No primary school offer

[Pan01]

Hi,
Hope someone can help or provide some advice from experience.

For my LEA primary school admissions, you need to select three preferences which I did. All three have came back as no offer. The LEA did not and do not offer an alternative based on their admissions criteria. On the national offer day our online portal simply said
‘it has not been possible to offer a place at the school(s) on your application. further information has been posted to you.’
My husband rang the admissions office who said all of the information would be in the post and we can email with other school options in list of preference.
When the post came, I was expecting some advice on what to do next, options available, schools with places and how to place an interest for other schools. All I received were three reject letters advising I can appeal.
Naturally I called the admissions line asking for help and all I kept getting was ‘you have applied for popular places’, ‘the process is all explained in the admissions booklet’ ‘it’s all explained in the letters sent’. Clearly it was not. I’ve read the admissions booklet back to front and there is no advice on what to do if your child is not offered a single place.
After a lot of questions to the admissions manager and what felt like some pulling of the theeth to get some information, what I have taken from it is:
We are not given a priority in the second round over anyone else who changes their minds or puts in late applications.
We can ask for which schools have places, however this can change as they are in a three week window of parents accepting.
We can email to be placed on a waiting list for schools which is no garuntee to be provided an offer and we fall into the admissions criteria again of sibling, in care, teacher child and distance taking priority.
I can contact a near by LEA and ask for available spaces and apply with them.
I have gone with the last option. The school has asked do have a few spaces at this point and they have helped us loads, but all anyone can do is put me on the waiting list and hope for the best that no one changes their minds or puts in late applications before the next round on the 7th May.

I’ve also asked where we are on the waiting list for my original options and I’m awaiting a response.

I feel like this is completely crazy and I think it is a fair assessment to say it is an unfair process to be thrown back into the mix.

I’ve read other LEA admissions booklets and from the looks of it, many offer the best suitable place based on their admissions criteria if your preferences are not successful.
I asked the admissions managers for my LEA why no other offer has been made in the first round and the response I got was ‘we can’t legally force you to go to a school you have not applied for’. I’m guessing this is completely off the mark to advise. It’s an offer, we are not being forced to accept and other LEAs are offering alternatives.

I’m currently looking at other options also, but most of schools don’t work for mine and my husbands jobs.
I’m mainly on my own and I work full time under contract to stay at work until 4pm. My husband doesn’t work close to home and is frequently not in the country due to work. Trying to find a school with hours that will work for me to stay in my job is proving difficult.
Grandparents can and will help as much as possible, but they still work and it’s a huge ask from us for the next seven years. I’m looking at an option of a child minder with after school pick ups, but we don’t know if we will get an offer, or If we need to look for openings later, where the school will be, so where do you start with child minders and what if they don’t have any spaces.

I’m genuinely gob smacked by this process.

Anyone experienced anything similar and what did you do?

Thanks, from a bewildered mother currently in admissions limbo.

Is there definitely no childcare options at all for your local school?

The problem with allocations on distance is that you can easily find that 0.8 miles is a million miles if the cut off is normally 0.3 Parents really do have to grill the info before applying.
LAs do not in any way take working patterns into account. Or the fact that many families have no relatives to help. Or are working singe parents etc.
You'll find childcare. Everyone does. And it's cheaper than nursery.
Unfortunately you'll get a place some where but could be some distance away with no afterschool.
I'd advise starting to think about that. Get on wait lists for all schools within a couple of miles

They have to provide your child with a full time suitable education. It doesn't have to be a school place but for your child's situation it almost certainly will be.

Has your la said many waiting lists you can be put on? My advice would be to put your name on the waiting lists of the schools you applied for, and any others in your district which would fit your needs.

Sorry not much help but I think it's a waiting game at the moment for you. Good luck and hope it gets sorted.

Similar happened in my area but for secondary as they were a significant number of places short. Some got offers for schools not on their preferences. Admission usually state that you will be offered a place at the nearest school with a space so it may mean they are full.

FWIW the lea sent out pretty much the same info to begin with, but after a major backlash sent out more concise info. They now have enough spaces but I think that is a bit easier in a secondary.

You are doing right looking out of area and being on waiting lists, but I think you need to ask them a) why you weren't offered any place and b) if because of shortage how many are affected.

