Primary school place rescinded

[Dave2022]

Evening,

We woke up today to find out our son had got his first choice primary school. A few hours later we get an email advising it may be revoked as they had made an administration error on 3 children and ours was one, he is currently in accepted 30 children, they need to talk to the school head before moving. We spoke to them and of course advised we were annoyed as told our child etc and now will have the emotional stress to not going to his preferred choice. The manager said the school may decide to take the extra 3 children and would be his recommendation however up to the head teacher and can’t speak to her until term resumes next week. Where do we stand as I know they can withdraw etc?! They blamed it on a location model that had the school at wrong address etc, schools 3 years old and only ever been located there. Last year our son moved nursery and had night terrors, a tic and GP and Health Worker out this down to emotional stress. Our first choice has his friends and is connected to nursery he goes to so minimal distraction, of course now the worry the change etc will cause the health issues as before. Anyone had an experience here and what the likely outcome will be?

The bad news is that they've informed you on the same day do that will be seen as a reasonable time frame. The other difficulty is that there is a cap on infant class sizes of 30 children. However, if the HT has a PAN that allows some flexibility, they may be able to honour the offer.

I have read if the administration teams made an error then the school can be allowed to take an extra few children over 30 with one teacher as long as it’s rectified following year or appeals team can enforce an above limit 30 etc. just not sure the outcome. They have only advised us they need to review it hasn’t been withdrawn yet. So stressful as parents

Yes, as Lougle says, although there’s no definition of what is or isn’t a “reasonable” time to withdraw an offer, it would generally be accepted that the same day is reasonable.

Presumably it's v likely that if they did withdraw the offers you'd be first, second and third on the waiting list and this likely to get a place in a few weeks anyway?

Your dc will not have "emotional stress" of not getting your his first choice unless you feed him that "stress".

If it was 1 extra, the HT might be persuaded but I very much doubt 3 extra children could be admitted. If you appeal I think it's highly likely the council would find it reasonable as they notified you of the mistake immediately.

The address thing could be real. If it's a new school it might have had a slightly different official addresses during the building stage because of pedestrian access to the school vs access to the building site and assuming it's fully built the main access has changed.

But if you're high on the waiting list, there is still a good chance he'll get a place.

I’m not so sure as there is only one class of 30 children as it’s a newer school they haven’t expanded yet.

I think more the emotional stress on the child and his health issues that I hope they take into account. My worry is only one class of 30 at the school being new so not sure it’s likely we will have much luck. Two classes of 30 we may have been lucky. Hard to be upbeat at the moment after the excitement gets taken away

Hmmm. That's pretty bad. I wouldn't buy the 'emotional stress' excuse as that would be coming from you, but I'd kick up a massive fuss as I think that would be really unprofessional. If you get nowhere, you can always appeal and use the initial acceptance as part of the appeal.

You just have to keep your fingers crossed.

If it does remain rescinded then as parents, you lead the way in helping him through points of transition and change and that's the time to build resilience and model what he needs to see.

I've been there with a child having to go to a school which was unsuitable in myriad ways and without any of DS's friends who all went elsewhere. DS had no idea it wasn't the greatest school in the world and obviously, the staff are well versed in helping dozens of children to settle.

Good luck! I know it's a worrying time.

Unless you applied under Health and Social criteria, assuming there was such a category, it is unlikely to carry weight now as you are up against Infant Class Size restrictions. Agree the emotional stress is a projection of your emotions rather than ds at this early stage. If you would have otherwise been offered second or third choice that may still be possible, if there error denied your ds a place there.

If your child is as I credibly emotionally sensitive abandon prone to stress as you describe, is it in his best interests to be a in a class with an excessive number of children in it?

The good news is that the school could just admit the three children who missed out. In that situation they would be classed as excepted pupils because they are being admitted after the initial allocation of places due to an error in the original admissions process. However, the school cannot be forced to admit them as excepted. If they don't, I'm afraid your child will lose their place. As others have said, the fact that they have contacted you so quickly means they are clearly acting within the Admissions Code so there is no obvious case for appeal.

@prh47bridge Morning, thanks for the reply. I was under the impression one of the grounds for an appeal when an error has been made by the admissions team reading the admission rules. My worry is the class is at 30 at the moment. Also what would be the process in terms of where they find a place for him, his second and third choice as I understand are full as well?

@prh47bridge Morning, thanks for the reply. I was under the impression one of the grounds for an appeal when an error has been made by the admissions team reading the admission rules. My worry is the class is at 30 at the moment. Also what would be the process in terms of where they find a place for him, his second and third choice as I understand are full as well?

