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Original poster

Can they just refuse her??? Midterm place offered by LA but school is saying no room sorry!

86 replies

Takeitfrommumma · 24/11/2022 21:51

So my 13 year old daughter has been having a terrible time in her current school. I won't go into it but the poor girl is traumatised!

I applied for a transfer to another nearby school, I got an email 2 weeks ago from the LA saying she had got a place and I accepted it! I've applied for a bus pass, which has been approved and brought her new uniform!

I called the school today as I've not heard anything from them and they told me that they have no room in her year and so she can't come there!

Can they just refuse to take her? My daughter is devastated and the admissions department isn't open now until Monday! Can anyone help? It seems incredibly unfair!

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Shinyandnew1 · 24/11/2022 21:54

Are they already full? Does your DD have an EHC plan?

Sounds like there has been a mix up somewhere along the line.

WithOneLook · 24/11/2022 21:58

Sounds like a mix up.....don't panic yet. I'd try ringing the school again on Monday (but not first thing or at lunchtime when they are manic busy!) and just check that they didn't misunderstand that your daughter has already been allocated a place by the LA (rather than you wanting to make a new application iyswim). If they are still adamant that they have nothing about your daughter ring the LA and see what they say. Make sure that you keep all the emails/letters so far though just in case you need to appeal!

Original poster
Takeitfrommumma · 24/11/2022 22:01

No EHP.

How can the LA offer a place if there isn't one available? Surely that isn't our fault and they should honour it??

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Ontheedge2 · 24/11/2022 22:05

It wouldn't be the schools fault either though if the LA got mixed up. If they can't fit her in, would you really want your DC in an overcrowded class, with less equipment etc to go around?

It may just be a misunderstanding somewhere. I'd try again with both the LA and the school on Monday -, try not to panic too much (easier said than done I know!)

Good luck

Onnabugeisha · 24/11/2022 22:17

I had similar in that once the LA identifies a place, you then contact the school to confirm the place. Do you have any other options?

Original poster
Takeitfrommumma · 24/11/2022 22:27

Only applied for the one school but can go back and reapply I guess. I've brought all her uniform though which wasn't cheap and can't send it back. Just so frustrated.....

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Shinyandnew1 · 24/11/2022 22:27

Takeitfrommumma · 24/11/2022 22:01

No EHP.

How can the LA offer a place if there isn't one available? Surely that isn't our fault and they should honour it??

Well no. Just because the LA cock something up, doesn’t mean the school should be penalised. If there are no spaces, they shouldn’t be directed to take additional pupils.

LeafHunter · 24/11/2022 22:29

I used to work for a school and you needed to call them immediately to accept the place after the LA had offered it - appreciate it might be different in other places but if you didn’t contact them they may have shown on the LA system as still having a space and so the LA offer it to the next person on the list.

PanelChair · 26/11/2022 00:08

There are only very limited circumstances in which an admissions authority can withdraw an offer of a place, even if it’s made in error. The case law around this is dated, but it’s usually thought that the LEA has just a few days in which to act. In this instance, it sounds as if the andmissions authority is the LEA, not the school.

I admit I haven’t been back to the admissions code to double-check, but I don’t think it matters here that the offer was made outside the usual admissions round. The offer was made and accepted two weeks ago. It can’t be withdrawn. Let’s hope that the person at the school simply got their wires crossed, but I suggest you get in touch with the LEA on Monday, remind them that the offer was made and accepted and ask them to ensure that the school is expecting your child.

prh47bridge · 26/11/2022 10:18

Agree with @PanelChair. It doesn't matter that this is outside the normal admissions round.

If the LA is the admission authority, the school has no choice. If the school is its own admission authority they can withdraw the offer if it was made in error, but not two weeks after it was made and accepted.

@Shinyandnew1 and others who have said similar things. It was established some time ago that, if an offer is made in error, it must be withdrawn within 3 days of being made. After that, the offer stands. If that means the school has to accept an additional pupil when they don't have any space, that is what has to happen. Some LAs think this precedent no longer stands after changes to the Admissions Code, but the changes concerned do not affect the relevant provision significantly, so the general view is that the time limit stands. Certainly, when I've been involved with similar cases, the appeal panel has stuck to the 3-day rule. Why the time limit? Because after 3 days it is reasonable to assume that the parents might have started buying uniform and making arrangements around the offer (booking childcare, for example), so withdrawing the offer would penalise them.

