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!

[badgermama]

Morethan we have had some good times, he is flying academically and we have done some interesting things but the sheer fact of having my two year old at home full time means so much has had t be unstructured and is limited. He has only expressed anxiety about school after having this unplaced break. In theory I am a huge fan or home schooling where appropriate but despite engaging with home school networks he is nit meeting many children around his age and misses that. His last school was literally one of the worst in the country by raise online/data dashboard standards and is going into special measures. The head teacher literally walked out one Friday night and never came back. In contrast this new catchment school has amazing facilities, great reviews and I have never me an unhappy parent or child using it.

If I had my son on his own it would be a different strory, I think I could better meet his needs. Also if I had any family support and time iff in the week t rest and recover.

HOwever, I thin the key point is we want him to be in school and believe we have a right to a school place that is a safe and reasonable distance from our home.

[badgermama]

The bulge class in all children who are unplaced including those that have been permanently excluded in year R with other schools refusing to take them. I am not sure an parent would want to travel any distance to that.

[badgermama]

We never write to deregister him, we just said we would be having him at home until a place was found for him.

[badgermama]

*Never wrote to deregister him that should be.... and the person who came to check we were meeting his needs noted on his records that firs and foremost we were waiting for a school place.

[lougle]

The FAP clauses in the Admissions Code say:

"3.16 ...It must not choose a sixth-form that
selects by ability unless the child meets the selection requirements, or a
school that would have to take measures to avoid breaking the rules on infant
class sizes if those measures would prejudice the provision of efficient
education or the efficient use of resources. "

So, the LA would (rightly) say that to admit a further child to a class with 30 children in an infant year would require that they appoint a 2nd teacher. The funding that a single child brings to the school is only £3-4000 and the average cost of a teacher including on-costs would be around £35000, which is far in excess of the funding brought by the child. Therefore, to admit the child would contravene clause 3.16 by prejudicing the efficient use of resources.

So far, so good for the LA.

However they are not realising that there is a subtlety in clause 3.16. Their case would be absolutely sound if there were other schools in the area with places. They would legitimately say to you that they can't place your child in your preferred school because there are other places elsewhere.

You're not in that situation though. You fit into para 2.15 clause e) "e) Children who move into the area outside the normal admissions round
for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance;"

Your child would be exempted from clause 3.16 under the FAP because there is no school available within reasonable distance.

Therefore, admitting your child causes no breach of ICS and no prejudice to resources anyway.

[badgermama]

Huge thank you lougle.

Do I get Law GCSE at the end of this...? ;)

[badgermama]

My son just said 'you look upset mum, don't be, you are the most precious thing in the world to me'. Trying very hard to not expose my babies to this stress but it's damn near impossible.

[badgermama]

The infants and juniors are separate but linked, next to each other (apply separately but sibling rights apply across the two schools). His sister will get into the infants in two years as catchment...he will get into juniors as catchment plus sibling so all this is doing is keeping him away from what will almost inevitably be his peers in two years anyway. All this change, stress and upheaval for him (no place, suggestions of taxis to temp classes 4 miles ways) seems to far outweigh the stress the school would suffer...not least as their paperwork shows they had 95 on roll at one point with great results and no accidents. At the time we applied they had 92 and had employed another teacher anyway.

[morethanpotatoprints]

Good grief, I thought you had officially deregistered to become H.ed.
In that case you have been treated appallingly, you poor thing.
Probably your least worry atm but they shouldn't have sent somebody round to your house, they have no right.
This is wrong on so many levels.
OP, if they have deregistered you without permission and were treating you as H.ed they are accountable for this as well.
I hope it all sorts out soon and heads roll for their incompetence.

[badgermama]

We never wrote to ask for him to be deregistered. I was told if he didn't have a place we had to say he was home educated to meet legal guidelines and I was given a number to call to put his name down for someone to come and see we were meeting his needs. I was not aware that this meant we had deregistered him, still not sure it does mean that without a letter saying we wanted to deregister him....this was probably me being stupidly naive but at the time I trusted the council was advising us fairly and correctly. We have it is writing in the report of the HE consultant that 'first and foremost it should be noted we are waiting for a school place'.

The only positive is he said I was doing an incredible job of it...but then he would, wouldn't he? God forbid he found fault and said my son needed to be in school....

[WinifredTheLostDenver]

I am so sorry this is so crap for you. At least they have put some of their crap in writing now!

[prh47bridge]

'FAP cannot be Used at schools where they have met their infant class limits'

Agree with Lougle that this is rubbish, as is the assertion that a temporary bulge class which apparently stops at Christmas meets their legal obligations. She should not be making assertions about your chances at appeal - that is, to say the least, getting close to breaching the Appeals Code. Bluntly, someone with such an apparently shaky grasp of admissions law should not be head of admissions.

I would take this letter with you on Monday and submit it as evidence. There is a risk that the panel will decide to adjourn the hearing but you can point out that this is not new evidence for the LA - they wrote it! If you have anything in writing to show that you were told to de-register your child and that you insisted you were only home educating while you were waiting for a place you should take that along as well.

This appears to be serious incompetence by the council.

[prh47bridge]

Pressed Post too early!