At the moment I'd also be thinking about what school he would get if not this one. So if they had done the process 'right' would he have got your second choice? Will they guarantee a place there? What happens to that school's class size. What's their backstop?

The sort of error the panel would be looking for is one which has cost a child their place, such as getting their address wrong and so miscalculating the distance to school.

Here, we’re talking about a different scenario, where the LEA has made an error in your favour and might want to correct it by removing the place. As prh47bridge says, they may decide to leave things be, and allow the three children to keep their places as “excepted pupils”. This is why you should press the LEA for confirmation of what they intend to do; if all local alternatives are full and your child would have to be squeezed in there as an “excepted pupil”, you could argue that they could just as well be an “excepted pupil” in your preferred school.

Agree with PanelChair. An error is only helpful if it has cost your child a place. In your scenario, the error has resulted in you being offered a place that should have gone to someone else. Putting that right doesn't give you a case for appeal provided they sort it out quickly.

I wonder though, if there's a sort of indirect disadvantage claim the OP could bring. Being accepted at school A means the child was removed from the pool at schools B, C, etc. If the school offered will now be school D because schools B & C are both full, then the error has cost their child their rightful place, whichever school that may be.

To correct it, the LA would have to look at what would have happened if the error hadn't occurred. If it means that they would have got school B, then they'd further have to look at which child would then not have got a place...a real domino effect. If may be worth their while to just put the child as an excepted pupil so it doesn't have a wider impact.

@Dave2022, if I were you, if they say they will withdraw the place, I'd ask for the information about which school you should have qualified for and indicate that you will appeal for that school based on the fact that you should have got a place there.

@PanelChair Thats a very good point. All 3 local schools to us are full so anywhere he goes now that location will have above the 30 pupil mark. Otherwise your going to have the domino affect of having to remove a child from another school for our son to go to as he would have qualified for our second choice comfortably on location.

@Lougle He would comfortably have got into his second choice as it’s slightly closer to us.

The worry now is the schools control the admission process so if they’re all full how to the admissions team force them to take an extra child as the Manger admitted they control that process not him.

I wonder though, if there's a sort of indirect disadvantage claim the OP could bring. Being accepted at school A means the child was removed from the pool at schools B, C, etc. If the school offered will now be school D because schools B & C are both full, then the error has cost their child their rightful place, whichever school that may be.

I agree, but I think that will help with an appeal for the school the OP would have been offered if the LA hadn't made a mistake. I don't think it will help with an appeal for this school.

Yeah are thoughts we’re if we have to go down the appeal route it would work for option B and not A as that would of been our rightful place had the mistake not of been made.

I agree too; I would expect the “indirect disadvantage” argument to fly only if the LEA isn’t willing to make a place available in the school that should have been offered, and only for that school. (And as mentioned earlier, in OP’s shoes I would argue that if my child has to be the 31st pupil anywhere, it might as well be the preferred school).

I think the issues here have been highlighted and revolve around firstly the offered and then declined school and secondly the affect of this mistake in terms of the second preference and then third preference schools.
It is not unknown for a school to accept 33 pupils where a mistake has been made by the LA. If it was my school involved and especially given the fact it is a new school and therefore wanting to grow I would be tempted to be asking the LA to pay for an extra TA until as such time as the class is at 30 pupils. Whilst that might be £20K it is a small price to pay out on in the context of the hassle the LA will have to resolve to establish what should have happened if they had not made a mistake over the three pupils, as the effect cycles through the three pupils to the pupils then displaced in other schools etc. The ripple effect can be quite disruptive.
However it all depends on the attitude of the headteacher to the request to take 3 extra pupils.

What do the LEA do re the possible domino effect? They are aware that they have made an error; do they need to cancel offers at the other schools to allow for the process being rerun, and if they don't, do they fall foul of other affected parents saying a subsequent withdrawal isn't timely.

@PanelChair I agree that’s a point I will raise ref the 31st place.

@admission I know the school has plans to grow and it’s become very popular very quickly, I’m sure they had 65 admissions this year alone for reception year. The LMA did say the recommendation to the head would be to take the extra 3 children as I’m sure the domino affect would be substantial given all local schools are full and any appeal on our second choice would hold merit as had the mistake not been made like other pointed out we would have been granted a place here.

@Travellor The LMA did briefly touch on they would have to look at the pool again and given this is now over 3 days it will become more complicated if we take the place to the detriment of someone else at school 2. I really don’t know what the out one will be, the Head is on holiday so may not find out anything until next week