ALREADY ACCEPTED SCHOOL PLACEMENT BEING WITHDRAWN!

[Elzemni]

Help!

An already accepted school placement is being taken away because my landlord decided to renovate his property and i had to moved out way after school application deadline.

Basically I applied as normal like the rest of us parents for my 4 year olds school placement. Luckily he got a placement of first choice, visited the school and met his school teacher. Only to be sent an email from the local authority three weeks before him starting school requesting for proof of residency.

So i sent them the required documents again making them aware that my son is starting school on the 5th of September and will be starting as
normal.

However schools like to now come over and visit the child at their home address, so a day before me and my son were waiting for his teacher to arrive however she didn't show.

After calling the school and asking where the teacher was i was told to expect a call back for an update. Within 10 minutes i received the call only to be told that the placement had been withdrawn, i then explained to the receptionist i didn't receive an email only to be told "yes they will email you later today".

the day went by and nothing nor did i get one the following morning so as normal at 1.30pm i took my son in to school to visit his teacher and the rest of his class.

Upon arrival his teacher looked at me and said that he can't be here and i need to go to the school office as children and parents stood outside the class waiting to go in.

Bearing in mind im heavily pregnant and am due to give birth at any given moment. So i explained let's go in and let my son settle in and i will go and have a chat with
the office.

Few moments later the head teacher arrived and took me to her office, as soon as we sat down i was told that my son isn't allowed in school and it would be "illegal" of her to have him there as his place has been withdrawn.

I then asked yes i was told this yesterday on the phone that you had received an email can i have a look at this email, only for them to retract their statement and say oh no they told us over the phone! However i explained i had not received any correspondence and i was still waiting to hear from the local authority (LA).

The headteacher sat there really trying to patronise me explaining that i'm no longer living at the address when i had applied and that this place was now being withdrawn.

I then went on and asked her three simple questions: when applying for schools who do you apply to? she replied "local authority"

i then asked: who are school placement given by? she replied "local authority"

finally i asked and who has the right to take a placement away? to which she replied "local authority".

So my question was why am i sat here being told otherwise when they haven't even replied! further more rather then having your support given my circumstances i feel as if your trying to push me out because of something that was beyond my control!

The receptionist lady then popped her head from the door to tell me she had the LA on the phone, i explained i was waiting for them to email me so i'm fine not in a hurry to speak to them. (as to me my son has his position and is in school)

The head teacher then jumped out her seat to say "oh il have a word with them".
i waited for around 10 minutes only for the headteacher to walk in with an email from the LA to the school saying they hadnt received any information as required and that my placement will be withdrawn!

i then pointed out to the headteacher what i was saying to her 15 minutes ago that rather than having her support she wants me out and now she's waving an email in my face to say my son cant come back to school his place had been withdrawn and the LA will email me later! Now how does that work a school being told before the parent? the teacher then said if i was to bring my son in to school the following day she would then have to call the police!

i was not happy but kept my cool and went to grab my son who i found not in the room
with the rest of the children but with a teacher in an office reading him a book! they wanted my son out!

i then left, went home and contacted the LA explaining emails had been sent and nothing had been looked in to but simply on the say so of a headteacher my sons place in being withdrawn.

I explained i was due to have a baby at any given moment and resent the previous emails to show i did send what they required.

The position offered to my son was not at all conditional upon him remaining at the same address at the point of application. They had for some time details of the change of address and failed to take any measures in a sensible and judicious manner. It has been over two weeks now and my son is still not in school because it's states in their policy that a child needs to be living at the address from january 2019 up until September 2019 and beyond. this needs to be his normal place of residency which it was to be fair until due to unforeseen circumstances i had to move!

I simply don't know what to do is this fair? can they take his already accepted placement on their policy of having to still be living at the address?

OP - you are compleltely to blame for this.

You have denied your child an education, not the LAs involved.... by just ignoring the instructions you were sent... :/

Appeal the decision with this LA, and in the meantime, apply with the new LA and get your boy into a school.

You can't just take your child to a random school and expect them to just have him when he's not on roll. It would be like you just turning up to Tesco and going "I work here now" and hoping they'll just employ you on the spot and pay you cash in hand no questions asked... :/

They cannot withdraw the place just because you have moved. However, you failed to follow the process set down by Redbridge. You should have notified them of your change of address. That means they are entitled to regard your application as deliberately misleading and withdraw the place. You can appeal and argue that withdrawing the place was unreasonable in the circumstances, especially since the LA don't seem to have given you any chance to explain yourself, but this will take time and may not succeed.

The LA was required to reassess your application using your new address. If you would still have got a place using your new address they should not have withdrawn the place. In that situation you have a very good case for appeal (and, indeed, should be able to persuade the LA to reinstate the place without an appeal).

You should talk to your new LA and apply to them for a place. You can still name the Redbridge schools as preferences if you want but it is likely you will end up with a place at one of your new LA's schools.

"They cannot withdraw the place just because you have moved"

well.. yes they can... it's in their policy...

well.. yes they can... it's in their policy...

