Advice - place withdrawn.

[Fakenham]

Hi,
My friend applied for a school place for Reception. The cut-off date was 10 Feb to change addresses due to moving house. She changed hers the day before but didn't actually move house until mid March. She then sent in POR but has since been investigated and the place withdrawn. Apparently someone reported her. Now she wants to appeal but I've said that I don't think she stands a chance and should accept an offer given half a mile away. Does she have a chance? It's a school that admits one class of 30 pupils each year.

What are the proposed grounds of appeal?

A very late change of address comes across as suspicious.The LEA might have access to other council records so she may not even need to have been reported,

She presumably signed or clicked through something to say her declaration was accurate about where she was living as of that time. Short of somehow being able to prove something that didn’t happen — that she moved 5 weeks before she really did — I’m not sure how an appeal could work.

She says that the LA can't take a place away from you unless they withdraw it within a couple of days and wants to appeal on that basis. I think that they can take a place away if you made a fraudulent application if your child hasn't started at the school.

She is wrong.

The LA has limited time to withdraw an offer if it was made due to a mistake in the admissions process. However, that isn't what we are dealing with here.

If an application is fraudulent the place can be taken away even after the child has started school. Paragraph 2.13 of the Admissions Code is clear on this point.

Thank you for your advice. I think She is going ahead regardless, which seems a massive waste of time and work for all involved. I think she has some front, to be honest!

That happened at my kids school too. Kid actually started and then had his place withdrawn.

Bottom line is that the address that has to be used is the address that the child is living at. From the original post it is clear that the parent used an address that was not being occupied by the family on the 10th Feb.
As such the parent in my opinion has no grounds to appeal, she made a fraudulent application and was caught doing it. She has a much better chance of getting a place of the waiting list then winning an appeal with that reasoning

If the offer is still on the table she should accept the half a mile away school. It won’t affect her (unlikely to succeed) appeal , but will mean that she has a school place for September, alternatively if she has a summer born child she could accept the place but decide to defer entry. She can go on the waiting lists for schools she prefers.

Thanks everyone, for all your help.