Something weird is going on here

[pennysays]

DC is #1 on the waiting list for our nearest school, let's call it Amazing Academy. We have been told we are #1 every month or so for the last 4 months.

We started at our second choice primary - Lovely Local - three weeks ago. Since then a child from DC's Lovely Local class has left. His mum says he has been offered and accepted a place at Amazing Academy.

Our admissions officer at the LA says no one has been offered a place at Amazing Academy and that there is no one "of that name" on her records.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?! Is other Mum lying? Is admissions officer lying? I feel like I'm losing the plot.

What should I do?

EDIT

1. school offered direct/incorrectly and the message did not get through to the council

@Filthycop

Would YOU have told someone calling up this information??

Academies run their own admissions, so the most likely scenario is that the Academy itself has sorted this out and hasn't got round to telling the LA yet.

The other parent may have not even put their child on the waiting list until last week, say, and if they live closer (or have another reason that means they come above you on the waiting list) they would have gone top - at which point a place came free (which given it's the start of term isn't hugely unlikely).

Regardless, the LA should absolutely not have told you anything about another child.

[quote Saladovercrispsanyday]@Filthycop

Would YOU have told someone calling up this information??[/quote]
No... would have happily said no further offers have been made but would not have confirmed whether a specific child has been offered or not

@Filthycop

And you agree that outrageous

I’m horrified they even told you, to be honest. That’s a serious safeguarding breach!

Unlikely that the other mum is lying so LA is probably lying.

[quote pennysays]@Saladovercrispsanyday

I said "Are we still #1 on waiting list? A child from Lovely Local has told me they are moving to Amazing Academy"

They said, "No one has been offered a place at Amazing Academy"

I said, "This is really strange, I'm sure this parent isn't lying."

They said, "What is their name". I told them. They said, "This name is not in my records".[/quote]
Absolutely outrageous for her to have asked their name, checked it and then told you if they were on the list!!

Sackable offence I would have thought, if that's what happened.

@Staffy1

Unlikely that the other mum is lying so LA is probably lying.

not necessarily lying - may not be aware - different authorities mange things differently but from 1 September it is often passed back to schools etc and they inform the LA when an offer is made. This means that there can be a delay between school making offer and LA being informed.

The other mother won’t be lying
Why would she when surely the proof will be whether her son attends or not?!

I suspect rather the person you spoke with said that she didn’t have any record when she perhaps meant I can not tell you whether there is a record or not

Thanks for all your input.

The academy does refer people back to the LA for admissions - you have to apply via the LA to get a place at this primary, but it is the most logical explanation. Is there any hope in addressing the academy directly?

@Saladovercrispsanyday you may be right, something doesn't add up about this.

@Filthycop thanks for your response, it's really helpful.

@pennysays

Thanks for all your input.

The academy does refer people back to the LA for admissions - you have to apply via the LA to get a place at this primary, but it is the most logical explanation. Is there any hope in addressing the academy directly?

@Saladovercrispsanyday you may be right, something doesn't add up about this.

Hi,

we manage admissions for Academies in our area - but the academy makes the decision who to offer to. So you would apply through us and we send details to the schools who tell us if they can offer.

If this is a Reception application they are all sent over and ranked according to there admission criteria and sent back to us to make the offers. Following this each place that is available from the waiting list is offered by us, but at the request of the academy so it can go:

Day 1 parent tells us they are leaving school/going elsewhere/not turning up etc - we tell Academy ' child x has dropped out who shall we offer ot next?
Day 2 school phones people on the waiting list - we have a place are you still interested? yes you can let me know tomorrow after you have discussed with family.
Day 3 parent says no thanks settled where they are, school phone next parent on the waiting list... we have a place are you still interested? yes you can let me know tomorrow after you have discussed with family.Parent goes into school says I'm off to academy and every one at school finds out
Day 4 - parent speaks to school - yes would like the place. Great says school we will send you enrolment paperwork - emails LA to tell them of offer - parent at school says 'my friend was offered yesterday, what's going on?' LAsay - we don't know
Day 5 Local authority gets info from academy and makes formal offer and updates system

also Academies tend to manage their own appeals - so you can approach them to appeal - if they have offered to someone before you then you would win an appeal.

You can submit a FOI request OP.

E.g.

"State how many children were enrolled into year group X, outside of the annual admissions cycle, between date A to date B, and under what admissions criteria the admission was made"

Address the FOI to the Data Protection Officer for the LA.

@Warmduscher schools are free to set their own criteria for admission, though usually in line with LA recommendations.
My school prioritises children of staff (all staff, cleaners, teachers, receptionist etc) who have been employed for over two years, unless a priority area for recruitment (so my child wouldn't have had to wait two years, for example, but I had none eligible in my first two years there!).
The staff priority comes after SEND, LAC, and Sibling priorities, but before distance.
Quite a number of staff have/have had children in the school.

Also, I'm surprised you were told which position you are on the waiting list @pennysays. We don't tell people, as it can change day-to-day, if someone moves closer to school, they go above you, if a child that is LAC or previously LAC applies, they go above you, etc.

Could this child have won an appeal? They might have been below you on the waiting list but if they win an appeal they would get in even if there wasn’t a vacancy. That would explain why the child wasn’t on a list. the class would go up to 31, of course that would depend on how many children won appeals, two appeals won and the class goes to 32.

@Three0fivepointfour

Could this child have won an appeal? They might have been below you on the waiting list but if they win an appeal they would get in even if there wasn’t a vacancy. That would explain why the child wasn’t on a list. the class would go up to 31, of course that would depend on how many children won appeals, two appeals won and the class goes to 32.

absolutely this could have happened - I didn't think of it earlier - and 3ffecitvely makes you second on the waiting list because if a child leaves, they won't offer as it gets them back to 30 so you would need two children to leave before you can be offered

@PreparationPreparationPrep

And the LA list might not mean very much if the school can choose who they want anyway.

They can't. It doesn't matter if they are an academy or not- if they are a state school they still have to offer places that come up according to the waiting list which will be ordered by the published admissions criteria. Appeals are separate to this, but that's a formal process.