Admission advice from admissions team - risky?

[Lostandlostsomemore]

The advice they've given seems like a massive risk to me.
Basically I have a son due to start reception in September and a daughter who will start next year.
Currently there are no places within 5 miles of our home address, this could change come September but who knows.
We are catholic and the catholic school is very over subcribed but generally if the child is baptised and a church attendee you're in, so my daughter will get a place for next year but god knows where my son will get offered.
After speaking to them today they said it may be in our best interests to keep him at home through the reception year / or send him to whatever school he is offered, apply for her to start at the local catholic as then on sibling rules he would come top of the waiting list for year 1.
I can see what they mean, but how likely is it for a year 1 place to come up?
It seems pointless starting him somewhere for a year when come next year it's unlikely I will be able to get them to 2 different schools especially with the distance that looks likely :(

Have you been offered a place and rejected it? If not I would ignore that advice and remind them that they are obliged to come up with a place for your son somewhere. I would also lodge appeals for every school you named as a preference if you haven't already done so. They won't want to go into an appeal hearing without having offered you a place.

If you have been offered a place and rejected it that is a different situation. But I would agree with you that the advice they have offered is dubious. It would be more appropriate to start him at whatever school is offered then name it as first preference for your daughter if you want them both at the same school.

I agree their advice is suspect and sounds very much like, this is the easiest way of getting you and son out of the way.
Presuming that you have not rejected a place then the LA must find you a place, though this can be within "reasonable distance". Reasonable distance can be anything up to an hours travel.
AS PRH says you need to make sure that you are on the waiting list for all your preference schools and you need to appeal for a place at all your preferences. That will force the LAs hand to find a school place as they will not want to go to appeal without making an offer. Not sure when your son's birthday is but is there a possibility of defering entry until after Christmas or even Easter if the LA offer a place at a school which is too far away.
The reality is that you need to have sorted out your son's school place by Jan 15th 2016, which is the last date for on-time application for your daughter.
You need to check very carefully the admission arrangements for the preferred school as quite often the sibling criteria only applies to younger siblings based on the elder sibling still being in the school, not the other way around. The chances of a year 1 place coming up even if sibling priority does occur is slim.

Have you recently moved to the area?

I don't understand how otherwise you could be without an offer of a place at this point.

Regardless, the council still has an obligation to educate your dc.

Hi, thanks for replying.
No we haven't had an offer, we only moved to the new area last week and sent them the application the same day!
Today my call was just to check all was received etc when this advice was given.
He is an October born so we only have until January to hold out which I'm happy to do so but as one of you rightly said I only have until 15th January as then my daughters application needs to be made.
I want them in the same school and even if her being there next September gives him priority that's nothing to say a year 1 place will arise so that seems very risky to play it that way.
Maybe it is just a way of it not being their problem :(

It sounds like the are still processing the application?

I know a child who made a late application in our borough, and it took nearly a month for her to get an offer of a place. School is starting soon so they will have to be quicker, but it sounds like they will make an offer soon.

Have you asked them when to expect an offer?

As someone who has just moved into the area the advice is sound. HE or send him to school offered and put him on wait list for RC school. Secure place for second child in the school you really want long term. DC1 is then at top of list for any place that comes up. Moving him is not a big deal. Depends on the area, but near us lots of places come up in R, yr1 etc. worse case, you juggle two schools for a while - lots do. They may be quite close too

Plan B is to see what DC1 is offered and start him. If you like the school, change your DC2 preferences to the new school, even if not RC. You have until Jan to submit her application

Sorry I should have said, the advice is sound on the basis that you have told the LA team you really want the RC school and a catholic education - I'm sure you said that on an earlier thread?