@LeafHunter - If things worked like that at your school, they were getting it badly wrong. If the offer is made by the LA, the parent must contact the LA to accept it, not the school. If a place has been offered but hasn't been accepted, it must not be offered to anyone else until the parent has not responded in a reasonable time, the admission authority has contacted the parent again to give them another chance to accept the offer, warning them that the offer may be withdrawn if they do not accept it, and the parent has still failed to respond. If it is offered to someone else before that process has played out, the school has to accept both pupils even though they only had one place available.

Original poster
Takeitfrommumma · 27/11/2022 19:58

Thank you very much to the last 2 people who have commented. I sincerely hope you are right. I will speak to them tomorrow morning. Many many thanks

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PanelChair · 28/11/2022 09:50

We are right in terms of the admissions code. Now you need to remind the LEA of that and make sure they stick to it. Good luck!

TizerorFizz · 29/11/2022 23:35

@Takeitfrommumma
Does your DD have her place? Hope so! One more pupil rarely makes much difference at secondary level. We have grammars with 33 in a class due to appeals.

Original poster
Takeitfrommumma · 30/11/2022 07:16

We are still waiting for the LA to get back to us. Unfortunately the lady I spoke to the other day had to escalate it to someone more senior. Hopefully someone calls me back today.

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PanelChair · 30/11/2022 09:06

Hold firm. The offer was made and you accepted it. It isn’t for the school to say that your child can’t now go and the LEA long ago ran out of time for withdrawing the offer.

Original poster
Takeitfrommumma · 06/02/2023 20:26

I had my appeal today as they were so useless never got back to me and no one came up with a solution! Should find out on Wednesday the result. Fingers crossed!

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TizerorFizz · 06/02/2023 23:36

@Takeitfrommumma
Why was there an appeal when you had been offered the place?

Original poster
Takeitfrommumma · 07/02/2023 03:47

I had to take it to appeal because although I had been offered the place, the school refused to allow my DD to come saying the place was offered in error and they had no space for her.
It has been a huge mistake by the school and LA who failed to communicate.

their PAN was 180 for each year group but failed to report that they had reduced that for their year 9 cohort to 156 - due to trying to "balancing the budget " in year 8.

No one contacted me at all regarding any of it so after 2 months of chasing etc I lodged an appeal. I wasn't sure how else to proceed

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freezingpompoms · 07/02/2023 04:55

My god I've never heard anything like this. Good luck op I really hope you win! Let us know.

Outtasteamandluck · 07/02/2023 04:56

Decisions are sent within 5 school days.

RachelSq · 07/02/2023 09:14

Best of luck here, the mistake is so obviously on the school side that I hope you get the place.

TizerorFizz · 07/02/2023 09:24

@PanelChair
Can a school reduce PAN for one year and not tell anyone? The strangest thing I’ve ever seen! Both the school and LA seem dreadful!

TizerorFizz · 07/02/2023 09:45

@Takeitfrommumma
Was that pan reduction on their website under admission arrangements? Was it published anywhere? Seems highly unusual to me.

PanelChair · 07/02/2023 09:47

There’s a procedure for amending PAN set out in the 2021 school admissions code. The LEA has to consult on the proposed change. There’s nothing to stop them later changing the PAN back to the original (or any other number), but there would have to be another consultation.

Here, I wonder whether the LEA hasn’t formally changed the PAN but has decided to leave some places empty in an effort to save on costs. In any event, the crux of this appeal is that a place was offered and, even if it was offered in error, the LEA/school missed the very small window for withdrawing it.

Original poster
Takeitfrommumma · 07/02/2023 12:12

During the appeal the LA stated they had no idea of the reduction of the PAN until after my daughter's place was offered.

I am not sure if they have the PAN advertised anywhere but if the LA were not aware of it does it matter?

Not once did either the school or the LA contact me to say there was an issue. All this time my daughter has been out of school.

Does anyone know if she is successful when she will be able to start?

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