Very disturbing: Offered school place - can they withdraw offer?

[MummyofOnly]

(Had posted this in "Education" Perhaps it should go here?)

My daughter is due to start school Reception class this September.
We applied to several local state schools; a local faith school and other community schools based on distance.
I recieved a letter from the LEA stating that the Governors of the Faith school have approved my daughters application and as it was the school I ranked highest out of all the preferences, this is the school they are offering us. I had to return a form stating we would like to accept (or decline) the offer. I have sent this to the LEA (deadline is end of month).
A friend of mine has recently had a bad experience regarding her son's Secondary school application so, being extra cautious, I decided to take a copy of the acceptance letter to the school in person.
Anyhooooo..I handed it in to the secretary only to be told "Oh no. Well that's not right. That name is not on my list" (?????)

The school is highly oversubscribed. 60 places - 250+ applications.
The secretary among other things said "a lot of people who were "assured" (I am guessing in a nudge nudge wink wink kind of way) of a place and are now bitterly disappointed - "perhaps we were one of those?" "Is this an appeal letter?"

No and no.

Slightly panicking I phoned the LEA to ask if they have confirmation of having recieved the acceptance letter. "No. It is not on the system yet."
I shall now have to send signed copies of the acceptance by recorded delivery.

However my worry is this. If my daughter is not on the school secretary's "internal list" - perhaps a nudge, nudge...list, but I have an offer letter from the LEA stating the opposite - Does she have a real offer? Can it be recinded?

The application was an honest one i.e. real address used (yes I know, shocking ) a very strong supporting reference from Parish Priest, we live locally and {whisper} attend church.

Can I/Do I need to appeal if the school do not send joining instructions?

I wouldn't worry yet.

As this is a faith school they should have decided their own admissions and notified the LEA of the children to whom places should be offered. The offer then comes (as you know) from the LEA. It may be that the school secretary's list is only those children whose acceptance of the place has been recorded by the LEA and yours isn't on the system yet. So I would hang on for a little while and wait to see what happens once your second copy of the acceptance letter has got to the LEA.

If the worst comes to the worst and the offer of a place dematerialises, you do then need to consider an appeal. For a successful appeal, you need to show either that the school's admissions criteria are unfair or not in accordance with the admissions code (which you can find on the DCSF website) or that they have been wrongly applied.

The only circumstances in which I have heard of offers being withdrawn is where there has been fraud (usually, giving a false address). I don't know where you would stand in the (by the sound of it unlikely) event that the offer was a mistake. If your child didn't fulfil the school's admissions criteria, then I don't think that the LEA has to honour an offer that was made in error. On the other hand, lawyers often speak of legitimate expectation and maybe it could be argued that having received the letter you had a legitimate expectation of a place at the school.

There are websites which offer advice on schools admissions - have you looked at any of them?

School secretaries are notoriously unhelpful - I would take no notice at all. The school shouldn't be able to offer places to anyone on a nudge, wink basis as all applications, I believe, now have to go through the local authority to avoid this sort of abuse. Get a copy of the acceptance letter over to the council asap and try to relax (although, admittedly, it must be very unnerving).

Thank you for your responses. Yes it is very unnerving. My daughter does seem fulfill the admissions criteria .

The secretary did ask which was our Parish church (the one attached to the school) and which road we lived in. When she checked the address she did mention that is was quite close and that there should therefore be no problem.

It is so unnerving because an offer should be a definate offer I believe (fraud checks aside - lady-in-North-London-being-prosecuted)

Of course, it's always possible to fulfil the criteria and still not get a place if the school is over-subscribed and distance from school is used as the last criterion. But (at the risk of being repetitive) the school secretary isn't the one who awards places and - unless or until the LEA tells you differently - I would attach more weight to the LEA's letter than to anything she might have said. She is probably besieged at the moment with aggrieved/pushy/desperate parents.

I don't think LEAs make conditional offers (at least, our LEA doesn't). You're either in or you're out, although if you're in you may be out again if you've made a fraudulent application !

Thank you again for your responses. I do wonder if any others have had this experience (?)

Apologies for name change. It is for the Parenting Onlies' threads. Ironically to talk about the advantages of having an only - and applying for schools only once every six years is a definite plus I now think

I don't really understand.If the LEA have sent you an offer of a place ,this at least must be on their system .
I think the school receptionist has made a mistake .When you are looking down a list it is quite easy to miss something that is staring you in the face I would call back and ask her to check again.
Even if the LEA have made a mistake they have offered you a place and will have to stand by that.