Waiting list on school

[Sj17]

My son will be 5 ,in November. We have moved to Kent from Scotland in june. So missed the deadline for school place. applied through reallocation. He is on waiting list all of the 3 school that we applied. Choice no.1 school position 2( was no.1 before but the school told us another child moved near to the school so he is no.2 now) and choice no.2 school position 3 in waiting list. Contact the Kent council education section they advised we could admit him another school which has place. But we are very keen to send him to the schools that we applied(ofsted report good and close my place). The advisor told us we could appeal to the school for a place or leave him in the waiting list. Is that would be a good idea to appeal where he is no.2 on waiting list? Or leave it like it. Would be grateful if you please let me know your suggestion and experience.

An appeal will make no difference to your son's position on the waiting list. If you win he will be admitted to the school immediately. If you lose he will stay in the same place on the waiting list. If a place becomes available for him while you are waiting for your appeal it will be offered to you. There are no downsides to appealing.

However, most appeals for Reception are heard under infant class size rules. That means an appeal has limited chance of success. In your situation, as a late applicant, your only real chance would be if you could show that there were no schools within a reasonable distance of home with places available. A reasonable distance is up to 45 minutes journey each way.

It is, of course, possible that something will turn up in the appeal process that changes things so it is worth trying, but you would need to be realistic about your chances of success.

The local authority is obliged to offer your son a place somewhere - but if the only places are at schools you find unacceptable you are able to defer entry because he has a November birthday, so there's a chance a place might come available. If that doesn't happen you will have to either accept whatever unpopular school has a place, or go private/homeschool. You as parents have an absolute duty to provide your son with an education. The local authority has a duty to offer a place but has no obligation to facilitate that being at a preferred school, and if you dig your heels in and hold out for a preferred school without providing any alternative then it would be you not the LA who eventually got into trouble for that.

@prh47bridge, many thanks for your reply. I will call the local authority to check is there any place available in the reasonable distance to make my appeal strong. I am unaware of the infant class size rule of Kent. The school told me they have 60places for reception class. All the places have been offered and accepted . could you please let me know about the infant class size rule?

@lmchlibob, thank you for the reply. I don't mind to defer him. But how come it would be possible? He will be 5 in coming november. People here are saying that he will be one of the oldest in class. Plkease left me know the defer system here. I also don't mind home schooling him for a year. If I home school him for a year is there any possibility he will get a place in year 1 next September in the preferred school? Xx

The Scottish system is different from the English system. In England a November-born child would be among the oldest in the yeargroup. In Scotland children born between March and August start school in the August of, or after, their fifth birthday, and those born between September and February start school in the August prior to their fifth birthday - so your son would be younger than average in the class but with all the December, January and February born being younger so not the very youngest.

The admissions system is also very different between England and Scotland. In Scotland you normally have a right to a place at your catchment school (which will have fixed predetermined boundaries) if you apply at the normal time - so schools don't have a fixed intake number as they do in England. The maximum size of a P1 class is 25 but if the number admitted is not a multiple of 25 they will normally have at least one mixed-yeargroup class.

With a late application like yours there's no onus on your catchment school to make room for your son, the local authority has an onus to provide a place somewhere but it will be whichever school has the capability and could be a distance away. It's impossible to say whether a place will come free at a more preferred school. In some communities it is more likely than others - especially in areas near to military bases where forces families might be required to move at any time, or areas where employment is heavily biased towards an industry where the workforce is likely to be internationally mobile. there will be a lot of areas where the local population doesn't have much turnover and there would very rarely be places becoming available. You could ask the school how many places have become available in P1 each year over the last 3 years. Deferring entry is a gamble that could fail.

How to defer would be on the website of your local authority but you have to hold a place in order to defer it, so you need to go through the process to get allocated a place somewhere (probably not a school you will like) first.

Nothing is likely to happen till schools go back in August. Once the term starts and the local authority is actually failing in its duty to make a school place available, then you will see some action.

Holding a deferred place just means you know what your backup plan is while you homeschool, but your child would stay with their age cohort so if starting a year later than normal they would be in the same class but having missed out the first year.

I am unaware of the infant class size rule of Kent

The infant class size rule is a national rule, not something specific to Kent. A class in infants (i.e. Reception, Y1 and Y2) cannot have more than 30 children per teacher. With an admission number of 60, the school clearly has two classes per year in infants so any appeal would be heard under infant class size rules. That means you can only win if you can show that:

• the admission arrangements were contrary to the admissions code or relevant law and this cost your child a place, or
• the admission arrangements were not administered correctly and this cost your child a place, or
• the decision to refuse to admit your child was unreasonable

As you are a late applicant it is extremely unlikely that either of the first two points will apply so the only way to win an appeal would be to show that the decision was unreasonable. The bar for that is very high - in essence the decision must be irrational. Your best chance of success would be if the school offered by the local authority is more than 45 minutes journey each way.

