Tips - What to do if you aren't happy with your school place

[PatriciaHolm]

I've posted this a few times before and it seems to be helpful, so I thought I would repost today, as it's National Offer Day for Primaries (England and Wales)

I thought it might be useful to do a quick summary post, primarily on what to do if you aren't happy, as I know it may come up a lot today....(FWIW, I sit on Appeals Panels, and also a Chair of Governors. There are several other very experienced panelists and admissions experts around too.) Hopefully this will be helpful.

What to do if you get a school you don't want?

1. Accept it. This is does not signal to the LA that you are happy, it just locks in a "last resort" option. It has NO impact on waiting lists - you get no preferential treatment on lists or at appeal if you turn the place down, nor are you negatively impacted if you have accepted a place.
If you turn it down, the LA no longer has an obligation to find you a place, so you will be dependent on waiting lists/appeals. If they don't come through, you could find yourself with no place in September. So ONLY turn it down if homeschool (or private) is definitely an option......

2.Get yourself onto Waiting lists for schools you do want. In some areas you are automatically put on lists for schools higher in your preferences that you don't get into, in some cases you need to ask, so check - your LA website, email, or login portal will probably tell you what to do. You can also add yourself to lists for schools you didn't apply for (some LAs limit the amount of lists you can be on though.)
You can also ask the LA if there are any other local schools with places that you might prefer.

3. Check there has been no mistake. If you are genuinely surprised and you think a mistake might have been made - wrong distance used, sibling link ignored etc - it's worth checking. Your decision letter/portal is likely to have the criteria you were assessed under for each school and, for example, the distance used in the case of distance criteria, so check all is well. If it doesn't, check with the LA. But be patient, lots of people will be calling/emailing today/tomorrow!.

4. Think about appeals. You can appeal for any school you applied for and didn't get into.
However, note that appeals for many/most reception years are ICS; Infant Class Size, which are exceptionally hard to win as the law caps classes at 30 in years R,1,2 unless there are exceptional circumstances (basically if the admissions authority made an error that cost you a place, or the decision not to admit is so unreasonable (in a specific legal sense) that no sensible person would have made it. Very few ICS appeals are granted).

Non ICS appeals are different and I won't go into depth here as each appeal is different, but essentially you need to show that the detriment to the school of taking another pupil is less than the detriment to your child of getting a place. If you decide to do this, post and ask for help! A number of us here are happy to do so.

If you are happy - great! Accept it, if you need to (some LAs will auto accept for you.) And be patient - most schools are a bit busy right now...

Any questions, do ask. Sometimes it's easier for someone not emotionally involved to figure out the answer or find a detail.

Asking as there seems to be some conflicting opinions on an AIBU thread currently (and I’m curious). Hope you don’t mind, hopefully it’s useful to some people.

Can parents of a summer born child who aren’t happy with their place decide now to defer entry and reapply for reception next year?

@comealongponds

Asking as there seems to be some conflicting opinions on an AIBU thread currently (and I’m curious). Hope you don’t mind, hopefully it’s useful to some people.

Can parents of a summer born child who aren’t happy with their place decide now to defer entry and reapply for reception next year?

Depends on your LA. Check their summer born guidance carefully. Sometimes you need to accept the place and then apply to defer. Some will insist that you either start later in the year OR go straight to year 1.

I think you don't have to decide about deferrals straight away but can have a few weeks / months to think about it and discuss with any current nursery / preschool about deferrals.

@comealongponds

Asking as there seems to be some conflicting opinions on an AIBU thread currently (and I’m curious). Hope you don’t mind, hopefully it’s useful to some people.

Can parents of a summer born child who aren’t happy with their place decide now to defer entry and reapply for reception next year?

Depends on the admissions authority.

Some (for example Herts) are very accepting of delayed entry, and just ask parents to apply for a place in reception for the delayed start - no consultation required. The only exception would be if you applied at the normal time, accepted a school place and then decided to change your mind after acceptance.