Well now I've found myself in a hard space.
I asked for a vacancy list which there were only 2 schools with " possible vacancies " within 10 miles.
1 is 6 miles away, awful ofsted and in an area I'm completely unfamiliar with and another 7 miles away, still not a great ofsted but in an area I know and it's a town so I could pass the day without going home.
I originally asked for this school to be added as a preference however ten I found out if we asked for it we wouldn't be entitled to petrol costs so we took it off but i had already emailed the head who called me today and confirmed they do have a space but only 1!!!
Ive also spoken to the local catholic school, there are 18 on the waiting lists, 14 baptised Catholics who didn't get in so doesn't look good.
Maybe I should email the admissions and say that regardless of not being eligible for transport I would like to take that place?
We could just about afford it if I add an evening at work per week so would be working 7-12 5 nights a week but at least he would have a schools
Very confused

I think you have posted about this before?_ it is hard to keep up with the timelines over the different threads?

Sorry yes i have but when I click " I'm on " nothing comes up so can't find old threads

The problem you have is that you have asked the LA where there are places and they have told you. They are a long way away from where you live. Whilst I understand your desire to get the situation on school places resolved, you need to understand that the LA are always just going to tell you where there are places if you ask for that. What you need to be doing is telling the LA that they need to provide a school place for your son for next week and force them into making a decision.
That decision might be that they offer one of these two schools with a place, in which case they will have to provide transport or they may decide that they can use their powers to insist a school takes your child, which may be much closer to home.
I do however think you need to accept that the chance of getting a place at the catholic primary school is very small and think about what PLan B is.

I think you are talking about St Joseph's in Redhill? According to their admission policy a sibling would be top priority in the case of oversubscription and their definition of sibling doesn't state younger or older. However as you say what are the chances of a place in yr1 coming up as it is still an infant class? It may do but there is always a risk that another sibling pops up who lives closer, due to an older child securing a place further up the school with a younger sibling in yr1.

It is risky in a sense, but it's also your only option if you want them both to go to the catholic school.

Another option might be to get your son on waiting lists for any local schools that are within reasonable commuting distance. Send him to far away school for now, if physically manageable. Hope that he gets into one of the more local schools by the 15th Jan, moving him asap. Then for your daughter, make a call on whether you want to put that one first so she joins him, or put the catholic one first and wait for a place to come up for your son. Look particularly at schools that offer wraparound childcare - a breakfast club could make all the difference to whether having them at different schools is feasible or plain impossible, and it would work out cheaper than you whiling away whole days in town 5 days a week.

Spaces do open up, but how likely it is by Y1 depends on so many factors. If you are next door to the catholic school and it's 4 form entry, that's very different from you being a good distance from a tiny school. Admissions might be able to help you with data on how many spaces have opened up in yR - Y1 at that school in the last few years, and they should tell you where you are on the waiting list (but remember, if normal geographical rules apply, you can go down the waiting list if other eligible children move in closer). Personally I would want to spread the net wider, I think, but that is up to you.

Thanks for your replies.
Financially it will be a strain, I would be quite happy doing the journey if money wasn't going to be an added worry.
I work evenings and was planning to carry on until secondary age anyway so that isn't a huge problem, but I agree than perhaps I should start him at the school and see what arises come january, if anything and let that he the decider for my daughter.
The other worry I have is when she is in year 6 and he is starting year 7 and they are in 2 completely different areas but I assume that most secondaries have before and after school provision and the secondary is 1 mike from home so he would be able to do that journey alone at some point although probably not in year 7.
Lack of friends going to the same school is another worry however unfortunately it's out of my control and I can only do the best I can at this moment in time.
I just wouldn't want that place to go and be landed with a school I was very unhappy with.
Fwiw st jospehs was the school I was referring to, currently a 2 form intake going to a 3 for reception next year so daughter would 100% get in but looking at the admissions for this year all 60 places were offered to baptised church attending children so seems to be pretty popular with catholic parents as not 1 place went to any other child.

Honestly, put secondary aside completely. One or both might have moved schools by then anyway, and in Y7 he will do the same as his friends do. Ours all seem to walk/cycle/bus by themselves from Y6 in preparation for senior school.