Primary school admissions f*ck up

[stylewanker]

Hi there, I'mlooking for some advice... My partner and I spent weeks drawing up what we considered to be the perfect application for our only child's primary admission. Neither of our catchment schools were suitable - one is truly awful, the other Catholic. We are atheists. To avoid getting the dreadful one we agreed to include the RC school as out last choice but to make it clear in the application that we didn't really want our child to go there on religious grounds.

Unbeknown to me, my (soon-to-be-ex) partner changed the application prior to submitting it, putting the RC school as our third choice and adding in a paragraph about how "we share Christian values and would welcome the opportunity for our child to learn and develop within a faith school.' I knew nothing of this until today when her place at the Catholic school was confirmed. Our preferred school has a waiting list with 60 kids on it and our other 2 choices were similarly oversubscribed. What can be done? I don't think we have much of a case for appeal seeing as he basically asked for this school. But I totally do not agree to have my child schooled in a faith I do not believe in.

If it was your third choice then whatever you put in the paragraph really wouldn't matter. They would still have followed the rules for school 1 and 2, so you weren't far enough up the list on their criteria to get a place at those schools.

Be glad you didn't get the shit school.

If your other choices were over subscribed you would have been placed at another school anyway.

Your only option would be to go on the waiting lists for any schools you would rather have your child at and hope to get a place. I would accept the offer you have been made though as if you turn it down the lea have no obligation to help find somewhere else

I doubt very much that what was in that paragraph has made any difference to the application. As others have said, schools one and two on your list would have been filled using the criteria and then it would have gone to your third choice which you must have qualified for using admission criteria.
Accept the offer and then go on waiting lists for other schools you would prefer.

As has already been said it makes absolutely no difference whether you say you do or don't want your child to go to a particular school when you list it as a choice. If you don't get either of your first two choices and there is a place available at your third choice that is what you will be offered. They won't offer you your third choice and ignore the first two choices. They aren't allowed to do that legally.

You can appeal but if it is an infant class size case (which it probably will be) you would only win if a mistake has been made and you should have got a place at that school, e.g. they have placed you in the wrong admissions category or measured the home to school distance incorrectly.

I would also recommend taking a look at the school you've been offered. Some faith schools aren't very religious. Indeed, some non-faith schools are more religious than some faith schools.

How frustrating for you!

How many schools did you put on your list? Was it 4 (I think it varies from council to council - I know that we could list up to 6 last year, in a London borough).

Would it have made a difference if the form had been submitted as you had thought it was going to be? If you wouldn't have qualified for the other schools on your list anyway, then you would have presumably have been given the Catholic school in any event, if you'd put it on your form as an option (albeit in last place). I'm not sure what (if any) bearing, your proposed note re not wanting the school on religious grounds would have had - given that you had still put it as one of your options. It certainly wouldn't have meant that they'd give you a school that you wouldn't otherwise have qualified for, if you see what I mean.

I may have misunderstood - are you instead saying that you would have got into one of your preferred options, had it been listed higher than the Catholic school? If so, I'm not sure what you can do, other than go on the waiting list. If you would have qualified for a school at first allocation, then you would presumably be high on the waiting list. That's presuming that you can go on a waiting list for a school that you put lower on your list than the one you got.

Sorry, not much help - just trying to understand whether it would have made a difference or whether the order was academic anyway as the catholic one was the only one you would have got into.

Not sure what you can do when there is a dispute between 2 parents - I'm sure an admissions expert will be able to advise. Good luck!

Totally agree with everyone else re your first and second choice - but what I'm not clear on is whether it would have made a difference had the catholic school been listed last rather than first. Would you have got into any of the other schools that you intended to have listed above the catholic school. We know that you wouldn't have got into numbers 1 and 2 (as you would have got an offer from them if you had) but I'm just trying to understand what the effect of moving the RC school from last to 3rd was.

There might be 60 on the waiting list for your preferred school but that doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is your position on the list. Positions are determined by the admissions criteria. If admissions are on distance and you are really close to the school then you could be near the top of the waiting list.

Was the school you have been offered your 3rd preference if 3 slots, or your 3rd preference of say 5 or 6?

