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ALREADY ACCEPTED SCHOOL PLACEMENT BEING WITHDRAWN!

159 replies

Elzemni · 26/09/2019 00:12

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 Within 10 minutes i received the call only to be told that the placement had been withdrawn, i then explained to the receptionist i didn't receive an email only to be told "yes they will email you later today".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i was told that my son isn't allowed in school and it would be "illegal" of her to have him there as his place has been withdrawn.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 posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
lovemenorca · 27/09/2019 18:30

@prh47bridge

That is your interpretation of the guidance
It is not explicitly stated as such in any way

thehorseandhisboy · 27/09/2019 18:54

lovemenorca prh47 is correct. The paragraph clearly refers to the offer of a school place. In this instance, the OP had accepted it (as she says in her first post) hence obviously having responded.

Comefromaway · 27/09/2019 20:21

i amended nothing. I simply highlighted the relevant part of the quote.

Given prh’s extensive experience in admissions, appeals and the legality of such over many, many years I am prepared to accept him quoting the code as direct without searching for the original source (which I think he provided on some previous occasion)

Have you read the entire code in full love menorca or been involved in many admissions or appeals? What is your background/level of knowledge?

Lougle · 27/09/2019 21:11

You are all in heated argument when the OP is long gone. prh is right that this will come down to a decision about whether the OP was fraudulent in the application. If her timeline is correct, she wasn't. However, she hasn't done herself any favours in the way she is behaving.

Bugsymalonemumof2 · 27/09/2019 21:27

@lovemenorca pro's job is exactly this. They know what they are talking about.

Tonnerre · 27/09/2019 23:46

That is your interpretation of the guidance
It is not explicitly stated as such in any way

Of course it's explicitly stated. How can it possibly be referring to anything other than a response to the offer? Just look at the wording in the paragraph you quoted. If you contend that it means that the council can ask for evidence after they've made an offer, please quote the bit that says that.

fallfallfall · 28/09/2019 00:07

if the op communicated with the la, as well as she communicated with this thread, well...i know why there are problems, poor child.

YobaOljazUwaque · 28/09/2019 08:31

@Elzemni ignore all the holier-than-thou armchair critics on here, @prh47bridge is the only one to pay attention to as she actually knows this stuff, and she says you have a case so take her advice.
(You have been a bit immature tho)
Good luck getting this sorted.

Hatchimalla · 29/09/2019 05:20

We moved into a catchment area and applied for a school place, but were forced to move again within a couple of months. We were worried about losing potential school place so contacted the LA and gave them the whole story. As it was too late to change address before allocation they said that if we moved outside catchment the place would then be

Hatchimalla · 29/09/2019 05:24

Eek, posted too soon.
Place would be withdrawn and we'd go into the second round based on new address. As luck would happen we got a new rental even closer to our first choice school so we were allowed to keep our allocated school despite it being based on first address.
They were very clear that we'd lose the allocation if we moved further out, because that is the marker that flags a fraudulent application. I should add, it's only an issue for oversubscribed schools. If a school has places you can live 100 miles away and still get a place.

Elzemni · 30/09/2019 00:50

wow. thank you all for your responses but @prh47bridge has a complete understanding as to what has happened. my address was not fraudulent and the LA are pushing in their own policy!

OP posts:
Elzemni · 28/02/2020 15:25

FINALLY!

My DS has had his placement reimbursed all thanks to the amazing wonderful @prh47bridge!

So grateful and thankful really was a godsend! Grin

OP posts:
Judd · 28/02/2020 15:32

Very pleased for you and your son x

YobaOljazUwaque · 28/02/2020 15:32

that's brilliant news!

well done @prh47bridge

as this thread will likely be found by future mumsnetters in a similar fix looking for advice or experience, any details that you are happy to share for how it got resolved would be really welcome.

prh47bridge · 28/02/2020 15:39

Just to update those who followed this saga...

The OP finally had an appeal hearing on Tuesday. That should have happened months ago but Redbridge ignored the OP's requests for an appeal until the LGO got involved.

During the appeal Redbridge tried to argue that the OP moved in late March, before offer day, although she insists she didn't move until May. They even tried to argue that the OP getting her postcode wrong on the appeal form was evidence of her trying to intentionally mislead! Thankfully, the appeal panel saw through this and accepted that the Admissions Code means what it says - that a place can only be withdrawn if the application was fraudulent or intentionally misleading (skipping the other two reasons an offer can be withdrawn as they weren't relevant to this case). As it was clear the address on the application was where the OP was living at the time she applied, there was no other address she could have used for the application so it was not intentionally misleading. Whether the OP moved in March or May was completely irrelevant. An unanticipated move before offer day does not mean the original application was intentionally misleading. The words "intentionally misleading" clearly mean that the parent must be aware the address is wrong at the time they apply.

So the short version of that is that the OP won and her son will be starting at this school next week.

I'm really pleased for her and glad the appeal panel got it right. Unfortunately, Redbridge's attitude strongly suggests that other parents will have similar problems if they move at any time between applying for a place and their child starting at school.

prh47bridge · 28/02/2020 15:40

I see the OP has beaten me to it! Grin

eurochick · 28/02/2020 15:46

Well done!

Spartonian · 28/02/2020 15:46

@Elzemni
Great news

Comefromaway · 28/02/2020 15:49

That's brilliant prh. But appalling that it tool this long.

Spartonian · 28/02/2020 15:49

Well done @prh47bridge for giving OP the help and support they needed to get the result they should of had months ago.

Bflatmajorsharp · 28/02/2020 15:51

Great - good news.

Well done to all involved.

dungtwicebother · 28/02/2020 21:58

@prh47bridge has helped me before too.

Remarkable person and so generous with their time and patience to help others.

You need a MN award 🥇

prh47bridge · 28/02/2020 22:54

Thank you Smile

jackparlabane · 28/02/2020 22:59

Great that the council have seen the error of their ways; appalling that it's taken over half the school year to do so.

RomaineCalm · 28/02/2020 23:32

@prh47bridge - you are a legend!

Fortunately we are past the school admissions stage but I am always interested in these cases and in awe of of the time that you put in to help others.