School offer help!

[aljone]

I submitted our request for our eldest son for a school reception place back in December. My partner was just returning after maternity leave and I was requested by my partner to submit the form (although she had done most of the leg work due to is living in the area). She was suffering with stress at the time and anxiety.
I put it together whilst working, which was probably where I went wrong firstly.
3 choices in and on the 16th of this month we got our offers/no offers.
1st - Catholic school where he is christened in parrish. 0.3 miles. no offer (amazement, why?). Turns out within a class of 30 he'd have been in and around 17th on the list of kids which we'll later discuss.
At the moment 1st on waiting list.
2nd - C of E school. Out of catchment slightly. 0.3 miles Harsh but? 2nd on the wait list.
3rd - non Faith. 0.5 miles. Offer :-(
Now we picked a third, my partner is adamant he is not going there. No idea why we chose it in the place, we where probably a bit naive thinking would be a shoe in with choice 1 or 2.
We assumed her get in first or second. He's 1st and 2nd prospectively. We now have added a 4th which looks like we'll be 1st on list as well.
Now the following day we found out the reason he didn't get in to the catholic 1st choice was a SIF (Supplementary information form). No idea one was needed, didn't do our homework. I'm not Catholic either so...Still our fault as not read up on these matters. Now we had stated he was Catholic and baptized in the Parrish. Had we done so before he would have walked in. Next day we got all documentss up to the school. Still 1st on wait list and cemented by these actions.
My partner is distraught as it was her school. As mentioned her frame of mind is not right as well at the moment, anxiety and all the lockdown is just creating more. Hence me reaching out here.
We've spoke to the head and a teacher who taught her at the school, lovely but non committal as to what could happen.
An appeal gas gone in as not happy with the way the lea has dealt with matters. As they have said they don't read the notes ect. But admitted they do it a child in care or?? We're not very happy on their replies, the neighbourghing lea have said had they came across our notes they would have chased us.
We don't like how they've treated us but understand it's our fault and our own oversight. We feel we have let our son down.
We have appealed via archdiocese and put complaint in to the lea.
Do we hold much hope getting into one of our 1st, 2nd or now our 4th choice? 1st has 30 kids, oversubscribed with like 25 on list. 2nd choice 30 kids, 20 or so on list and 4th is showing on the lea website 34 places taken fom 35 with a waiting list of 20 (No idea why one less, maybe a mis-calculation)
Two teachers who are friends, a person involved in child social work and my tenant (also a primary school teacher) think there will be movement. They also say schools keep places back for appeals ect? Is this true or?
Please can someone give advice and offer help or re-assurance...It's a waiting game now and we're climbing the walls and arguing non stop.

No schools don't keep back places for appeals.

If the SIF was to evidence church baptism/attendance then it would be required for your child to be assigned to that admissions category - if it is an ICS appeal which it sounds like from those class numbers then appeals are only usually successful if it is evident an error was made in processing application.

The more positive news is that you're in a good piston the waiting list (although do be aware that can change)

Not sure if they can help as this is a faith school question but @admission and @prh47bridge are incredibly helpful.

Thanks, it's just so annoying, we know it's our own fault but any tips guidance would be great. Surrounded by schools in a triangle 0.3 miles away and top on the waiting lists on each is so frustrating. We could have had the SIF OR baptism on their step within minutes. Another LA had advised had they even just saw the faith option was Catholic they would have prompted us to submit the form.

We do hope that the very fact he is in the Parrish may help?

As myrtleWilson says, schools don't keep back places for appeals. They are not allowed to do so.

If I understand correctly, the school has a class of 30. That means any appeal will be heard under infant class size rules, so you can only win if the admission arrangements broke the law or the Admissions Code, or they were not administered correctly and this has cost your child a place, or the decision to refuse admission was unreasonable.

In your case, I'm afraid the admission authority has not made a mistake. They have administered their admission arrangements correctly and the decision to refuse admission was not unreasonable. The admissions information on their website and in the LA's guidance would have told you that you needed to submit an SIF. You did not do so, so I'm afraid the mistake is yours. You can still appeal but you need to understand that an appeal is very unlikely to succeed.

I am a little sceptical of the information you say you've got from the neighbouring LA. The SIF goes to the school, not the LA, so the LA has no way of knowing whether or not a parent has submitted the SIF. I am not aware of any LA that attempts to follow up missing SIFs but I can't say definitively that there aren't any. Some schools do chase parents for SIFs but they are not required to do so.

I'm not sure of the basis for your complaint to the LA. As far as I can see they have not done anything wrong. If you want to appeal you must follow the instructions on the letter you received telling you that you hadn't got a place. Appealing to the diocese won't achieve anything unless that is what the letter told you to do.

