Moving area - can you reject a school place?

[rainbowdash24]

I'm moving areas and there's 3 schools to list. One of them requires improvement. (But have heard it's making real strides to correct this). The others are 'good'.
I'm waiting to hear which one I can have but would like to reject the requires improvement one.
As my ex husband won't allow lo to school with me if this is the one she gets & will take me to court.
What can I do if I get that one?!
Lo will be 5 in April

What can you do? Send her to a private school, apply to schools further away or home educate. Once you have an offer the LEA is under no obligation to find you another school. Even if your ex takes you to court - he can't expect court to over-rule the Admissions Code - which is a law itself - just cos he doesn't fancy a particular school.

True. Ok.
The school she's been offered where I currently am based is rated 'good'

As titchy says, the LEA only have to make one offer. If they do offer this school and you reject it, they don't have to give you another offer.

You can stay on waiting lists - your daughter could start at Easter, given her birthday - and possibly appeal for a place somewhere else, but appeals for reception classes of 30 children are very hard to win. Even with fewer than 30 they aren't easy to win.

You ex won't have any grounds to take you to court over a state school place!

I'm assuming OP worries that XH would try to get a court to disallow OP's move/ give primary residency to XH on the grounds that OP is disrupting their child's education/making DC go to a 'worse' school, whereas if OP stays put/if DC goes to live at XH place, DC can stay at 'better' school.

So the 'quality' of school places would be used as an argument in a residence dispute.

Rather than trying to make a court give them a place at a different school or something.

Yes I would assume that as well. And it might be an argument if the child in question was in the middle of GCSEs at a top grammar or private school and the parent was trying to move them to a failing secondary which didn't offer several of their options. But this is a 4 year old so I can't see it being of any remote interest to the court!

Was thinking if I get offered the school in question, I could start her there & be on waiting lists for others & move across when a space comes free.

But how long would I wait for a space?! That's the question

The answer to the question is how long is a piece of string. It is impossible to know. Some schools will go through the whole of the primary phase with no change in pupils, other schools at the other extreme have a turnover of 20 % per year. It is just not something you can be sure about. The only thing you can do is ask the schools as to how many changes they have in a year but even that is only telling you what has happened in the past.
The other thing you could do is accept the place at the RI school but confirm to them that you are delaying starting daughter till after Easter, give she is not 5 till April. That potentially gives you a good few months to be on the waiting list of the two good schools. However this is only sensible if there is a reasonable level of movement in the two good schools.

Do you know the three schools you applied for have spaces as if not, you may not get any of them and be offered a school further away.

Can I start her at RI school & be on waiting lists for the others?
One of the good schools is right on our road. Not that that always guarantees a place does it!!

Yes you can