urgently needed place in oversubscribed school

[phosphoresence]

I just wonder if anyone knows the answer to our dilemma?

My niece urgently needs to move due to domestic violence. My parents have agreed to buy a small home for her to live in, she'll rent from them (yes we know she wont' be able to claim any housing benefit, as renting from a relative).

We identified a house in a nice village where she has local connections. The only problem is the local primary is oversubscribed. Her four year old has just started in reception in the area she is now. Can the primary in the new area be forced to give the little girl a place? Poor child has faced enough disruption. Social services, police, etc. have been involved. Niece doesn't drive either, so the school needs to be in walking distance.

Does anyone know what happens in this scenario?

”I am not sure that people have actually been snotty, just pointed out that as you (very sensibly) want to make sure the little girl has the best possible fresh start, it makes sense to put her needs above local connections for her mother when identifying a house.”

Thank you, yes that’s exactly what I was doing. I felt it was an odd set of priorities which it might be an idea to rethink in th circumstances.

I’d love to know what issues I’ve “obviously” got about school admissions though, intriguing!

I really wouldn’t recommend moving to a rural village as a non-driver, especially as a single parent without someone on hand to do the driving to/from the supermarket, doctors, nearest town as needed.

We have a good school in our village which has places in KS1 so she may get lucky on that front as people do move in and out of catchment unexpectedly (indeed, we moved here in October half-term and got places in 2 year groups).

But I know a few Mums who can’t drive and they are always calling on others for lifts to parties, extra-curricular activities, emergency pickups from school when their bus is late back from town - it’s a nightmare for them.

I don’t mean to be scaremongery at all but if it has got to the point where your niece needs to relocate to escape DV presumably she doesn’t want her exp to know where she has moved to, so would perhaps be able to keep a lower profile in a town rather than a small village? Especially if the exp knows who the ‘local connections’ are? Also, might better transport links in a town stop her feeling less trapped and isolated?
Good luck with your search

Has Social Services been involved? If they have, due to the domestic violence situation, they might actually be able to help here.

This is a difficult position and in all honesty there is no total answer that can be given without knowing all the facts.

If the child has a place allocated at a school now then they will be expected to attend that school. You can however at any time request a place at another school. In this situation for a reception class place there are three issues. Firstly the school will have a published admission number (PAN), which is the number of places that have to be allocated to pupils in reception year. From you post saying that the school is over-subscribed, I would assume that the school has filled to this level but in law the school if they wish to can admit above the PAN at any time. The limiting factor in infant class years including reception is the infant class size regulations which limits the class size to 30 pupils with one qualified school teacher. That is why many schools will have a PAN of 30 or 60, as it fits with the maximum number of pupils in any one class. The Infant Class Size Regs do over-ride the ability of the school to admit over PAN.
Assuming that the school has 30 pupils in the reception class then when you apply to the LA, you will be told that the school year group is full and that you can appeal the decision not to admit. In all honesty in the situation of somebody moving into the area, where the infant class size regs apply, in most cases the chance of success at appeal is negligible unless a mistake has been made.
The third point to bear in mind is distance. Most LAs will assume that any infant pupil is capable of going to a school within 2 miles of the home. So is the distance from the suggested home to the current school more than 2 miles? If so you can realistically apply for a place at the school you want near to the new home, assuming this is within walking distance. However as already stated there is likely to be no offer of a place. However if you have moved and child has no school place the LA have a responsibility to offer a school place. That does not have to be the local school and can be a considerable distance away. However if it is more than 2 miles away the LA in this circumstance will provide some means of transport to the school.
In everything above the rules are such that the SS have no role to play and therefore talking to them is not relevant. You need to be talking to the LA.
By talking to the LA you will find out what the situation is with regard to places. If the LA allocate a school place 2 miles + away then they have to provide the transport but the further away that the school is then the more "wriggle room" there is within the infant class size regulations to win a school place on appeal One of the criteria where the Infant Class Size regs can be over-ridden is where children have moved into the area outside the normal admissions round and for whom there is no other available school within reasonable distance. You can go to appeal and then the panel will have to decide whether the stronger case is your need for a local school place or the LAs contention that the school place offered is perfectly reasonable. This is the one point at which SS and police information about your domestic situation may be of advantage to you, as it can only strengthen your case at appeal.
Mention has been made of the Fair Access Protocol which does exist for each LA. That is a mechanism for allowing LAs to insist that a school allow a pupil to join the school, even in an infant class size case. However the criteria for entry by FAP are very limited and I do not believe that you would qualify.
If you want to ask any questions please feel free to contact me on the PP

The other thing to consider is, when did she turn 4?
If it was April-August, she is a summerborn child and as such, can apply to start reception in 2019.
Get an agreement from the head of the local school and apply for reception in the current round.

Slightly off topic but she should still apply for housing benefit. I used to live next door to a bloke that used to rent off his dad. They had a proper tenancy agreement etc and he was eligible for housing benefit.

Could I suggest that her parents pay for an intensive driving course? I passed my driving test that way. It was well worth it and necessary if she will be living in a village.