Others ask parents to apply in the normal round, but request a delay when they do, so as to make sure if the application is denied, they have a school place at the normal admissions point.

So...it depends.

I've not been allocated a school within my chosen preferences. The school I have been allocated for my child has been under requires improvement since 2017 with not much progress looking at the ofsted reports. I am devastated and I don't know what to do.

I'm considering rejecting but everywhere I read basically says not to. It seems like early years and years 1-3 are most affected which I am concerned about.

Is it really very likely my child won't get a place on continued interested lists? I don't think private is an option for us, not long term anyway.

Don't decline. Accept the place and make sure you're on the waiting lists for your other preferences.

So much change happens over the summer and even more within the first few months of school.

@VP91x go and have a look at the school and you might be pleasantly surprised. My dc are older now but went to an RI primary which was fantastic (to us anyway) despite the ofsted reports and they did very well. Also take heart from the fact that the school will be under pressure to improve quickly if it's been RI for that long so it might get Good soon. Honestly, don't be devastated because of an RI school

@VP91x

I've not been allocated a school within my chosen preferences. The school I have been allocated for my child has been under requires improvement since 2017 with not much progress looking at the ofsted reports. I am devastated and I don't know what to do.

I'm considering rejecting but everywhere I read basically says not to. It seems like early years and years 1-3 are most affected which I am concerned about.

Is it really very likely my child won't get a place on continued interested lists? I don't think private is an option for us, not long term anyway.

Accept the place. No-one here can tell you the likelihood of movement on waiting lists. Every area is different and schools within that. You do not lose a waiting list place by accepting the school offered. If you do not accept current offer you may have no school place at all or a school you regard as worse than current offer.

@VP91x As said, do not decline, unless private is an option. You could find yourself school-less in Sept if you do, as the LA have no obligation to find another place if you turn this one down.

Make sure you are on waiting lists - some LAs do this automatically, but it's worth checking. You can also add yourself to lists for other schools, again talk to the LA about their policy on this as some limit the number. You could also ask if any local schools still have places, if there are other schools you would take over the one you have been allocated.

If the PAN of the school you want is not 30 (or a multiple of) you could consider an appeal. If it is, then the ICS rules apply, as I posted above.

Thank you all, it really is so confusing and overwhelming.

I really didn't think I would get allocated non ranked school! I was really reasonable with my preferences, seems like rotten luck.

It’s very much as PatriciaHolm says.

Don’t turn down your offered place unless you’re in a position to home educate or pay for independent school.

I’ve seen the other thread about deferring. As PatriciaHolm says, practice around deferral tends to vary from LEA to LEA. There may be good reasons for seeking deferral but I’m not sure that having a second go at getting a child into the preferred school is necessarily one of them, simply because of the risk of still not getting a place. Whatever the LEA’s policies around deferred entry (and anyone considering this will need to check carefully) it’s possible and maybe even likely that, if the child didn’t qualify for a place at the first attempt, they might not at the second (unless there’s been a significant change in the oversubscription criteria, size of the intake etc).

Hi, thank you for the tips.

We got our second choice school, but very devastated not to have our first (further away; but is unofficially linked to a nursery we would use for wrap around care and which our younger child also goes to).

How do they calculate distance to a school? Is it as the crow flies or by road? Is it different for different local authorities? As I wonder whether the way we drive (or I sometimes cycle), is down an old track which would shave off a couple of miles! We are in a rural location going to a different village. The school we have been offered is in our nearest town.

Many thanks in anticipation

All school admissions policies I've looked at calculate distance as the crow flies.

@Rbaby Most use straight line distance but I believe there are some that use shortest walking route. It should hopefully say in the admissions policy, or if you post the LEA here I'm sure someone will be able to find the information

Hi, thank you both.
It is in Herefordshire.

@rbaby Yes, as CoF says, it will differ by admissions authority. Straight line distance is most common, as it's the easiest to measure and least disputable, but you do also see shortest walking route, which occasionally can be wrong because it can miss shortcuts - though often authorities will define walking routes as, for example, being required to be lit, so that might exclude your track, for example.

