Prep to State, Waitlist mess

[waitlistt]

Cut a long boring short, my DC started at a Prep in London, a few weeks ago and we've changed our mind over the local state primary, we filled out an 'in year' application and only put down local school and the LEA came back 5th on waiting list.

We are in London, prefer not to say which LEA as we haven't given notice at private school ( we've accounted for the loss). We really want our child to get settled and move sooner rather than later, and of course the longer we leave it the more we pay and the more DC gets settled.

I know 5th could stay 5th for the year, but can the LEA just give us a list of schools with vacancies? There are no really awful schools within a 2 mile radius to us, we chose the Prep as we fell for all the hype to be honest.

We were blindsided with a change in circumstance that means prep is out of the question 4 to 11, now and I'm desperate to get our DC settled in school. Its a complete f*ck up.

They have given you the nearest school with places. Some LA’s publish a list of schools with vacancies online or you can ring around. Why the move so early on? Why are you not giving the prep a chance as its very early days?

Saying they haven't got spaces before you apply can be interpreted as them trying to illegally put you off applying, so schools can't do it.

As many schools are also their own admissions authorities, this means you have to contact them directly and make the applications; just get all of them done, as once you've done it, you're on their waiting lists and more likely to catch any spaces just opening up.

The difficulty is that for safeguarding reasons, schools and LAs have to trace all of the children who didn't arrive at the beginning of September, find out if they've moved/gone somewhere else/have genuinely decided to home educate/it isn't an attendance or home life issue/unsafe situation before the LA authorises their removal from the register and further places to be offered. And schools can't even make the referrals to the LAs until at least ten days have passed. Add to that people who were already on waiting lists not responding to offers (they have two weeks, then they have to be reminded, then given longer to respond...) and there's often a mad rush right at the end of this coming week to get the school back to capacity in time for Census Day where funding is set.

You can be on more than one waiting list. Why did you only list one school? The LA may know of a vacancy but it may be better to wait for the checking process first. You will also be liable for fees this term and next at least , even assuming if a place came up immediately.

On the application we only put two of the nearest state primaries and they gave us the waitlist position for both of them 5 for preference 1 , even lower for preference 2.

Unfortunately, out of the blue, a deux ex machina has blown a huge hole in our finances , means private senior maybe, no way 4 to 11/13 prep.

So sorry, it is so tricky. I know that you want to move on but you could be a while waiting for a place to come up, does the prep offer short term bursaries perhaps or do they have a waiting list themselves?

Many thanks.

I've asked the LEA to send me a list of any schools with space , just so I can get my DC in somewhere, and I'll also phone through all the ones not maintained by the LEA.

Its very useful to know about the census day .

Thanks everyone.

We're going to come clean and see what they say on Monday, I expect they'll still hold us to terms, even with their own waitlist. We could limp through the year, but we're seriously blown up cash wise. No Bursary officially at reception.

If you are close to the LA border it’s worth remembering that you don’t have to send your child to a school in your home LA. You can contact any state primary and if they have a free place in R and no people above you on the waiting list then she can start.

I realise you don’t want to name the LA but you can get an idea of the number of surplus places by looking at the London Councils reports.

I was in a similar situation and I just rang my LA and the one for the other nearby borough. It was hard for us to find space as we have two children, but two schools had availability and we chose one. They should be able to share this info with you.

Yes, I just rang them and they gave me all schools with a space, fortunately a lot of them rated good, although even the few that need improving are a couple of years out of date.

Doing a manic round of tours now.

The trouble with 'just enquiring' about spaces is that there may be a space available in the year group at the time that you ring, and possibly, no-one on the waiting / continuing interest list, atrthat precise moment. Even if you put the phone down and whack in your application straight away online, someone else may beat you to it, then the response to the application will be, 'no place'. Also, schools are meant to keep the LA up to date re applications received and the response made, so there will (eventually) be concrete evidence in the admissions department that e.g. you have applied for the four schools nearest to you, but been turned down for each one, but they have no obligation to report casual enquires.

Of course, it can work the other way round - no place when you ring up, but you whack in the application anyway and the next day a place becomes available and you're the only person officially interested. Which is another reason for getting in applications to as many schools as you are able to, which you would be happy to get, because only a formal application secures a place, assuming there is one to offer.

You also have the right of appeal if you are turned down by a school (and you can appeal fir any or all of them - I have no idea where parents get the impression that appeals can only be submitted one at a time), but if your DC is in Reception / Yr1 / Yr2, Infant Class Size legislation applies and you would essentially be relying on an error having been made which cist your DC a place that they shoukd have been offered, which is very rare.

Thanks @MarchingFrogs

I was in utter despair earlier this week, LA said school A has space, ring school A if I can come and look around and they say yes, come and have a look, but we're full. 😡

I'm about to submit 6 choices, (tonight) am I correct in thinking this 6 wipes the other 2 I applied for clean?

If DC is in reception, remember they don't actually need to be in full time education until they are 5 I think, if you're in a position to take them out altogether temporarily.

I'm about to submit 6 choices, (tonight) am I correct in thinking this 6 wipes the other 2 I applied for clean?

No, not necessarily - check what your LA's policy is, if it coordinates all mid-year applications.

Re @Stokey ' point, even if your DC's birthday is later in the year, I would still keep applying and going on waiting lists if necessary now, rather than have to start the whole process with greater time pressure (and organise elective home ed if necessary), once they do.get to statutory school age

Thanks @MarchingFrogs I feel like I'm in a middle of a nightmare, and my poor DC has done nothing to deserve this.

@Stokey , it's not really an option to pull DC out of current school , but we haven't the luxury of keeping her in current school beyond christmas.

The LA was super quick the first time round processing, so hopefully we know our fate this week.

Submitted.

I had a right time of it trying to get an in-year place for my dd because the LEA wouldn't tell me where the spaces were. I understand why but from a practical point of view it difficult for me.

I had to apply, then wait then apply then wait.

@NeverDropYourMooncup is correct, any school with spaces is currently desperately trying to get bums on seats before Thursday

Apply anywhere you would be happy for the DC to go and call them all on Monday morning and again on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday etc. Polite but persistent.

If you're 5th on the waitlist but parents 1-4 haven't responded to calls to say there's a space, you might get it

I work in a school where there is daily movement - lots of kids go abroad and there is a long process to follow before we can take them off roll, others find another school to go to & parents will wait until they are settled before they tell us they've moved (& say they are ill and unable to attend in the meantime) etc etc. So children leaving is often a surprise and what the picture might be on Monday may be different on Tuesday.

With funding as it is, every child they can get on roll is precious money so if they have a space they will want to give it to you. Best of luck.

@SausageAndEggSandwich In the situation you describe where parents start children at another state school in-year, does that school not give your school a call to check the child has been taken off your roll? (And vice versa.) If not, presumably it would mess up your funding as both schools would be trying to claim for the same child on Census day?

The parents need to tell the other school where they've been attending, though - sometimes they can be a little evasive about this. Sometimes you can find them through looking in GIAP for previous Census data, but even that's dependent upon their name being exactly the same (and not an incredibly common one).

Once the census has been completed and uploaded to Collect/the LA for Maintained Schools, that's when they start showing up on error reports - along with potentially hundreds of other things that all need investigating and resolving.

Trouble is, this could be anywhere between the end of next week and mid November, depending upon when the other schools have done theirs.

Really useful advice @SausageAndEggSandwich @NeverDropYourMooncup and thanks @savoycabbage!

I must admit I was just going to sit back and await my fate now I've submitted, I've made a some applications for the two neighbouring boroughs also.

I'll be on the phone on Monday now, politely pushing all 3 LA's.