Not that it makes that much difference now (other than whether you kill or merely maim STBX). But if you would have got schools listed below it, you need to get in to them/LEA and get on their waiting lists immediately, as you may well be high in criteria-ranked order.

If you cannot agree to an RC education, then you need to ask which are the undersubscribed Schoo,s with cpvacancis, and secure a place at one of those instead.

Then stick it out on the waiting lists of the schools you like and hope for the best.

What you wrote in the comments section will not have np made any difference. It is included to make sure that noting relevant to which oversubscription criteria your DC should be in is overlooked. So it's useful for cross referencing supporting docs for exceptional medical/social needs, or highlighting siblings with non-matching surnames etc.

I'd be surprised if the extra comments had anything to do with your school allocation. It's probably just the only one nearest you with a space.
Usually Catholic schools are oversubscribed. If it is a good school I would just take the place.
You may be able to withdraw your child from RE and collective worship but I don't know that for sure in Catholic schools.

I echo what's been said and add that you really need to accepts the place. Especially as it is a good school. Look more closely at the waiting lists for the schools because that will be based entirely on distance to school, so you could be higher up than than you think.

But I think your bigger issue is your relationship with your partner who did this change without your knowledge. Doesn't bode well for future discussions on education decisions.

To echo what others have said - the other schools on your preference list are oversubscribed, which is why you have not got a place. If you had not put the Catholic school on your list you would likely have got "truly awful" school. If that's your preference, and the school has places, you can ask to be transferred there.

You may have ended without school not having put that one; is this Catholic school better than the initial 3rd and 4th choice? Do these schools still have spaces? Your partner should have reasons for doing this and you should be thanking him; what if you would have ended with an awful school or not school at all.

I have to admit I'm a bit confused.

You had the schools listed X, Y, Z, Catholic. And your partner shifted it to X, Y, Catholic, Z?

If that's right, what he has done has made no difference to your chances of getting into X or Y. What you write in the box makes naff all difference. You could write the most beautifully crafted statement ever. No one can take it into account.

What may have happened, is that you'd have qualified for Catholic or Z, and because Catholic was now higher in your preferences, you got that. If that's the case, you can get advice on here.

Admissions departments don't read the comments you put on your form about why your pfb should go to a school unless you have extenuating circumstances like SEN or disability - do people really think that they have time to trawl through thousands of forms by hand?!! It's allocated by a computer which has no emotion and just applies a strict set of algorithms. There were no spaces at the first 2 school listed on your form and there was at the third so you were given a place there. The dispute between you ex and yourself is not something that admissions will take notice of unless you have sole custody of your child.

Admissions departments don't read the comments you put on your form about why your pfb should go to a school unless you have extenuating circumstances like SEN or disability - do people really think that they have time to trawl through thousands of forms by hand?!! It's allocated by a computer which has no emotion and just applies a strict set of algorithms. There were no spaces at the first 2 school listed on your form and there was at the third so you were given a place there. The dispute between you ex and yourself is not something that admissions will take notice of unless you have sole custody of your child.

I think that the reality is that you have got an offer of the catholic school and you should accept that for the time being - it makes no difference in trying to change the place to a school that you prefer.
However you do need to be realistic and the probability is that you would have got the catholic school no matter what was put on the form or what level of preference it was given. It was one of your local schools and therefore in terms of distance quite high up in the admission order.
You obviously need to decide with your "partner" what are the realistic possibilities and get on waiting lists etc but please do not throw the offered place out as you are quite likely to get an even worse school when you go back to the LA to beg for a place.

I went to a catholic primary school. There was an option to opt out of re lessons and services. Although it was a catholic ethos there was more emphasis on a caring attitude. I'm not catholic, never was never will be but it was a bloody good ,high achieving school with much money coming in from the local catholic diocese so I wouldn't discount it because it is a faith school.

Go and look at the school. When it is open. Don't just look at reception but the whole school. Talk to the head about the offer for non Catholic children. Then decide. Don't rule it out now.

Accept the school and go on wait lists.

And yes the wording would have no bearing on your application. You didn't qualify for 1&2 but did for 3 so they gave you it. Hard to say if you could have got into 4,5,6. Go and visit it though and don't discount it