School admissions & coronavirus

[NYnachos]

Will these be delayed? I haven't a clue how places are allocated (I imagine a big computer program...) but I'm guessing that if departments grind to a halt we can kiss goodbye to the mid April decision date.

Anyone have any insight?

Even where the school is its own admissions authority, the offers should still come via the LA, as there has to be a coordinated way of offering alternatives if you don't get your first choice.

Confirm that all places are offered from the LA and will happen on the 16th April. For those who get a place offered that they want, does confirm you want it and you will have a place for September.
The much bigger concern is what will happen with those parents who do not get the place they want and go to appeal. Exactly how the LA will be able to handle the level of work which is always an issue is one challenge and then there is the whole issue around how any appeal can take place. Some are looking to carry out virtual hearings but there are still arguments going on as to whether this will meet the legal requirements of the guidance etc. We will have to wait and see how things develop.

According to the strict timetable the LA insisted we kept to, schools were due their lists last Friday. Now due tomorrow. Going well

Not that this part matters particularly, it's from 16th when parents hear that we must adhere to the timetable.

I hadn't thought of summer borns. If I were in those shoes, I'd defer too.

I've never had one yet. So if a few of the intake now defer, that makes the waiting lists harder work (for the schools).

I do wonder though if acceptance from parents will be smoother this year because they will be instructed to email whereas some (lots) love coming with their children to see the school to hand their forms in.

Parents do need to be careful about deferring. I am not aware of any changes around deferment having come out from the DfE yet, arising from COV-19.
I am not sure why parents would want to defer entry in September assuming that this is when schools do reopen, as presumably the schools will not reopen until the government decide that it is safe to do so.
There are two kinds of deferment. Where the pupil is still not 5 then parents can ask for a deferment till the term after the child becomes 5. That deferment is with the agreement of the school headteacher and as such they still retain the school place until they start. In the current circumstances when you probably do not have a direct line to the school headteacher then getting an agreement is not potentially going to be easy in the short term. The other kind of deferment is when there is an agreement between parents, school and local authority to defer for a whole school year. Whilst it is now more common for this to be agreed than previously, it is not a simple decision to make and frankly anybody considering this should have already have discussed and agreed with the school and LA. In this circumstance the school place is not taken up and you loose the place. You would then have to reapply for September 2021, when there may well be different circumstances and no guarantee that you will get a place at the school of your choice. But more than anything this is not a decision to be being made now, it should have been made 6 months ago.

We had to produce documents to the school in the first few settling in days, ie birth certificate and proof of address. Stopped people applying and then moving over the summer holidays. Also, only 10 children in at a time so didn't take long.

@admission I am in an LA (Herts) which has a blanket acceptance policy as far as I knowand therefore for maintained schools, it's not up to the school to decide to agree an entire year's deferment - they have to accept summer borns into Reception a year late. Is this how you too understand the Herts policy? As such I think all we would have to do is tell the nursery we want another year there, and at some point withdraw from or decline the primary school allocation. The application system for primary here has a DOB window from 1 April in one calendar year to 31 August the following year.

I have no concerns about getting a place if we reapply next year for reception, as we qualify under sibling rule and the PAN is never entirely filled by siblings. I agree this specific set of circumstances is not likely to apply to many people though.

As is usual different LAs have slightly different approaches to what is the same legislation.
Having looked at the Herts school admission information it clearly says that for a summer born child that you can delay application to start in September 2021 after a child's 5th birthday. However this only applies to community and voluntary controlled schools, all schools who are their own admission authority, so VA schools and academies can make their own decision whether to allow a summer born child to defer a year.
The two other bits to note are that it says the LA will not accept an application from families who have already accepted a reception place to start in reception in 2020-21. You need to check with the LA that this does mean what it says, that you can just decline the place allocated on April 16th and then decide to re-apply for 21-22 admission, not that if you have applied for 20-21 entry that you cannot then apply for 21-22. I say this because I know this is what some other LAs operate and goes back to my previous post. If you apply for a place for a year then you have to start school sometime in that year group.
The info also makes the very valid point that you need to inform your nursery that you want to keep the place in nursery for another year, so that the nursery do not offer it to another child.

Where the pupil is still not 5 then parents can ask for a deferment till the term after the child becomes 5. That deferment is with the agreement of the school headteacher

You used to need the head's consent but that is no longer the case and hasn't been for several years. Provided you aren't deferring beyond the start of the summer term the head has no say in the matter. Admissions Code 2.16(b).

I thought the recent Ombudsman decisions meant that Heads don't have much say in whether to allow full year summer born deferrals either? If a parent decides now that they want to defer (even if, as admission says, they should have done it much earlier), is it not up to the Head to show that the child would be better starting in Y1 than YR, if they want to contest it? I might have got that wrong though.

For a full year deferral the admission authority cannot have a blanket policy. They must consider each case individually and make a decision that is based on the child's best interests. It is much harder than it used to be for an admission authority to refuse a parental request but not impossible.

@prh47bridge I'd be interested to know how you interpret the Herts wording - as far as I can see, essentially it's "if you want to defer, you can". This is what I mean by a blanket policy.

That kind of blanket policy is allowed and yes, that is what Herts say. What isn't allowed is a blanket policy to refuse all requests to defer for a full year.

I'm glad to read that people think the places will be announced as normal. I've been on pins for months waiting and don't think I can take it much longer.

We ranked supplementary evidence in early February. The CAF was already on the computer and we just added our data and minuted reasons for rejection. There was plenty of time to meet and get the information to the Council before schools closed.

That’s interesting @ usercheeselover, primary schools will have their intake list already? I just assumed that they would also find out on the 16th.

In our LA lists won't be sent to schools until Tuesday next week after a number of late deferral requests

Our LA has advised that places will be offered as planned with parents/carers having to log back into the admissions site to accept or refuse the place. Evidence of date of birth and address will need to be provided to the school before the child starts, information regarding this will be sent 'in due course.'

Does anyone know which day the Scottish letters are expected to go out please? We put in a placing request and I'm a bit anxious in case we need to go through appeal process as I know everyone is so stretched and so much is still up in the air as teaching staff are having to cope with the covid situation as it happens.