Your best chance is via the waiting list. As you are first on the list you have a decent chance of getting a place that way.

It sounds like you have rejected the place that was offered. I would have advised accepting it. An appeal panel may feel you are trying to blackmail them into giving you your preferred school, which won't go down well. Also, the LA is not obliged to come up with any alternative offers. You and your partner therefore need to think seriously about what you will do if you don't get a place via the waiting list. Your child must start full time education at the start of term following their fifth birthday. You need to either find a school by then or be prepared to home educate.

I'd say calm down, you are 1st on the waiting list. Likely someone will change their mind or move house before September and you'll be in.

Supplementary information forms are essential for schools where you are claiming a place on religious grounds. Being baptised is only part of the criteria - you need to prove you are active in your faith (I work for a church, most the babies we baptise are never seen again until 6 weeks before school admissions are due and parents start trying to get noticed, volunteering etc to get the reference!). Unless your partner is a practicing Catholic, the baptism is not enough for the place in a popular school.

Our complaint to the le is their website and the lack of information contained on there. It's very ironic as well that know at least 3 other couples allbeit got their choice in another school or are looking to who missed this form. We know at least one who has appeared to do the same thing in the waiting list as they jumped above us on the list temporarily as well. We have a source who has said they've heard similar complaints about the le website and people not submitting sif in this area. We've found at least one page where the school isn't even listed on as requiring the SIF? Whilst we can't use alot if this as we are aware I'm sure we won't be the only parents with complaints.

Yes I hope being so high on a list for three will mean something will happen.

.Being baptised is only part of the criteria - you need to prove you are active in your faith (I work for a church, most the babies we baptise are never seen again until 6 weeks before school admissions are due and parents start trying to get noticed, volunteering etc to get the reference!). Unless your partner is a practicing Catholic, the baptism is not enough for the place in a popular school.

This isn’t quite right. In some areas and or some schools you will need proof of attendance, but it isn’t universal. Applicants need to look up the criteria for the schools they are applying for to work out exactly what it is they need to prove.

Are you saying OP that the information about the SIF wasn't in the council's schools admission guide booklet?

If you would like to say which LA is involved (you can PM me if you don't want to post that information publicly) I will be happy to take a look and say whether I think they have met the requirements for publicising the need for an SIF.

Did you visit the school OP / look up the school's website?

All of the schools we visited went through (in quite some detail) what the admission process was - including the submission of an additional form (SIF). In the case of our chosen (faith) school, it's spelled out in bold on the school's website too.

I think you will have a tough time proving this isn't your error.

In my school and my DDs schools it is clearly marked on the admissions page that a SIF is required. The LA website also lists all schools that require a SIF clearly and furthermore your parish newsletter would have had details of when your priest would have been available to sign your certificate of Catholic practice ( if this is a requirement of your SIF ).

Did you attend the open evenings/days for prospective parents? This information is given out at these too.

For you to win a appeal you will need to prove that there has been an error in applying the criteria which it doesn't look like there has?

We had similar issue with a SIF and not getting a place but as it was a church school we had asked if any further info was needed for applications when we visited. When we applied we emailed the school asking to confirm there was no further forms needed. They said no, then we didn't get a place ( a very over subscribed school with a waiting list of 75) we appealed because we were told no form was necessary - we are fortunate that we had a trail of emails so we could prove the error. Without this there would have been no proof that they had made the error. You can go to appeal but unless you have the proof it is a lot of stress for no result. If you are first on the list, there will be people who decline places and move/enrol in private school and there is a very good chance you will get a place before September.

I can appreciate you feel upset, but your anger is misplaced - you should be angry at yourself for not reading the information comprehensively.

I am afraid that the mistake was your mistake. The SIF should have been mentioned in both the information on the school website and also on the LA website. I would be amazed if as you indicate it is not on the LA website, given that it is such a fundamental part of the admission process for faith schools, but then I am always open to be amazed by what some LAs do or don't do.
Again like PRH more than happy to look what information is on both school and LA site and confirm what I think is OK or not.
Your best option is to get in from the waiting list, especially when your first on two of the schools and 2nd on the other. Many parents would be willing to commit murder to be in that position in London having missed out on all 6 of their preferences and having waiting lists that stretch into the 100s.

Thanks all. Yes I'm getting the impression waiting list may be the best option.
I'm fully aware going to appeal was more we'd be asking ourselves why we hadn't in future and to show we care.
There's a waiting list of 25 to 35 on each of the three.
At least given all of your helpful feedback I can now put things into context, hopefully now I'll just get that call.