Finding school places after rejecting an offered place

[MsPassepartout]

So.... my understanding is that if you apply for primary schools via the LA in the normal admissions round, get offered a school you don't want, and reject the place offered, the LA are under no obligation at all to offer you any other school places.

What happens if, following the rejection of a primary school place, child gets put in private school / is home educated, but then, a few years down the line, parents want child to go to state school? Change of circumstances, private / home ed not working out etc?

Does the LA have any obligation to find a place somewhere for this child (in Year 1 / 2 / 3 / whatever), or can they say "you turned down a Reception place a few years ago, so we don't have to do anything now" ???

My understanding is that yes, they do have to find you a place. And in fact if you reject the offered place, they still have an obligation to educate your child, BUT it can be any place, anywhere. So likely to be as undesirable, in your eyes, as the original place, but further away!

Lots of families turn down an offered state place in favour of a private place and then re-join the state system later. Not a problem.

But unless you really want to go down the private/home-ed route, your best bet is to accept the place offered and in parallel put your name down on the waiting lists for other schools. If a place comes up and you are top of the list according to the admissions criteria they have to offer it to you.

Don't turn down a place in an unsuitable state school without a firm back up. You are likely to end up with an unsuitable school in an even less convenient location.

In this scenario you would be applying for a place as an in year application at a different time, a new application so yes they have to find a place for the new application.

And in fact if you reject the offered place, they still have an obligation to educate your child, BUT it can be any place, anywhere.

No. This is one of the myths that the current "myth busting" thread in Chat is trying to bust.

Once the LEA has made you an offer of a school place, it has fulfilled its obligations. If you turn down that place, it's up to you to sort out how your child will receive an education - home education or private school. You can join waiting lists for other LEA schools and you might get another offer that way, but the LEA is not obliged to keep making offers until you accept one and it could take you a very long time to get to the top of a waiting list.

But, yes, years down the line you can apply for a place at a state school for a child who's been educated at home or in the private sector.