Child refused school place

[Truelylittle]

Hi,

My child has been refused primary school first choice place, yet your next door neighbour has been given a place? Does anyone think this has rights to appeal?

OP, have you spoken to your priest? You said you've now got your 5th place, non-Catholic school? If you're a regular, and your priest is nice, you need to have a chat now! It sounds like a mistake, and a fixable one.

I would really advise speaking to the school and L.A. and rapidly clarifying what has happened, as lots of posters have suggested. I would have those discussions on Monday before raising the idea of an appeal.

I think if your priest knows you and knows that you haven't got a place, see what he can do first. He, or someone at church, should be really keen to help you find a Catholic school place for your child.

But you need to start asking the people who can actually answer your questions!

I haven’t spoken to my priest yet, but I volunteer and I am in on Monday so I was planning to try and talk to him then.

Yes, I think I’m going to start with the first few questions of what criteria I was placed in and why I was refused. And if it seems correct I will just have to hope a place comes up on the waiting list.

OK, so they were over-subscribed, and unfortunately in the ‘random allocation’ your neighbour got a place and you didn’t. That was very bad luck, but they can only give out places based on the published admissions criteria and no amount of church cleaning can give you an advantage in a lucky dip.

Unless you can demonstrate that you should have been considered under Cat 3 I don’t think you have grounds for appeal, as it sounds as if you are ‘resident ‘ in the neighbouring parish.

They use your address rather than the church you go to, and lucky dip rather than distance.

The good news is though, that you should be first on the waiting list if a place comes up. People might move house, choose to go private or whatever.

And there is no harm in appealing!

why don't you speak to him tomorrow after mass?

Thanks for all your advice. I honestly had no idea where to start but I will begin asking questions. Yes, I think we should be first as we should be cat4 and that is the last cat in which children were offered a place. Only 1 was rejected out of 22 aplicants. So I think my best option is to make sure we are in cat 4 and then hope we get a place from the waiting list.

Thank you all for your advice it is very much appreciated.

i am really suprised there are only going to be 22 kids in the reception class. That is small-their funding must be rubbish

No criteria 1-3 was 39 and all accepted. Criteria 4 - 22 and 1 rejected. Criteria 5 and below- none accepted

So I’m hoping we at cat 4. If my neighbour got in we must be cat4. Which means we should be first on the list.

There are 60 spaces in total

It isn’t just 22 admitted overall. Others were admitted from higher categories and 21 from Cat 4.

If I have understood correctly The OP lives out of parish, by one road. So Cat 4. The tie breaker in Cat 4 is ‘random allocation’.

OP, as others have said, please do accept the offered school. Unless ultimately you are prepared to Homeschool or go private. Accepting the place will in no way disadvantage you on waiting lists or appeal.

ahh sorry- i misunderstood
go and talk to your priest tomorrow

Yes it wasn’t just 22 it was
Criteria 1-3 - 39 applied - all accepted
Criteria 4 - 22 applied - 21 accepted - 1 rejected
Below criteria 4 - 20 applied - all rejected.

So 60 places offered in total

So I am assuming I am that unlucky 1 person in C4 that was rejected. But I guess that makes me first in line hopefully for waiting list

I've had your PM. I've responded asking for some more information.

Hi. I would definitely appeal. This process is wholly reliant on the School governors making the decisions based on the paperwork provided to them. If it was lost in the school office or not presented correctly by the ht you will have missed out.
Parents appeal for a lot less reasons than you do. Believe me I'm seeing it regularly!
Read the documents carefully and put a well constructed letter of reasons together. Don't reference other people (neighbours or further distances) leave this to the very experienced and well trained independent panel at the appeal meeting to look at. You will be able to ask questions like this at the meeting anyway. As long as you have kept to the submission dates and had all the correct paperwork then you have a good case to discuss.
The admission criteria looks very basic for a catholic school. I was surprised when I read it. Not much detail on it. Check when it was last reviewed by the board of governors.
My advice would also be that as a matter of urgency make sure the school has all your paperwork on Monday ( ask to see it!) If they have misplaced it they will not put you top of the waiting-list and that is being drawn up early next week. Check by Thursday where you are.
Finally, don't give up hope. With 60 places there is a good chance someone will decline it or move out of the area. Just make sure your top of waiting list.
Don't decline your other place. You can appeal all of them you didn't get.
Happy to help further if needed. Lots of experience in this. Xx

This is going to be all about the detail of what exactly the admission criteria says and then what category the applicant has been put in.
If you PM me with the school name and LA, I will check exactly how the admission criteria operates, so that you are sure where you stand on this admission.
You also need to chase up with the LA an official notification of why you were not offered a place at the school. It should say what category you were put in, the distance from the school to your home and the distance of the last admitted pupil.
You might have just been very unlucky and be that 22nd person in category 4 but you need to get basic facts so that you know where you stand rather than speculate on what might or might not be the case. There are plenty of examples in faith schools where mistakes are made over different categories and distances so it is about finding out facts.

You’ve had lots of advice so I won’t/ can’t offer better.
But I just wanted to wish you luck. It sounds very stressful. Especially having been a part of the church community and helping out and it being somewhere you went etc.
Sounds like you have been very unlucky. But I think given they offered 60 places I would think you have a very good chance of a place becoming free. I just hope it does soon so you don’t have to stress!

Please put her name on the waitlist she will be first person on there and the waitlist moves quickly. Do it on Monday

Hi JJ2018

Thanks - we are on the waiting list, I have to call the council on Thursday to find out our position. Hoping we should be high.

Everyone has accepted or declined for now so you should be able to find out where she is on the waitlist, don't be alarmed if she is at the bottom, sometimes you can be number 12 and then number 5 a few weeks later. It's a long time between now and September. I understand your pain I was so stressed about getting my boy into my first choice and now he has a place but many didn't get a place, but I think you should leave your name on the list and eventually you will get a place.

Mine is also a catholic faith school which is over subscribed.

We received a second round offer last week as we were first on the waiting list. Accepted straight away as you can imagine!! Thank you everyone so much for all your helpful advice.

Good news!!

Congratulations on getting your child into the school!!