Yes, your son will be one of the oldest in his class. However, he does not have to start full time education until the start of term following his fifth birthday. You could, therefore, defer entry until after Christmas. As Imchlibob says, this involves getting the local authority to offer you a place (which they must do) and then, if it isn't a school you want, telling the school that your son won't be starting school until the New Year.

Holding a deferred place just means you know what your backup plan is while you homeschool, but your child would stay with their age cohort so if starting a year later than normal they would be in the same class but having missed out the first year

I'm afraid this is wrong. You cannot defer beyond the start of term following your child's fifth birthday. After that the place will be allocated to the first child on the waiting list, so your backup plan would be gone. If nothing comes up before Christmas you will have a choice of taking up whatever place the local authority has offered or losing that place, homeschooling and hoping that something better will turn up. Note also that you will not need to homeschool your son if you defer until the New Year as he is not required to be in full-time education until then.

imchilbob the op has moved from Scotland to Kent not the other way round.

Imchlibon, many thanks for your detail info. I am afraid I have moved to Kent.

Oh bother sorry I must have misread. Ignore everything I said above

Is the school you've been offered easy enough to get to? You need to be realistic in that the only way your son will get a place at your preferred schools is if another child leaves.

Where I live now is a very transient area. People move into the area for work/study and then move on, so places come up all the time. Some bits of Kent are like that, especially around Universities.

Where we used to live, in Kent, we put our DC's names down for the one-form entry school at the end of our road (we couldn't have lived closer without moving into the school grounds) in Y1 and Y5 and they never got to the top of the list.

You might need a plan B.

We basically havent offered any place yet from any school. We are in canterbury. from st peters school got a written letter about the outcome and st. stephens and blean primary havent got any letter. after discussing with LA i chased the both school and came to know he is on waiting list. I might need to call again the LA to check which school has place. do I need to have written letter from all the school for appeal?
I just have one. as we are in university area, lets hope some place will come up.

When you formally apply for a place at a school they must send you a letter telling you whether or not you have got a place and, if you haven't, telling you how to appeal. If they have put you on the waiting list they should have sent you the letter. If they have not done so you need to chase them. You also need to contact Kent and point out that you haven't been able to find a place. They must find a place for your son.

From what you said in your OP -

"Contact the Kent council education section they advised we could admit him another school which has place."

I would assume that Kent have other local schools with places but haven't formally offered you one yet as you said you wanted one of these three. I would go back to Kent and accept an offer somewhere, otherwise you risk being school less in September (and your child needs to be in education by January).

You can appeal, but the three schools you have chosen all have a PAN which is a multiple of 30, so it will be an infant class size appeal which are very hard to win, as noted above. You should make plans on the basis that you will need a place elsewhere for September.

Many thanks

Done with the appeal form. LA told us it will take September/ october for hearing. Say for example, if all the appeal been refused( possibility is high) and as a plan B, if I decide to home ed my son for a year. What is the possibility or system here to get him admitted in year 1 next september in our preferred school. And another query is how people change school here in England? Some people says we cvoulkd change school.

Unless a child leaves before year 1 the situation will remain as now. You can change schools if a place in the appropriate year comes up and you are offered it as first on waiting list. Are there really no schools with a reception place vacant at the moment? There may be some shuffling in September as those who chose to go private, move over the summer or HE no-show.

The situation will be the same as now - if the school is full you will still be on a waiting list. Children do come and go but depending on the area the turnover can be low (my daughter finishes primary school today and from 7 years ago in reception she has had 4 children leave her class and someone new has always taken their place so you could be waiting some time - especially if you are not number 1 on the list).

You need to have proper back up plan and not put all your eggs into one basket for your preferred school.

The system for Year 1, as others have said, is the same as now in the sense that all you can do is sit on waiting lists. There is no separate admissions process for Year 1.

You need to be aware as well that your place on lists can go down as well as up - they are held in order of how you meet the criteria not time on lists. There is no guarantee at all that a place will come up in the near future, or that someone else won't move in nearer the school and leapfrog you on the list. Also, check that you will remain on waiting lists post-christmas as this is not always a given.

And yes you can change school - so you can take the reception place Kent offer you now and stay on waiting lists for your preferred schools, and move if a place comes up.

Just to say thank you to all the mum here. We got a place in school before the appeal process start. Thanks