This appears to be serious incompetence by the council. I wonder if they realise just how badly they've slipped up and the rubbish you are getting at the moment is an attempt to cover up their failings. I haven't seen the letter but your description of it suggests that, whatever the panel make of it, the LGO would have a field day with it. But I hope it doesn't get that far. Go on Monday confident that you have a good case. You should have had a place months ago. The only reason you didn't was serious maladministration by the council. The appeal panel is required to consider whether the admission arrangements have been administered correctly. It is clear that they haven't been. They should therefore sort it out.

[Chillyevenings]

I'm so sorry you're going through all this. I've nothing to add to the legal stuff, as it's not my area of expertise. However, I have attended an appeal (as a foster carer supporting a child moving to another area). The panel members were very fair and supportive of the parents of the child. It felt a very fair process.

[NynaevesSister]

Oh dear. It sounds like the council are really trying to bully you into dropping the appeal.

Don't feel sick. The council can go into the appeal and say that the moon is made of cheese if they want. Just highlight every inaccuracy and show your evidence.

Was there a copy of the offer letter the council supposedly sent you in the pack? If there is, then where are they phone logs, emails etc to show that they tried to contact you when there was no reply?

They should have signed statements showing times and dates of calls - these can easily be verified against your own call records.

If these are not produced then it is up to the council to explain to the panel why they did not follow up.

They are in hot water here.

[badgermama]

Thank you lovely people. You have no idea how much this is all helping.

[5madthings]

Op this sounds a nightmare!

One thing to point out, even if you have unregistered to home educate you can still keep your child on a waiting list fir a place at a school! If you are told you can't that us bot true. You home educating cannot be used as s reason for not having found him a place.

It sounds like s monumental cock up.

[admission]

badgermama,
all this is ridiculous. FAP can be used anywhere at anytime if the LA wants to. To say in a letter that you have no chance at appeal is appalling. Unless that has been said in the context that it is an infant class size appeal and that the level of success at such hearings is low that is completely unacceptable. I would make very sure that this part of the letter is given to the panel. If there is one thing panel members do not like it is people telling them what they can and cannot do and such a threat cannot do your case any harm at all.
You do need to also take any written record of the home ed consultant that says only HE while waiting for school place to just confirm that the LA are just in total chaos over this whole situation
Actually this thread is really annoying me that the LA seem so useless. If you wish to send me the latest correspondence to me privately, send me a PM and I will give you an email address to send a copy to. I will tell you what else on the letter is rubbish, so at least you are well prepared for monday.

[Applefallingfromthetree2]

Badger I have continued to read this thread in amazement. What on earth is going on at your Council?

It is a national disgrace that there is such a shortage of school places. We are talking about 5 year olds who are just starting out in life. The authorities would be down on you like a ton of bricks if you had been given a place but decided to keep him from school. Yet apparently it is OK for them to leave him(and others ) without places.

Policy seems to be made on the hoof-open immigration from the EU without the resources being provided to cater for it, failure to plan for the rising birth rate and family mobility -no thought given to the stress caused.

You have had great advice on here from really knowledgable people, how were you supposed to cope without that? The council seem worse than useless.

I really hope you win this appeal on Monday and when you do how about showing this thread to your MP.

Rant over!!

[badgermama]

You so much. Was actually going to ask if anyone would be willing to have my summary argument mailed to them to read. I am working on t this evening and will pm you if that is ok.

I had given up hope today and actually burst out crying in asda because a random person was nice to me. This idiotic lack of dignity made me snap out of it a little and brace myself for the next bit.

[prh47bridge]

I will also be happy to take a look at your case, the letter from the LA and anything else on which you would like another opinion.

[WinifredTheLostDenver]

I am not an expert like PRH and admission but can send a hug and some virtual

[Jenny70]

When we chose to HE whilst waiting for a place, I had to sign a declaration saying I was opting to HE. It was made clear that we would remain on a waiting list for the preferred schools, but not be offered any other places... the Council should have been similarly clear with you.

As it turns out for us, they did actually contact me about another place for a non-preferred school and when I refused it, they made a huge song and dance performance that they now didn't have to offer me anything... which covered their backsides in case I turned around and said I would have taken it had I known... your Council has obviously not been as honest transparent about this process...

To me a conversation about HE whilst waiting would not be the same as the registration I signed and the information I received about refusing an offered place. They have misinformed you, or opted not to say the results of these actions (opting to HE = no place to be offered).

[lougle]

Try to remember that it's not a court of law. You don't need to make a hugely sophisticated legal argument (in fact, dare I say it, vulnerability can often go in an appellant's favour). You just need to point out that your child is still without a school place, the LA refuse to invoke the FAP and you think your child qualifies as a child out of education for over two months. You can also throw in that the LA thinks they would breach ICS regulations but you think your child would fit clause e of the ICS exemptions, so you don't think the ICS restriction would apply in this specific case.

[Jenny70]

And we did unsuccessfully appeal (very different grounds to your case), but even going into it feeling like we wouldn't win and feeling OK about not winning, it was emotional spelling out how we felt the Council had not done the best thing for our child... somehow spelling it out clearly and logically made us feel like our child was being unfairly treated in this process. It was hard, really hard - so prepare yourself that Monday will be an emotional roller coaster, even if you stick to facts and keep level headed. Hope to hear the panel agrees and decides in your favour.