No they cannot, whatever it says in their policy. The Admissions Code has the force of law. If their policy disagrees with the Admissions Code, the Code wins. The Admissions Code is very clear that a place can only be withdrawn if it was offered in error or the original application was fraudulent or deliberately misleading.

In this case the OP's failure to notify the LA of her change of address may allow them to regard the application as deliberately misleading, although it does depend on when she moved. If it was after the offer was made the LA is on very dodgy ground withdrawing the place and should lose if the OP appeals. However, if it was before the offer was made the LA may be ok, but even then the OP may be able to argue that they have acted unreasonably.

"The Admissions Code is very clear that a place can only be withdrawn if it was offered in error or the original application was fraudulent or deliberately misleading."

Well, it could be considered misleading/fraudulent... the OP applied for a school and them moved out of catchment after the place was offered... didn't tell anyone she moved, didn't apply for a new school place even when told to....

So... they can withdraw the offer...

Either way, she still needs to find a place for her child and it won't happen by just turning up at the school!

Goodness me. Leaving aside the rights and wrongs of your application etc, your behaviour and attitude sounds shocking.

8Well, it could be considered misleading/fraudulent... the OP applied for a school and them moved out of catchment after the place was offered*

I'm not entirely clear whether the OP moved out after the place was offered. However, there are multiple precedents that show moving after the place is offered does not mean the application was intentionally misleading or fraudulent. The LA has to have evidence that the parent never intended to continue living at the address used when they applied and that they moved there simply to get a place at the school they wanted. If the parent was genuinely living at the address used on the application and had no intention of moving it would be unreasonable to class the application as fraudulent or intentionally misleading just because subsequent events result in them moving.

I know a number of LAs have policies that say you lose the place if you move before the start of term. Those policies are contrary to the Admissions Code.

She moved out pretty much straight after the place was accepted. She was given notice by her landlord.

So her notice was given to her before she accepted the school place. She knew she wouldn't be living at that address, failed to inform anyone and behaved like a stroppy child when it backfired.

The question is not whether she knew she would be moving when she accepted the offer. It is whether she had moved before the offer was made. If she had the LA may have a case as it seems she failed to comply with their notification requirements. However, if she was still living there when the offer came through, what she did or did not know is irrelevant. She was entitled to accept the offer and keep the place.

Ignoring emails and saying you aren't in a hurry to speak to the LA won't help.

I hope your son gets a new school soon.

Our school’s catchment was 350 m the year we applied. I rent too and when we were waiting for a place I dis have fleeting —nightmares— thoughts what if we get notice from the landlord. I do feel the OP’s pain but refusing to deal with reality and just getting on your high hurt pride horse is not going to help. You need to tick the boxes expected by the system, whether you like it or not.

Any news op?

You need to get your child on the lists in your new LA. I know you didn't move out of catchment intentionally, but the LA can't just bend the rules for you. The rules are to stay living there until the school year starts and you don't live there. Put this in the past and get your child a new place sorted ASAP!

The rules are to stay living there until the school year starts and you don't live there

Those are not the rules. Once the place has been offered the LA cannot withdraw the offer except in very limited circumstances.

Amazing how many people seem to be desperate to blame the OP for being evicted - and how many people seem to think that individual school and council policies take precedence over the law. In particular, there is absolutely no rule that says your child has to lose a school place just because, through no fault of your own, you have to leave your property before the new school year starts.

Yes, but the rules do state that she needs to notify them of her change of address. By not doing that, it could be argued that she knew she was doing the wrong thing in order to get into the school of her choice.

Meanwhile there is a little boy who at the end of September still isn't in school, but whose mum thinks she's justified in not talking to the LA...

Well, it’s all Ok then, all within the law and here is absolutely no problem here. She didn’t get evicted, she was given notice to vacate the property.

Yes, but the rules do state that she needs to notify them of her change of address.

Those "rules" are not the law, they are simply conditions that one council has chosen to add.

Amazing how many people seem to be desperate to blame the OP for being evicted
I don't think anyone has blamed the OP for her housing situation.

What many people are saying is the policy is clear, she was told what to do and didn't do it.

That's nobody else's fault.

She didn’t get evicted, she was given notice to vacate the property.

What difference does that make? If she hadn't vacated she would have had to leave under a court order. The point is that this isn't a case where she had a choice about moving.

Time to ring a solicitor then if it's unlawful.

You are blaming the school and the headteacher but it seems that this is an LA school. The school will not have control over the admissions lists, that's the LA.

If your son is no longer on the school's admission list they simply cannot allow him to stay there. It's just not possible. What did you expect he headteacher to do? Ignore their rules and just say 'oh he will be ok, just bring him in.'

They also can't just leave him in class as chances are his place has gone to some other child, so taking the numbers over if your dc is there too. We fill new places pretty much within 24 hours of a child leaving.

As it is a member of staff had to come away from the class - on the other children's first day where supervision and staffing is hugely important - to supervise your child.

Regardless of the rights and wrongs of the situation, if I were the op I wouldn't now want my child to go to the original school. How on earth is the relationship between school and home going to be repaired after this?

I think it would definitely be in the child's best interests to start in a new school without this history attached.