All the best

You're not on the Bromley/Lewisham border, are you? Just wondering as something similar happened to a poster on Mumsnet around 2013 or 2014 which really put the wind up me as I'd just had a DC and realised we could easily be int he same situation. And lo and behold for the next 5 years every school was full including the one down the end of our road - so we were essentially in a black spot where there was no school to which DD would be admitted. I was also worried about work as (ironically) DH and I are both teachers, with commutes, and I could see we would have big problems if we were offered a space miles away in our large borough not near a station/in the opposite direction to work. To make it worse, I am on a half term's notice like most teachers so I'd have maybe ended up resigning my job just in case e.g. if it got to May and we had no place. We decided to send DD private and then wouldn't you know it, due to a new academy school opening and probably BREXIT, there was a slight ease on places and she could have actually gone to the school down the road (it's 0.3 of a mile away, I think), after all.

Anyway, I'm rambling but:

1. I sympathise. A lot of people don't realise that especially in the SE, there are areas with NO school some years, no matter how carefully you plan.
2. It came as news to me and I imagine a lot of people, that childcare and commuting is ignored in all the preference systems, while schools do not seem to have to disclose their wrap around, if any, nor to reveal if they actually have spaces in it for reception. I have said on other threads that this is directly driving the gender pay gap (and also discriminates against parents where both work/without extended family in the local area).
3. If your neighbouring LA seems more together, I'd keep in touch with them. As you now know, if you're on a boundary you're equally entitled to apply to their schools on distance (this should be made more clear in the application info, I think).
4. Good luck.

Thanks all.
The most stupid part of this is that there are schools within a reasonable distance with spaces at the point of offering places within the first allocations. I only found that out by asking for this information. It wasn’t offered up front by the council.
When I asked why I wasn’t offered an alternative space on national offer day when there are clearly spaces available, I was advised they can’t legally force me to place my child into a school I didn’t apply for. Clearly incorrect information since other areas offer an alternative not on their list as standard practice.
Although there are currently spaces available in schools either locally or of a distance, what I have figured out through questioning and trying to secure a place elsewhere is: all I can do is ask if there is a space currently and place our name on the waiting lists in the hope an offer is made on re-allocation day. When asking my council if we had a priority over parents who change their mind with a school, or apply late, the not so well informed advice I got was ‘it’s all explained in the letter’ or ‘it’s all explained in the admissions booklet’.
I’ve found that there is a fair access agreement which may place us in a better situation come re-allocation day, but my council didn’t advise on this, imply it, or confirm it. By the way my council spoke about it when asked, i’m put back into the admissions criteria and the same procedure applies. Therefore if somewhere has a space already and places their child’s name on a waiting list and is further up the waiting list due to living closer, they will get the space over us. I’m going to probe the council more on this and get it in writing as i’m not getting anywhere talking over the phone.
It’s crazy to think that there are spaces available, but I can’t be offered a space until the 6th of May on re-allocation day, if I meet the criteria over another parent who may change their mind.
Is this fair or not? It feels like it isn’t to me, however my judgement could be marred due to being in this position.
I certainly have a case to raise with the council regarding the lack of up-front information, guidance and advice. If they are putting parents into a position of a no offer, they should be proving guidance on what to do next. Not a single bit of advice or guidance was given outside of me contacting them and asking the right questions (if I have asked the right questions). It feels like they couldn’t care less. So I will be putting in a complaint regarding the lack of advice and guidance and hopefully it will be reviewed and considered so no other parent needs to go through this in future years.

I have the current waiting list position for my first preference school now. We are second on the list. However as above, this is a moving waiting list. Also, everyone accepts their offers where one is made and according to the statistics, 95% of the offers made were parents first preference, so I doubt a space will open up prior to September. So looking for an alternative school is certainly the way forward.
If it doesn’t work for childcare, we will just have to see how we can make things work. I have a couple of ideas, but It’s not to say it will work for staying employed in my current job.

Phineji you are totally right, this is a genuine reason to the gender pay gap. It’s a clear trend in my area that women leave their jobs or goes part time around school hours.
Both my husband and I are on a good and the same basic wage. He however makes significantly more money due to travel, a better pension and other pay benefits due to the nature of his work. It would be myself who would need to leave work if it came to it.

Anyways rants over. Other than ask to be added to any waiting list going, there is nothing I can do until the 6th May - although spaces currently exist.

