Adopted child - banker school

[Happydaysareheretostaywayhay]

Hi, I’m hoping for some advice. My child is adopted and I’ve applied for their school place in the ordinary way. I contacted the la and asked if they need further evidence and they said that they would contact me if they needed anything. None of the three schools I’ve applied for are catchment schools, they are just schools that seemed kind and nurturing and a good fit for my little one.

I’m now panicking that something will go wrong and we won’t get any of the schools and wondered if I should contact the LA to change one of the choices to the nearest school. I checked online and the first choice school is usually oversubscribed but had lac/plac after children with an ehcp.

Also, if we didn’t get a place could we appeal. Thanks for your help (if you are able to help). Good luck to everyone else applying right now.

If your child is adopted then surely they are not a LAC?

Is your catchment school usually over subscribed? If so, then s/he won't be offered a place there.

I would speak to your LA school admissions team as they will be best placed to advise you.

If it has lac/plac as a priority category and that applies to your child, you'll get a place.

The OP mentioned LAC and PLAC (previously looked after children)

EmmaGrundyForPM Adopted children like looked after children have priority when placements are decided.
So OP I think you should contact the LA so that it can be added onto your application.

Thank you all. Hopefully it will be ok. She’s been let down her whole life and I dont want to screw this up for her too x

Was she adopted from England, and do you live in England?

That is if you haven't already said she is adopted. If you have then I think you will get a place.

My children are adopted and we applied for out of catchment schools the same way through the LA. There is usually a part of the form to state they are PLAC and I found that once the applications were closed and they started to sort through, they contacted us to provide the Adoption Certificate to the school. All of the schools we applied for had LAC/PLAC as their top priority and we were given places at them as expected.

Good luck.

If the LA are aware your DC is PLAC you should be able to pick anywhere you like as you will be top category.

Thank you. Yes she was adopted in England and we live in england. I feel bad if we take a place from someone else and if we get a school out of catchment we will move closer as I want her to be able to make friends locally. it’s just that moving before now would have been too disruptive for her.

Usually it's as you stated OP, in that your daughter will be behind the statemented children on the priority list but ahead of those applying on the distance criterion (ie most people). It would be extremely unusual for her not to get a place at your first choice.

Don't feel bad. She deserves the best.
Make sure you put that she is adopted on the application.
Good luck.
Sounds like you are doing a great job.

If any of the schools you have listed are faith schools, but you/DD are not that faith, do check what priority category none faith LAC/PLAC children are.

The admissions code allows schools to admit all faith children before none faith LAC/PLAC. Not all faith schools chose to do so, but some, especially Catholic, schools do.

you need to make sure you explicitly state her PLAC status. simply being adopted is insufficient as a child could be adopted from some circumstances without having a period of being a LAC so where you get a chance to explain reasons you can state explicitly that as a PLAC the nurturing environment of the school is the most important criterion to ensure that she overcomes the difficult start in life she has experienced in order to thrive academically.

As others said, as adopted from care in England, assuming not a faith school that puts non faith LAC below all faith children, you will be a shoe in for first choice.

Getting your first choice school is one of the very few benefits of adopting (along with choosing the sex of your child).

Whilst all schools have to have LAC and PLAC as their highest admission criteria, there is no absolute guarantee that you will get an offer of a place from any of your preferred schools. The reason for this is that the situation about adopted children is complicated and there is a bit of a miss-match between the admission regulations and the regulations about adoptions such that under certain situations adopted children will not be considered PLAC.
I would strongly advice that you immediately contact the admission team of the LA and get them to confirm in writing that your child will be considered to be PLAC. From immediately after the 15th January the process of working out allocated places will start, so the LA admission team will be busy and it is possible that your wish to be considered as PLAC may get overlooked.
I suspect that you are not going to get written confirmation before Wednesday. I think that given that a written confirmation is not expected before Wednesday then I would consider using your third preference as a local school that you are most likely to get a place at. The reality is that if your child is considered PLAC that you will get offered a place at your first preference school, so any need to go to appeal will be because the LA did not consider your child to be PLAC. In which case written evidence that you did apply as PLAC, that the LA said it would contact you if needed to and that they did think you were PLAC will all be excellent evidence to win at appeal.
Sorry I cannot remember exactly what the anomaly in the regs is and I cannot find the explanation we had as an appeal panel from the LA when this situation arose.

