Buckinghamshire - not offered any prefered primary school place

[primprincess]

Hey ladies,

I need some advice.

We brought a house in Buckinghamshire for a better life and selection of schools for my boys. This meant moving away from family and friends to start fresh which was a big decision for us, apparently there are no bad schools in bucks.

I got my decision today, they offered me a place at waterside combined primary school. It is rated as inadequate and need of significant improvements. THE WORST SCHOOL IN BUCKS!

It wasn't even one of my selected schools, there are around 8 schools closer to me that i could have had, this one is 40min walk from my house (without kids). How could they have done this to me. How am i even suppose to make this work, we are both working parents with full time jobs!

I am literally crying right now. I didn't uproot and change my life for a school this bad. I could have had better luck where i was.

What can I do about it? As i understand it i automatically go on a waiting list but i don't know how that works. Do i need to or can i appeal?

please help! I'm in a right state!

You can ring up to get on waiting lists but accept the offer first and then try and get on waiting lists for all other ones you would be happy with. Are you close in location to other schools? We have just moved out of bucks so I understand the pressure as schools can be quite oversubscribed. Try not to panic as this is just round one, you can do the waiting lists and if that fails then is appeal options. Hope you are ok

Bucks is one of the LAs that automatically add your name to waiting lists for schools higher up your preference lists, so you should be on waiting lists for the schools you applied for. Its always worth calling to make 100% certain you are on all the lists you want.

Other than that;

• distance - if the distance to school is over 2 miles walking distance, your child will be eligible for free transport. This could be a bus pass, and only applies to him, not you.

• appeals - You can of course appeal. If the reception class (or Yrs 1 or 2) have a PAN of 30, then it will be an infant class size appeal, which is very hard to win I'm afraid. If the PAN is not 30, it is a little easier, though you would still need to prove why your child's need for that specific school outweighs the school's reasons for not going over their admissions number.

Also, accept the offer - unless you have a private option lined up or can home educated. If you turn it down, the LA has no obligation to find you another place.

Unfortunately it sounds like you didn't rank high enough for any of your preferred schools (most probably on distance) after that they don't offer you a place at your nearest school, they offer you a place at the nearest school with a vacancy which is usually undersubscribed or unpopular schools. All you can do it get on the waiting lists for other schools which were not on your application and hope for lots of movement. We're the schools you applied for near your house?

The other schools are a lot closer from my house

Chestnut lane - 1.1 mile
St Georges - 1.7 miles
Our Lady RC - 0.7
St Marys CE Primary School - 1.6

I would have been happy with all of those although Chestnut lane was preferred.

I don't think I have a leg to stand on for the appeal so it seems I will have to wait for a spot on the waiting list.

Did you list those other three schools as your preferences?

Are there any schools closer than these four which you didn’t apply for? 0.7miles is the closest on your list and that sounds quite far away.

It sounds like 2 or more of the schools are faith schools - do you qualify under the faith criteria and had your. Application signed by the vicar or priest?

Did you use all six of your preferences? You say there are eight schools closer than the one you got but you’ve only listed six. Was there one closer than Chestnut Lane you didn’t apply to?

(Looking online I think it might be quite difficult to qualify for both the RC and the CE schools because of the worship requirements (unless you spend your Sundays going from one service to another!))

*listed four

All schools on your list are oversubscribed. You need to live within 0.4-0.5 miles from Chestnut lane to get in. What's the closest school to you and did you apply to it?