Academy won't give out allocation info

[SchoolHelpNeeded]

DS was not offered a place at our local academy school.

Yesterday the LA published the allocation breakdown for all the LA-run schools, listing how many pupils were allocated within each criteria and the last distance offered overall. Under all the academy schools it says to contact them directly.

Spoke to the school today and the woman I spoke to said the Chair of Governors sai they're not allowed to give out that info. All she was allowed to tell me was the distance they have me down as and where I am on the list. I asked how anyone is supposed to appeal due to an error if we're not allowed to know if they even reached our criteria category when allocating or the last distance allocated.

All emails and calls to the LA have been unhelpful and I just get wrong info or rushed off the phone. I just want to know why DS didn't get a place.

Do academies not have to share this info?

Any admission authority (including an academy) must tell you why you didn't get a place. That means as a minimum they must tell you your category, the category of the last child receiving an offer and, if they were in the same category, their distance and your distance. Indeed, that information should have been in the letter telling you that you weren't being offered a place. This is a requirement of the Admissions Code paragraph 2.24.

The primary information you need to figure out whether a mistake has been made is the admission category in which your child was placed and the distance used. If those are both correct it is unlikely you will be able to prove a mistake.

I suggest you appeal. The school is then required to answer any reasonable question you ask to help you prepare for your appeal. If they still refuse to answer you can point out to the panel that you have been hampered in your attempts to prepare for the hearing by the school's failure to meet its obligations under the Admission Appeals Code.

You could do a request under Freedom of Information, then they are obliged to respond.

Perhaps even mentioning that might help.

LA will also have that information.
FOI will not be immediate but must be responded to.

Just read that paragraph,

"2.24 When an admission authority informs a parent of a decision to refuse their child a place at a school for which they have applied, it must include the reason why admission was refused; information about the right to appeal; the deadline for lodging an appeal and the contact details for making an appeal. Parents must be informed that, if they wish to appeal, they must set out their grounds for appeal in writing. Admission authorities must not limit the grounds on which appeals can be made."

They haven't included the reason why admission was refused. Haven't got the letter to hand right now but it says something along the lines of "Unfortunately we have not been able to offer XX a place at one of your preferred schools. In the meantime, we have provisionally allocated XX a place at XX school"

Goes on to say how to appeal, deadline to appeal, how to go on a waiting list, contact details for all the schools in the area. But no reason why he wasn't admitted.

LA don't seem to know their arse from their elbow. They didn't respond to my email, one phone call I was told to speak to the school direct, in another phone call, before the allocation info was published online, the LA said the academy schools info would be online too. I kept saying it wouldn't, they're an academy, all previous years up online say to contact the school for the info. But woman at the LA insisted. Two days later, unsurprisingly, the info is up but not for the academies.

Unfortunately it is not uncommon to find letters refusing admission that don't state the reasons properly. If you appeal they will include this information in their case and they have to answer your questions.