The measurement will be from your home to a specific point on the school, usually front gate, or the nearest gate to you that students can use if they have more than one. Again, the admissions policy for the school should say.

Thanks so much for this.

Ah - Herefordshire mostly operate a defined catchment system, and within that the distance is measured by "shortest available walking route". Defined as -

"Distance is measured by the shortest available walking route using a road and/or made up footpath using the nearest node on the transport network to the property point. The effect of this is to take you to the front door and not take into consideration other entrances (such as rear garden gates/ short cuts). This is particularly pertinent in a rural area like Herefordshire where rural properties can have multiple access points. "

Was your first choice your catchment school?

You can ask the LA for the route it used to measure your walking distance.

Is it worth moving house, to a town with a selection of good schools?
In my town there are many primary schools, almost of them with either good or outstanding Offsted reports.

Some councils do have maps on their websites to show the walking route they use. Some short cuts may not be deemed safe due to lack of street lighting etc so it's worth checking if the short cuts are correct if one would put you a lot closer and the LA use shortest walking distance.

Thank you for that. I don't actually know what our catchment school is; would it be the closest one in the list on their website?
Yes I may ask them how they calculated the route in case it brings a nearer result and therefor gets us closer to the top of the waiting list.
Thanks everyone

If a school has a catchment area the map for it will be on the LEAs website - absolutely no rule that it is the school closest to you, depends entirely where the catchment lines are, not unusual for houses directly opposite a school or on same road etc not to be within catchment for that particular school. Our catchment school is not the closest to us

Hi everyone, gosh, so my child didn’t get any of our 3 choice schools. Instead we got a place at a school we had to remove our older child from. Our older child suffers with a horrendous anxiety problem, and the school just didn’t support us one bit. We had a meeting with our child’s key worker, my partner, my mother. The headteacher was also invited, but chose not to attend. Our child was just utterly miserable, often wouldn’t speak to teachers or peers, and stopped eating at lunchtime. This, and our child’s needs not being met was enough to choose to homeschool.
Now our youngest has been offered a place at this horrendous school, and now I’ve appealed.. but of course now I’ve realised it’s pretty much pointless. I am working through getting them onto a waiting list for preferred school.
This is just so upsetting and I feel we are stuck between a rock and a hard place, as this school just isn’t an option.
However, there is no way I would be able to homeschool both kids, my eldest is very problematic and I often feel overwhelmed.
Sorry for the rant I just feel so sad for my youngest and the life I wanted him to have

I understand that the offered school did not meet your older child’s very specific needs, but why do you think it’s unsuitable for your younger child? As you recognise, if this is an ICS appeal it will be very hard to win. Are you on the waiting list for any schools you’d be willing to accept?

Do not lose hope @WhatToDo30 ..

Was there a reason you specifically chose homeschooling as opposed to another school for your eldest? Have you considered another school? Made any enquiries into spaces for him?

Obviously, get your child into waiting lists but can you consider schools a bit further away? Given your circumstances? Could you find a space somewhere while you wait on waiting lists?

Is there a possibility that this school might be OK for your youngest? Your eldest clearly has some MH problems but would your youngest actually be OK there? Even if it was just initially while you sit on the wait list? Or did it end on not very kind words in the end?

I’ve filled out some forms for our first and second choice schools, to join their waiting list. Regarding why this school wouldn’t be suitable for youngest;
The staff at this school made it very clear they weren’t going to support my child’s needs, even going so far as to say ‘special treatment’ wouldn’t be fair on other pupils.
We were assigned a key worker from the Children and Family Wellbeing Service. During her observation of our child in the school environment she raised many concerns regarding the lack of support, and that was in her presence.
The fact the Headteacher and other staff wouldn’t work with us on ways to make our child feel comfortable and cared for is more than enough reason to avoid this school for my youngest.
The ofsted report is still ‘requires improvement’. That speaks volumes.
Also, my severely anxious child would utterly dread having to come with me for school pick up/drop offs. Would be totally unfair.