Reception school appeals

[Cbojess]

Hi!
really hoping for advice and as much information as possible to assist me with an infant class appeal. I have read previous threads and this exact issue happened to another user

I submitted my child’s reception school admission online and when I logged in to ensure I was ready for the results day it said application not submitted……,can you even imagine my heart break.

we live in the catchment for a fantastic schooled enquiries so far have revealed she would have indeed been allocated a place.

i am appealing on the grounds of a technical glitch. The system shows all of my activity and information I uploaded to the system.

had anyone been in this situation? Any advice to offer. Postiive only! I know my chances of appeal are extremely slim

thank you for reading so far

This must be a wind up, I've never seen follow up posts like this before 😄

This information I am after, thank you for your positive contribution

Pursue what though? It's statistically much more likely it was your error and appealing won't change anything.

Are you on waiting lists?

What's the proof?

i Came on mums net looking for advice and anyone having been in the same position. Not to have peoples irrelevant opinions. Posting comments at me challenging me on my integrity!

You need to give more info, people can't give advice if they don't know what you're appealing on. So what is the proof you have of either the technical error or that you definitely pressed submit?

Do you have proof that you submitted the application?

You can't prove that

Go back through your browser history. Find the point just before you submitted your application. Then take a look at what page your browser was directed to next.

You might find at this point your browser was directed to an error, e.g 404 page not found or 500 server error. If your browser didn't direct to another relevant page after you viewed the application before submitting either you probably didn't click submit, or your click wasn't registered

Thank you for this.

Please can I come and watch your appeal? It sounds like it's going to be entertaining

It’ll be a bloody circus.

Did you check the portal after submitting? I was worried so checked it regularly to make sure it still said Application Submitted and the time and date, plus I took a screen shot just in case.

I think I also got an email.

I'd gather all the evidence you can and present it as part of your appeal.

I don't think people are questioning your integrity. They are saying that you can't prove you pushed the button and/or you may have believed that you submitted the application but you didn't actually do so (you were at a pre-stage, or there was an error you didn't notice, for example). It's also a shame that you didn't follow up on the lack of confirmatory email, but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Your best position is to work out how to progress going forward. By all means give the appeal a chance, but you should be aware it's unlikely to succeed, so you need a good Plan B. Hopefully your child has at least been allocated a school now, even if it's not one that you would have normally chosen. If they haven't, that's something I'd suggest doing, as a practical fallback. You should also see if there are any schools with places that you might prefer.

It's not challenging your integrity it's trying to help you understand that whilst unintentional it's very likely you didn't actually submit the application, otherwise they would have been aware of a glitch occuring because it would have prevented others from submitting too.

There's no point in posters telling you to appeal and that you'll win etc when that's just not going to happen to try to make you feel better.

We've all made mistakes as parents, no ones saying they're perfect but the best thing posters can do is help you navigate the next steps like being on the waiting list rather than wasting time on a pointless appeal.

What’s the proof?

I used to sit on appeals panels. I really don't think that your memory of pressing the submit button will be enough evidence.

Various questions, what’s the distance from your house and dad’s house to both schools? Single parent argument is dodgy as you have used other parents address… is there no bus?

I think you're thinking of the other thread?

This thread has given me a right chuckle. So insistent OP! I applaud your tenacity

I have empathy for your situation but it looks like you didn’t submit the application, OP. Did you start it but then forget to finish and submit it? Most people, when applying for their child’s school place, will make sure they have submitted the application, no matter how busy - check it again to ensure it is showing as submitted, make sure they have received and saved the email notification of successful submission etc. From the posts unfortunately I don’t think an appeal is going to be successful so you need to be realistic about the options. You need to find out where on the waiting list your child is and have a back up plan. On a positive note, there is usually a lot of movement on places before the children start school in September. Hopefully you will get the chosen school place in the end. Good luck! 🌸

Everything is going to be absolutely fine*, OP

*it won’t.

Unfortunately the appeal will need evidence. If you didn't take a screenshot of the screen after you pressed submit then it sounds like you will be relying on asking the LA themselves to look for evidence of a glitch. What evidence do you have that you were on the portal? That will be your starting point.

how could I not query getting an email!!

In the information provided to parents on completing their CAF online, does it say that once you have submitted your completed form, you will receive a confirmatory email? If it does, and you didn't receive an email within e.g. 12-24 hours, then the sensible thing would have been to contact the admissions team, or at least check at that point that you had submitted the form. If your LA doesn't include a confirmatory email in the process, then fair enough, you didn't receive an email because there wasn't going to one to receive anyway.

In our area, the appeals paperwork includes a copy of the application; for a normal admission round CAF, this will show clearly the time stamp(s) of the initial submission and any subsequent re-entry and resubmission.

@Cbojess , presumably you have formally asked your LA to investigate the possible malfunction of the system, to be able to include proof as part of your appeal submission?

OP I have lots of knowledge about this. If you’d pressed submit you would have received an email confirming this. The school admissions team will be able to see everything you’d done on the portal, including not pressing submit. Some systems/LA’s will send out automatic reminders, telling you that you have not submitted your application. But, it’s your responsibility to make sure you complete your application so not all of them do. The admissions team will be able to see any reminder emails that you were sent. Unless you can provide some sort of visual evidence that proves you did submit your application on time, you won’t have a leg to stand on at appeal. Feel free to ask me any questions.