She would not, I think, have FAP activated for her unless there was no school at all with a vacancy within about 45mins journey time. She does not get to choose which school even if FAP is activated - it'be the one which LEA thinks can best cope with an additiional pupil. This may well not be the small village school, but rather a bigger one in the nearest town.

The using 'exceptional social need' would e relevant only if the school has that category in its oversubscription criteria (not all do) but even if does, it will not 'force' admission; rather it will determine the place on the waiting list.

The only DC school can be 'forced' to admit are those who are classed excepted - essentially those with statement naming the school , those moving outside the normal admissions round to whom Forces/Crown Service additional rules apply. I'm not sure if LAC have to be admitted outside normal admission round (they definitely have priority during one). None of these apply here, though. So you need to be realistic about the chances of securing a place other than via the waiting list.

I agree with PPs who point out that village life for a non-driver can be challenging and quite isolating, and I would be having another think about whether it really is the right place for her.

Thanks! That is very useful information re the rules admission.

That is an intriguing idea neddle, the child is indeed summer born. So she could just start over again next autumn? Do you mean get an agreement from the head of the school she's currently at, or the one near the potential new home?

I actually agree that some replies came across as snotty and unsympathetic (although perhaps unintentionally). I would necessarily rule out a village without a car as long as your niece has the option to learn to drive eventually. I live in a village and managed for a year without a car but it's well served by a major train line - in some villages it would be unmanageable.

As others have said she would be found a school place and transport to said school and be on the waiting list for the village school. Best of luck to your niece.

The age of the child is important in that they do not have to start until the term after they are 5. So in your instance as they are summer born, there is actually no need for them to start until after Christmas. You could talk to the school that they are supposed to be attending and say that you have decided to defer entry until after Christmas. From your original post it would seem that child has already started so the school and LA may well take the view that having started you cannot now defer but you will only find that out by asking.
As a summer born you also in theory had the right to defer entry for a full year but that needed to have been agreed between you and the LA prior to the place allocations this year which was in April. So I do not believe you can now do that unless you can convince the LA that it is in the best interests of the child to defer till next September and start again in reception. That is done on the basis of individual decisions between the school, LA and parent but there usually needs to be obvious reasons for their education having been severely disrupted.

The advantage of deferring to after christmas is that allows you another 3 months to try and get a space at the school you want but if no places come up, then you will still be in the same position and will have to start the child at school at the school they have a place at.

Thanks for your help. I am actually a bit confused now though. You say they could start the term after they turn five, and mention after Christmas. But she won't be five until next June, so the term after that is autumn term 2019? So if she was deferred until then, does it mean she'd go straight into Year One, and skip reception? That would be a shame really.

There is another larger village close by which has more facilities (and more housing) and more than one primary school, one of which is not oversubscribed. But if it says not oversubscribed does that mean for every class, including reception? I am just getting the oversubscribed or not info from Rightmove.

Check out the summerborn group on Facebook, there’s lots of info there.
Some LAs want you to apply as normal with the intention of dropping the place, some don’t. Look at your councils website and see what their policy is and the summerborn group can advise you on what they say. There will be others that have dealt with that LA and know what they’re like.
My dd could have started school today aged 4y12d, but instead, we have deferred her start until sep 19 and she will start reception.
Shout if you have any other questions.

Oversubscribed info from rightmove is just based on the normal admissions process. As per the examples in other posts, sometimes kids do leave mid year and create spaces. Rightmove won't reflect that. Only way to find out is by contacting the schools directly

Nope, they can’t be forced.

We lost quite a few in reception though so there migh5 be a place depending on how transient the population is.

With reference to the oversubscribed or not, it could mean that the school as a whole has places, but possibly that some year groups don’t. A primary school could have spaces in Year 2 and 4 , but not in others. Or any combination of year groups. You would need to ask whether there are spaces in Reception.

Rightmove won’t have the detailed information you need.

No matter her age you can deregister her then homeschool until a place is available, but that could be a while.

I don't particularly rate RightMove as a source of info in schools.

If you want to know which schools have vacancies, then ring up and ask (or ring admissions team at the LEA). Bear I mind that all you get is a snapshot of where any vacancies are on the day you asked. If anyone else is moving in to the area, the vacancy can vanish. Conversely, if people are leaving, or if a spot comes up at a school that some other family prefers, then more vacancies will appear.

Bottom line is that the LEA has to come up with an offer somewhere, and within a reasonable distance (travel for pupil - not an accompanying parent - will be provided if over 2 miles or if there is no safe walking route).

The school will have a website detailing it’s admissions criteria. This will also very helpfully list it’s contact phone number.
Why would you try to get the information you need from Rightmove??

Well you might well ask that, but actually it's hard to pin down the LEA. I rang them today and they said they can't tell me until I have an address. We have only just started looking at houses so can't do that yet. But they did sound sympathetic, and said the large village I now suggested had three primary schools, and there were other schools nearby, so it shouldn't be a problem and they would try and get the child a place as near as possible.

Phone the school and ask them how many spaces they have?

Good luck to your family op.

We had a child admitted to a full reception class using fair access protocol. Our situation also came with safeguarding issues so the LA considered us as a unique case.