In year admissions Advice..Pls help!

[Mum2Rudh]

Hi everyone..sorry for the long post!

MY DS is 6 and is in Year 1. We are moving house to a nearby county and so have to change schools. As per the county website, our nearest school(5 min walk) is full and the only school that has spaces(10 min drive) is not a good school. I had filled only my first preference - the nearest school in my in-year application and as expected, the Admissions team said they cannot offer a place. However they have put his name on the continuing interest list and said I can appeal if I want to.

My question is

1. As I haven't put any another school in my application, what happens to my DS?
2. Can the council force me to send my son to the school that has vacancies, even if I dont want to?
3. Can I homeschool him until I move up the waiting list in my nearest school?

I was under the assumption that if I had put the second preference, he might have automatically got into the school with the vacancies which I'm not happy with. Also if he moves up the waiting list in our nearest school in few months, he might have to change schools once again which would be too distressing for him :(

Please help.

Thanks
Mira

Once you are resident in the new county, that LA has a duty to offer him a place at the nearest appropriate school with places.

You don’t have to take it, no. You can keep him at home and home school him and hope a place comes up off the waiting list. But it’s a big risk.

Are there any other schools you’d consider?

No other schools have vacancies anyways.

Also I read that if a child hasnt got a school place for 2 months, Fair access protocol might be invoked and council will have to ask for the nearest school to make space for the child. If thats the case, i was wondering if the council might allocate the other school that has vacancies?! Can i still reject it and wait for the waiting list to move ? Or will it be all too risky?!

Do you know what place you will be on the waiting list once you have moved? And how many children there are in your son’s year at the school? It’s not an exact science but that will give you a guide as to how likely it is a place will come available.

@Mum2Rudh

No other schools have vacancies anyways.

Also I read that if a child hasnt got a school place for 2 months, Fair access protocol might be invoked and council will have to ask for the nearest school to make space for the child. If thats the case, i was wondering if the council might allocate the other school that has vacancies?! Can i still reject it and wait for the waiting list to move ? Or will it be all too risky?!

I don’t think (but may be wrong) that the fair access protocol will apply as the LA has offered you a place at the school you don’t like, & you’ve chosen not to take it.

I know of a child who was taught at home until a place came up at the school she wanted him to attend if that is any help.

I would ring the council and talk to them about my options.

From your first post:

1. When you move to your new address the council must find a place for your son somewhere. That is likely to be the nearest school with places available.

1. They can't force you. You have the option of keeping your son at his current school (if that is practical), home schooling or sending him to an independent school. However, once they've offered a place the council don't have to come up with an alternative if you reject the offer.

1. Yes, home schooling is always an option provided you do actually home school and aren't just keeping him at home doing nothing in the hope of a place coming up.

I was under the assumption that if I had put the second preference, he might have automatically got into the school with the vacancies which I'm not happy with

Naming the school with places as your second preference would have made no difference to your application to your first preference. You still wouldn't have a place at that school. You would, however, have been offered the place at the other school.

Also I read that if a child hasnt got a school place for 2 months, Fair access protocol might be invoked and council will have to ask for the nearest school to make space for the child

Each council sets its own policies as to which children are included in the FAP (although there are some children that must be included). Even if they do use the FAP for children who haven't had a place for 2 months, that will only apply where the council hasn't been able to offer a place. You cannot force them to use the FAP by refusing an offer.

How do you expect your first choice school to 'make a space' for your DS? Do you want to force the class size to over 30?
Is the school with places available really so bad?

Thank you all for the reply..

As of now I haven't been offered a place yet as I had put my first preference as the ONLY option. Unlike reception admission, council does not allocate a school automatically if all of my preferred schools are full in my in year application.
So I was wondering as they haven't offered a place and if I home school him, will FAP be triggered in that case? Or what is likely to happen?

Thanks

@Macaroni46

How do you expect your first choice school to 'make a space' for your DS? Do you want to force the class size to over 30? Is the school with places available really so bad?

The school with places is not so bad but I was wondering if the waiting list move up, my son had to change schools once again and start all over again :( Instead I thought I would rather homeschool him till I get a place in the nearest school so it will be a one time change. (Ofcourse I wouldn't possibly know when he'll get a place in the nearest school!) It's just all so confusing...

Unlike reception admission, council does not allocate a school automatically if all of my preferred schools are full in my in year application.

If you are applying through the council, once you have moved into the area they must offer you a place somewhere.

So I was wondering as they haven't offered a place and if I home school him, will FAP be triggered in that case? Or what is likely to happen?

No. That won't trigger the FAP. Your son will be receiving an education so there will be no need for the FAP. If you home school your son will simply remain on the waiting list.

I went through this with my DD. Applied to three nearest schools, no spaces in any. Was space in another school, so was offered a place. Meanwhile we were appealing to the school her sister had been allocated (Yr4, so more flexibility). We were then in the awkward position of either having to accept the offered school, or risk having no place. She attended the alternative school for three days before winning the appeal to Sister school.

So they have to make you an offer, not necessarily at a school you chose, but just one offer. You can apply for any school you want.

Waiting lists... They can move quickly, or slowly. You can go up and down. If someone wins an appeal, then they won't admit another pupil to they are below 30 again.

If the school is more than 2 miles they may offer transport.

There is also no need to trigger the FAP, as a nearby school has a place - you just don't want it. The FAP would only be triggered to force a local school to offer a place if all the local schools were full - they aren't.

All you can do if you really don't want any other school is continue to home educate and wait on the waiting list. You need to be prepared that it could be a long wait though.

In our LA, FAP cannot breach infant class size if there is an alternative place on offer locally. Your decision not to accept that place would mean that your alternative would be to electively home educate.

The first thing that you need to establish is what is the level of movement in the school that is your preferred school. Hopefully the school will be able to give you some indication of that.
It could well be that there is a very low level of movement in the school, so you could be on the waiting list for a very long time. The other issue is around the school being full, in that as a year 1 pupil, the infant class size regulations may well be in force. That says that you cannot have more than 30 pupils to one school teacher. It also means that winning at appeal for a year 1 or year 2 pupil is nigh near impossible for someone coming in as an in-year pupil.
You need to consider every school in the immediate area and decide what school may be appropriate whilst at the same time deciding whether you can home school and for how long. As others have said FAP will not help you, so you need to look to other strategies in getting a suitable education for your son.

You would need to find out where you would be on the waiting list - you may not be at the top and so would have to wait until more than one pupil left. Also be aware you could move down the waiting list as well as up it. Are you prepared to homeschool for a year or more if it came to it?

Personally kids have missed so much school I would get him in any school you can and then move him to your preferred school if a place comes up. Are there also any other schools you would consider than you could go on the waiting lists for?