For those of you who have commented that we just need to make it work or arrange wrap around care, you’re right we do just need to make it work because we have no option. But does this make it right to force parents into either financial difficulty or out of work? Does it make it right that you are forced into this because that’s just the way it is? No it doesn’t. The government should be doing more to help keep people in employment. Employers should be more flexible (mine isn’t that flexible). Schools could offer more after school clubs but this comes back to the government and their cuts. And yes sometimes someone doing after school pick ups can cost less than nursery fees, but not much less. Our nursery fees are very reasonable and we are lucky for that.
In addition to government cuts, i’ve Just found out the situation will just get worse for parents in my area as more houses are to be built over the next 5 years. The planning committee recommended for the housing company to pay £300,000+ towards education due to it bringing an increase of people living in the area and placing a strain on the current schools and places available. What was agreed to be paid and accepted by the council was just over £50,000. That isn’t going to go far really is it.
I’m thinking I’m lucky there is a possibly of one or two spaces free at the moment (if the spaces remain open). Goodness knows what will happen to other parents who will have children entering primary school in the coming years.

Now the rant is over.

From what I understand from what you are saying on your post, you know that there are places available in some schools, which you would be happy to have a place at.
If you have already applied for a place at any of these schools, then you should be being offered the place not being a position of having to wait till 6th May. I would send an email to the admission authority office saying that as you have applied and you know there are places are available that you require them to make a formal offer of a place to you. It might not produce the offer of a place, if the admission authority are so slow in doing anything but in an appeal situation for that school , the panel will have to ask the admission authority why you were not offered the place and if a place was vacant that should have happened and you are therefore putting yourself in a better position for getting a positive result from the appeal.
The fair access protocol is not appropriate for your situation at the moment and would only come into effect if you had still not been offered a place on the 1st September 2019.

DS received no offers and we have five or six choices here. The only two schools in the (London) borough I live in that had places were too far to travel to. So wet got on the waiting lists of all our local schools (which are the ones we applied to) and then after 6 weeks for an offer at our lowest choice (crappy school but accepted). After couple more weeks for an offer at local good school and then after DS had the uniform and had his settling in days we were offered a place at his first choice school, two days before the start of term.

It was amazing how quickly things moved arrive from July onwards.

I was surprised to, like you, not receive any place at all. DS was in a known bulge year so the fact that three local schools had to put on bulge classes and nearly all the 30 children from his class at preschool ended up in private shows the Council were woefully underprepared

That changes things massively if they had/have spaces available!

You should have been given the nearest space available then. They are not following protocol.

Write to them and require them to formally offer you the nearest space available.

Hi OP.

This happened to us. We received no offer at all and very little helpful information from the LA at the time. I was so shocked and really worried.
We confirmed his name on the waiting list for the three schools we had put on our form and asked how far he was down the list.
We then added his name to the waiting list for every other primary school within walking/short driving distance of our house.
It was months of uncertainty.
Then, in the summer term, is first choice of school agreed to take a bulge class (an extra 30 pupils) and he received a place there.
He has been happy there for the last 7 years and leaves to go to secondary this summer (where he got a place at his first choice school!)
So fear not, it might not end badly. I'd even reached the point where I was looking at private schools, although god only knows how I would have afforded that, especially as his dad left halfway through year one!!

Sounds like the LA has either broken the law or are pretty close to doing so. I suggest you email your MP. They can contact the council for you to get clarity. You may help others that way too by alerting them to the problem.

Hi OP, just wanted to say that if you were worried about lack of any childcare at school you may be offered, our school offers no wrap around care at all. There are however an army of childminders who pick up and collect for working parents and I don't think you'd necessarily know that from outside. It's worked really well for us, I actually prefer it to an after-school club and it means holidays can be covered too. Just wanted to offer that reassurance, I'd imagine there must be something similar as working parents will need something. Good luck in getting it all sorted

This makes no sense. Lots of people don’t get either of their 3 choices. What should them happen is you get allocated the nearest school in your LA with spaces (you have confirmed there are schools with places) and go on the waiting list for any other schools you want to.
All this talk of punishing you for not putting catchment school down is rubbish. They are not allowed to do that. Each application to each school is done according to the individual schools admission criteria.
And regarding your question about whether you take precedence over anyone Cabo now changes their minds , my understanding of the waiting list system is this - you go in the waiting list and are ranked according to that schools admission criteria. So someone who changes their minds and wants a school you are on the list for, if they live closer they will be higher up on the list than you. You can go up and down the waiting list based on how many people are closer than you adding themselves to the list.
Forget about wraparound childcare for now. That is a red herring and has absolutely no bearing on whether you would be offeeed a place or not. If I lived closer to you to your preferred school I would get a place sooner. Fact. Doesn’t matter if I need wraparound care or not.
I hope you get back to your LA and get a place, any place from them soon.