to say that our caseworker from the LGO will be sending us a mail of her draft decision this Friday. I can only assume one of two things:

-the LA have not managed to produce the key evidence that she gave them a deadline of a few weeks ago to produce and therefore she has decided we deserve a school place (the key evidence was contemporaneous notes of a meeting the LA said in their last papers to her which they say took place when we first moved showing that they had clearly decided he was not to be classed and excepted and a place made for him at the school. We know that no such meeting happened. The caseworker told us she wanted notes as evidence)

-that a few weeks after the deadline she gave them they have sent some notes of this apparent meeting which we know will be a faked document. The meeting has never been mentioned before this last document to the LGO when they were pushed and indeed in our appeal meeting in Sept when we pushed about excepted status the LA rep said they hasn't considered if he was excepted or not.

I find it hard it imagine that they would fake a document. However, I met with a family member at the weekend who has a senior HR position is a local council and she said that she wouldn't be surprised at all if they fake a document as she has seen it done in cases she has dealt with.

None the less...I am left again wondering what on earth a LA would have invested in going to all this trouble to not place a child in a school. Maybe we have just got to such a covering their backs state of affairs that they are backed into a corner and what to be seen as without any fault at all and will go to crazy lengths to make it look that way.

I really hope it is the former scenario. Will be keeping everything crossed for you. Keep up the fight Badgermama!

This just gets more and more bizarre with every twist. Really hope you get good news on Friday.

How is your DS coping?

Wow, what an awful situation for you and your son. Keeping fingers crossed for a satisfactory resolution asap

Any news yet op?

We have our draft decision letter and they have decided the council are not at fault.

The council have offered us a place in a temporary bulge class in an ex-sure start room at the side of a failing school in the next town that we have been told we can apply for a bus pass to get to (one and three quarter hour travel times which don't match up) with a just three year old sibling having to make the journeys. This apparently is ok and meets their legal requirements.

The officer has waited weeks struggling to get a response from the LA asking for contemporaneous notes of a a meeting which the LA said they had about whether he was excepted and should be granted a place or not. The LA have not provided notes for this (of course...as it never happened) yet somehow now she doesn't seem to care that they haven't provided the evidence she asked for.

I gather we can appeal and wade through this and send back another 10 page objection but the notes make it damn clear she is not going to push the things we have asked and is happy to take their (unsubstantiated/disingenuous) word for things.

9 months since we moved. No proper school place. Reading through this document today I now know we are done for and we either have to home educate him, drag him and his sister on the bus to a dumping class room or borrow the money to privately educate him.

Rafa, thank you for asking, my boy is amazing, he adores learning and is currently writing film scripts and songs and reading his way through all the books in the juniors section of the local library, with a few Dahls thrown in for good measure. I work very hard to give him opportunities to play with other children and to get out and about. I like to think he is happy, healthy and a delight to be around. I do, however, feel he is being done a profound injustice and I am really at a loss as to how we have found ourselves in this idiotic situation.

Oh no

Is their no option for legal action?

There is the option of judicial review but that is risky. If the OP loses they could face substantial legal costs.

I haven't seen the latest draft decision letter but I am, to say the least, surprised that the LGO has arrived at such a decision if the LA is being uncooperative.

So sorry Badgermama. We all share your astonishment and disgust at what has happened. But moving forwards, how do the options you mention (go to the bulge class, home-educate, borrow for private) stack up? Is there a 4th option of move house to an area with school places?

Re the bulge class option, would you be able to flexi-school with that - it sounds like you are doing a great job with him on the home-ed front, but are concerned he's missing out the social aspect at school. Would they permit you to use the bulge class in that way?

What an absolute nightmare! I really don't see what else you can do other than move.I know you shouldn't have to but after 9 months of all this crap you're still no further forward. I feel very angry on your behalf. Bastards.

Just read through tour thread, and can't believe how you are being treated. ((Hugs))

So no private legal action re failure to provide an education? That is shocking.

So no private legal action re failure to provide an education

Such an action would be difficult to win. The LA in this case places the onus on parents making an in year application to find a school place and only gets involved if no places are available. That is allowed under the current rules. Any legal action would revolve around whether there were any places at other schools, whether those are within a reasonable distance and a pile of other factors. The LA maintains that there was a school place within a reasonable distance. The OP says this place was not available when they first applied and that it is not within a reasonable distance. However, even if it wasn't available initially and was never offered to the OP, the courts may conclude that this place did become available and that this undermined any claim that the LA had failed to provide an education.

I think that, unless the LGO can be persuaded to change their minds, the best chance would be judicial review of the appeal and the LGO's ruling. I am struggling to understand the LGO's reasoning. As far as I can see the appeal panel has ignored the clear guidance from the LGO as to how this type of hearing should be conducted. That on its own should justify a fresh hearing if nothing else. However, any legal action is risky and the OP would have to take proper legal advice before going down that route.

This has been shocking and leaves a very bitter taste in the mouth that the admission appeal system has not worked at all for the OP. But I am afraid there is a point where the OP has to accept that this is never going to be resolved and make decisions based on that. I am flabbergasted that the LGO can ask the LA to provide documents to effectively help prove the LA case and when they do not get them,simply ignore the obvious that if they cannot provide them then they most likely do not exist.

Mmmm. I'm disappointed for the OP - but sadly not terribly surprised - based on my own dealings with LEAs/LGOs under similar circumstances.

The lack of consistent protection for children's right to an education is disgusting.

I am not flabbergasted by the response from the LGO at all.
Op, what office was it out of interest? I have had a similar ineffective response from an officer who very clearly supported the council despite my evidence showing that they acted outside the law. In my case I could show that what the LA had told the LGO officer was incorrect yet she still chose to believe them and didn't want to look at anything that proved the LA were wrong .