Admissions Board Oversights - Complaints not upheld

[CJWB89]

This might be long but I would love advice...
I have never posted on here before but don't know where else to turn for advice.

My 8yo son is in primary school year 3 and on a waiting list for an autism assessment via CAMHS which I am aware can take years. Hi class size is very small and consists of a lot of children that treat him as a target for bullying. He is timid, very sensitive and always really concerned about what others think of him. None of his nursery friends went to the local school but he made a really close friend in his class who was great for him and they did everything together. This friend has now moved schools and my son is totally lost. He has been bullied, his anxiety is so severe that it has led to sleepwalking and OCD and he has regular panic attacks at the thought of going to school. His teacher has been really supportive and he sees an ELSA teacher who has taught him lots of coping tactics and has helped him a lot. That being said the children in his class who are awful to him are not changing and their parents are very difficult people. My son tries his best and has been put in the year above for a couple of subjects because of everything going on.

We applied for him to change primary school via an in-year application in June last year, his friend that left moved there, his nursery friends go there and it is round the corner from my new workplace. We didn't hear anything over the 15 days you are advised to wait so we began chasing the application. Thus followed 4 months of emails and phonecalls and the only response we could get was that 'someone would be in touch'. All the while my sons mental health was getting worse, as were the bullying incidents at school. We then filed a complaint via the councils complaints procedure and received a response. They said that our application had been taken off of the wait list because the school year lapsed and we had not submitted a new year application and that a (very rare) place had come up at the school and been given to another child who lived further away. The response deadline was before the date that we received the letter...!! They said that we should have known to apply again for September start and that our complaint was not going to be upheld..basically thanks and bye.

I therefore proceeded to the next stage of complaints, ignoring the fact that the deadline for this had passed as it was before the letter was even received by us. I said how awful the procedure has been, that we had told one of the people over the phone that we wanted him to stay on the waiting list and that his mental health was so poor that we were having to consider taking him out of school entirely. They replied to say that they weren't taking it any further and again didn't uphold our complaint.

And so our son remains in a horrible state of being and it breaks my heart. There are other schools in the area but he wouldn't know anyone adn the suggestion of it makes him anxious and stressed as he would be starting again alone. So I am not sure it would make any difference to his wellbeing.

It's the fact that a place had come up, that we chased SO MANY times (12+) and that we weren't made aware that our application had lapsed...we had zero communication until the complaints procedure.

I guess I would just like to know what our options are, are any spaces made available in ks2 classes for circumstances like this? Are we able to take this further? I am lost and I can't watch my son deteriorate anymore.

Thank you x

Have you appealed the school place? If you’ve applied and there’s no space, then you can appeal to an independent appeal panel. If you want advice on the process head over to primary education and put appeal in the thread title and there are some fabulous appeal experts who will help you out.

Thankyou. I have filed a complaint today via the local government/ombudsman. I have no idea whether to expect them to take anything forward or whether they can uphold us getting a place. If the school is full is it full and that’s it? I have read that admin errors can mean a place has to be made but it’s all so unclear.

If there was a place available at the school when you applied then it should have been yours. If you have evidence that an error in their process (not responding to your application or subsequent enquiries) cost you the place which has now been allocated to someone else, then you could appeal on that basis. You’d need to create a very clear timeline of when you applied, when you chased, when you received a response etc. And to establish when the other application was received and whether they were higher up the waiting list than you (distance won’t be the only criteria). Try to get this moved to the primary education forum as there are experts.

Also, focus on the formal appeal first. A complaint won’t get you a place.

Is his diet quite restricted as my youngest has been gettinbg some ocd symptoms and a multivitamin with b9 in is hopefully helping a little.
Are you sure his friend wants him to move to be with him - that can be quite a lot of pressure

First i wouod complain about the bullying at current school. Was it happening before friend left?

With asd kids they are different and changing school wont necessariky help - unless they now know something more about the behaviour they are being targeted for.
My eldest wasnt bullied at primary but secondary they all buloy each other and shes been called asd and physical things too. So is having to learn to ignore the bulllies. Śhe seemed to think the other local school would be ok but i asked are you going to talk and say hello to a new class or go to clubs etc and she wont.
Another boy with adhd has moved schools and is still finding the same issues

I have requested for the post to be moved, still navigating the site as only joined today.

Thanks @Pieundchip - the school are trying to help with the bullying but just when I think it has subsided something else happens. He is not diagnosed ASD but when we took him to the GP about the OCD side of things they observed him and he was referred for ASD assessment. I do agree that every school has its own problems and I am trying not to see the preferred school as being 100% perfect but I think what would help my son the most is the fact that he knows a lot of the pupils there, he really struggles with building relationships and there are people there that he is familiar with and he has known since nursery/baby age. His class is made up of just 11 pupils, 8 of which are girls and they are the ones that pick on him.

I have filled in the form on the local ombudsmen website - does anyone know if this is the best way to start the appeal process? I'm worried there may be something I'm not doing.

Assuming you are in England, the LA should have responded to your application with a letter saying that you weren't being offered a place and telling you how to appeal. Not responding at all is not acceptable and sounds like maladministration to me. I'm guessing they still haven't told you how to appeal for a place at this school. You need to push them for an appeal. That is separate from the LGO process. Filling in the form on their website escalates your complaint to the LGO. It is not an appeal for a place. If the LA refuse to give you an appeal, that should be a matter for complaint to the LGO.

As others have said, if you should have been on the waiting list at the time a place came up and you weren't due to maladministration by the LA, you should be able to win an appeal on that basis.

Thankyou @prh47bridge
I'm concerned that an appeal would appear as past due but we never received a refusal letter or any update on the application. We found out he wouldn't be offered a place when we started the complaints procedure. I have now sent an appeal with supporting evidence and I really hope it goes our way. Tough to navigate and not a lot of clear guidelines, especially as we weren’t told how to appeal. I guess I will just wait to hear though the thought of attending a hearing is quite daunting! Do I need legal representation to attend? Would love to hear what to expect if it goes that far.

No, you do not need legal representation for an admissions appeal. Many of those (both lawyers and non-lawyers) who claim they can help you with your appeal offer very poor advice, so I would avoid them unless you feel you need someone else to speak on your behalf.

Assuming a hearing is organised, the admission authority (either the LA or the school depending on the type of school) will present their case to refuse admission (basically they will say they are full and can't cope with any more pupils). You and the panel can then question the admission authority. You will then present your case that a mistake has been made, and you should have been offered a place. The panel and the admission authority can then question you. You and the admission authority will each be asked to make a short statement summing up, and that will be it. You usually have to wait a few days to find out the outcome.

Thankyou so much this is so helpful. I hope I’ve put everything across well in the appeal application. Fingers crossed! Will wait to hear. X