I think the anomaly admission is thinking of is now past its self by date. When they brought in priority for previously looked after they said 'and adopted under the 2004 adoption act' (or it might have been 2005). Anyway, this then led to some children who were adopted prior to 2004 not being officially eligible for priority places (especially those older children applying to secondary school). Most schools at the time seemed to just let in the adopted children anyway via appeal if needed from what I read on message boards at the time.

(The children not eligible are those adopted by a step parent, or those adopted as inter-country adoptions, or adopted outside England.)

Also any others who don't officially go via the care system (ie with a formal care order).

Thank you so much for all of the advice. I will contact the admission team tomorrow and ask for the third choice to be changed to our nearest school and get confirmation that she is considered plac. Her adoption was straightforward through our own LA so hopefully all will be ok. I’m so grateful for the generosity of those who have responded.

If your LA is very joined up they'll be able to check for themselves that she is adopted and might not ask for further proof.

(You will eventually need to show proof to the primary school so they can claim the enhanced Pupil Premium money for her.)

@TeenPlusTwenties What do you mean there are so few benefits to adopting a child?

@Happydaysareheretostaywayhay that may not be the best thing to do even given all this advice. before any change is requested, ask them if making a change would re-categorise your application into being a late application rather than an on-time application. if it would then you might be better off leaving things as they are. you can ask them to confirm that your application is being castigated as PLAC and if it is then there is no need to worry anyway.

late applications are only processed after all the on-time applications are sorted and allocated so even with PLAC status you'd not get a place at an oversubscribed school with a late application, and in some LEAs any change after the application deadline causes the application to be recategorised as late.

there is always some movement and juggling of places between allocations day and mid October. you can put yourselves onto the waiting list for as many schools as you like during that juggling process. if a change now would jeopardise the potential success for your actual top preferences then wait till then.

castigated = categorised

@Rainallnight Oh dear, I see how my comment could be misconstrued.

Obviously there are loads of benefits to adopting, we have a lovely family.

Maybe better worded would be something along the line of 'external benefits' or 'things we get that families with birth children don't' or something like that? In some areas of the country getting the preferred school can be very difficult if you don't live in the 'right' street. All I meant was that giving adopted children preference in schools allocation is a relatively big external thing that the state does for us. Does that make more sense?

OP I wouldn't change any choices and wouldn't put in a banker school. What I would do is double and triple check that you have made it very clear in your application (in the manner that is required) that DC is applying under PLAC criteria, and provide whatever is requested. In our form we had to tick a box and upload supporting evidence. I wouldn't feel comfortable if I was relying on anything written in a 'comments' box or 'reasons for applying to this school' box or similar. As PP said, if there is no specific box to tick, I would want a paper trail from the LEA showing that you asked what evidence is needed and were told that none is needed and they will ask if something is required at a later stage.

I remember when we did DD's school application, I was highly irrationally worried that somehow her PLAC status would be missed/disregarded. Perhaps because in the online application, supporting evidence was requested. I rang the LEA and asked if the adoption certificate would do. I pointed out (on the phone) that the adoption certificate does not actually provide evidence that the child had been in care before being adopted. So would it do or did we need a letter from the SW? But the LEA person said that it would do, and that if they needed anything else, they would be in touch. But of course I didn't get that in writing and here on MN all the appeals specialists are always saying that you need to have the paper trail.
So I had ticked the box and uploaded the AC, but until offer day I was plagued by anxiety over having let down my child who had already been let down by so many other people... So I get exactly where you are coming from.

So. Look carefully at your application again. If it isn't clear how you are supposed to show that your child is PLAC, then read the information booklet/LEA webpage. Make sure you have done exactly what is required. If there is any doubt, phone them up again and ask to have confirmation by e-mail that your child will be considered as PLAC.

Then take a deep breath and relax. :)

The good thing is that even if everything should go wrong (no place/no appeal) your child will eventually be acknowledged as PLAC and go straight to the top of waiting lists.
And seeing as you are willing to move, that means that whatever happens, you will find a place for your child in a nice nurturing school. Rather than 'making do' with the nearest, catchment school, which, presumably, you didn't put as one of your choices for a reason.
Even in the worst case scenario, trust that you will be able to find a school that you like.