reception place appeals

[lauramcconville]

Hi, I'm looking for any advice or experience about a reception class appeal. We applied from overseas because we are living in the US but due to return to the house we own in the UK this summer. We put the school in the village where we lived (and will return to in July) as our 1st choice. We got our 3rd choice. At the time of the application, I submitted several pieces of supplementary evidence to prove our intention to return to the UK and our UK residential address as directed on the CC admissions guidance. It would appear the CC did not take any of this into account as otherwise we would have certainly got a place based on distance. I know of other children with addresses further out that ours that were awarded places. I think therefore I'm looking to prove that the CC did not apply the admissions criteria fairly? Do you think we have a case? Any advice from anyone whos been through this?

I believe the admissions code has been applied fairly as you are not currently living in the U.K. Assuming you have the right of abode here, you are eligible to apply for a school place but you would be treated the same as everyone else through the process. The only exception is military and crown service employees returning to the U.K.

For example, someone may live in Manchester but own a property right next door to the most sought after grammar in the country 120 miles away. If the family haven’t relocated to that property before the cut off date then their address in Manchester will be used for the purposes of admissions, regardless of what intentions or proof they will be living there they provide. Otherwise rich people would be snapping up houses next to these top schools with the intention of using them to securing the school place and then moving there. Also, if you think about it, priority SHOULD be given to the children already living here and closest to the school. What if you don’t return?

By being offered a school place, even one you don’t want, the LA has shown that your application has been treated fairly and been through due process. You have been given a place at a school that has spaces so it doesn’t matter that your address for admissions is thousands of miles away - you are eligible and can therefore have it.

Sorry, probably not what you wanted to hear. My step brother came back from Oz with his four kids and had huge issues - all allocated different schools and missed the cut off for a reception and Y7 place. It did all work out fine in the end though, just took an appeal for the Y7 place once they were in the country and a three month period of three kids in different primary schools.

Most councils reject offers from overseas completely, unless from returning military and qualifying Crown servants. The admissions code has force of law, and they are the only groups for which a future address should be used.

You have been unusually lucky to have had the application accepted. But it is entirely normal that the distance is based on where the prospective pupil is living at the time of the application.

You need to check if the admissions criteria is your address at time of application, or the address you intend to be living at when the school year starts.
I imagine it will be address at application, but if it is intended address and they haven’t taken that into account then you would have grounds to appeal.

If you and the relevant dc can return sooner you will stand a better chance on waiting lists. It is based on where you and the child are living now not where you intend to live.

Most LA will only use a local address within a specific time of or on arrival from abroad. Did the LA confirm they would use your uk address for admissions at that point? If the intake is full it will be an ICs appeal and only proving an error was made will succeed. Is there a waiting list and , if so, which address are they using for the position?

As others have said, so much here depends on the wording of the LEA’s policy on proof of address. Very few LEAs will treat an application on the basis of where the child will or might be living in so many months’ time (for obvious reasons, as it’s so open to abuse and even moves that are planned in good faith could be delayed or cancelled). With very few exceptions, they work on the basis of current address. So I very much doubt that you’ve got the basis of a winnable appeal unless You can show that the LEA did not follow its own published policy.

Is your house rented out?

To be honest, I'm surprised the LA accepted your application at all given that you don't actually live there currently. Unless you are military, most LAs will only accept an application once you have returned to the UK. However, if you would like to identify the council concerned (PM me if you don't want to post that information publicly) I will be happy to take a look and see whether you have a case.

We had an application accepted from overseas by the LA, prh47bridge, but we were applying to an undersubscribed area (and my DD was offered a place at an undersubcribed school).

When my SIL applied for a Reception place, planning to arriving back in the UK at the end of February, her application was accepted only once they sent proof that their tenants had moved out & the house was empty for their arrival.

Having applied (mid year application) for schools from abroad, I'd say you've done exceedingly well to get an offer at all.
Our application was accepted 3 days before we flew (to an undersubscribed school). Froends had to wait until they were physically in the uk.
Agree with above - if you are military or crown, the rules are different.
Good luck with the move.

The key issue here is that the LA has to use the address where the pupil is spending the majority of the school week when considering the distance from the school to the home. That is clearly somewhere in the USA, so I believe that you do not have any case, assuming that the school is full from pupils who were much closer to the school.
You are as others have said lucky that the LA even allocated a school as most would not accept an address from outside the UK.
You best bet is to accept the school offered, as your fall back position, get yourself on the waiting list for the preferred schools and then try to move to the UK as soon as possible. As soon as you are in the UK with your child, you then need to update the LA with your address and hope that there are other people who decline the school you prefer.

It would appear the CC did not take any of this into account as otherwise we would have certainly got a place based on distance.
They have acted completely correctly.
The places allocated to children further out from your address is also correct, because you are not currently living there.

I now realise that I misread your first post and (wrongly) thought you had returned to the UK since submitting your application from the USA. As it is, I think you have even less of a case for appeal and I can only assume that you got a place at the school because it is under-subscribed.

The good news is that as soon as you move back to your UK home, your place on the waiting list will depend on that address, so you may leapfrog lots of other people.

As others have said, there is no point in appealing.

This seems a bit odd. We did similar, also moving from overseas and needing a reception place. We rented a house in the UK from the June, signed paperwork for it in April and were offered a place in the second round of offers made (we could only apply once we had the rental agreement as proof of intended address). There was no issue around what was our current foreign address at the time of application. PM me if you like, OP.

Think that this is all about different LAs having slightly different views on when they will accept addresses etc.
There is no doubt that legally the address that should be used for requesting places at schools is the current address where the pupil spends the majority of the school week. However some LAs insist that any new address can only be used after the child has moved in to the home, whereas others will accept a new address after contracts have been signed, even though they have not moved in. Effectively it is down to establishing what the LA will and will not allow.