No school place AT ALL in my county. I have to apply to neighboring county

[gaba]

We moved into Hertfordshire, and applied to the county council for places for the two DCs, only to be told, nothing is available, please try Essex?

Their last school is over 30 miles away so it isn't an option, but I have four schools within walking distance from my new home. I had no idea things were this bad, I thought I would be given a choice!

I have spent weeks reading through miles of legislation and can find nothing that defines what a reasonable distance should be, or what exact rights to an education there actually are. (It is all very vague, there is little or no detail in the laws on this that I can find).

If anyone has experience with this sort of problem, I would really appreciate any help.

If there is a nearer school with a vacancy, then it is correct for Hertfordshire to refuse to pay for transport. It doesn't matter which county it is in.

It's not clear why OP is so determined that her DC go to a Hertford school. Nor why she thinks accepting an Essex on would mean they could not move to a Hertford one should a vacancy occur.

And with the elder in year 10, the impact of no school at all on GCSEs is probably already happening. Though I note from the other thread that you appear to have told EWO that you are HE, and you have received info on this. What are you going to do about external exams like GCSE?

And I hope you'll answer the question about how many actual appeals you have launched. There are several expert posters on MN who an offer really good advice and can help with the process.

I was wondering if the OP had looked into alternatives for her Y10 child. Would it perhaps be possible to study GCSEs at a local FE college or enrol her with a distance learning college for GCSEs?
In special cases FE colleges do sometimes take students from 14+ and this could apply for this child.

This thread is full over exaggeration by the OP, which if she acts like that in real life probably doesn't help her case with the authorities.

In the end last week they finally offered Sheredes, that is best part of 30 miles away

Sheredes is 15 miles from the centre of Bishop's Stortford which is only a 3 miles across. 30 miles away puts her in Cambridge !

We estimate that on the morning run it would take well over 2 hours to get there, and since it is nearly impossible to use public transport (7 or 9 changes of bus and train) we would have to drive them
Again by train from Bishops Stortford station it is as little as 40 minutes away ie 20 minute train journey and 15 to 20 minute walk from Broxbourne station.

From the maps, no school in BS (OP claims to very near schools) is more than a 30 minute walk from the station, or 5 - 10 minutes in the car. BS is only 3 miles across at its widest and the station is in the middle of the town, so why are we getting nonsense about having 7 to 9 changes on public transport.

My DCs walk have a 20 minute walk to station, 10 minutes on train and 15- 20 minute walk the other end, so not much different a journey.

AuntieStella...

They have only threatened to not pay for transport. I have not refused a nearer school, simple as that. Apparently this is the closest one they can offer and that is precisely the problem.

No, I have not told the 'bunking off warden' that my kids are receiving home ed. SHe just recommended that I do HE and sent me a a list of local home ed suppliers or something. She has no power to do anything, if she cannot help with finding a school then there is no point talking to her. Think about it, her job is to just tick a box to say that she 'spoke to the parents and recommended HE' ... If that's what passes for job satisfaction then I don't want a job on the council, no matter how much money you get, or how good the pensions.

There are about a dozen other 'integration strategy welfare advice policy officers', employed to sit around all day drinking tea or swan off to meetings, none of them worth a wnk if there are no schools to force kids into. They are just playing make believe, it's crazy.

It is your legal obligation to ensure your DC receive an education.

If you do not send them to school, then HE is the remaining option, and if she is helping you do this, that is good. You might also find it helpful to post on the MN HE forum for more support. You may be called on Tito provide evidence of the education they are receiving.

They will only pay for transport if it is the nearest school with a vacancy. If there is a nearer school (in Essex) with a vacancy, then you are not entitled and it is our responsibility to get your DC to the school (that applies to every family, unless very low income).

Where are you with the formal appeals process for the schools you do want?

Is there a particular reason you won't apply for a closer school in Essex? Because, surely then the transport will be paid for and it might even be an easier journey than these 9 changes of public transport you are talking about.
Even though that's clearly not true, I cannot for the life of me see how it would take 7 buses to get from somewhere in Bishops Stortford to bishops Stortford station

The only way you would need 7 buses is if you are not actually any where near BS but you just like the schools there.

Gaba - I know things aren't what they used to be when we were at school - I don't get your point?

I have friends and family in Bishop's Stortford who have children in all 3 of the schools now

I mentioned Hockerill as I knew it well and you seemed to be convinced there's some sort of conspiracy by the "rich kids" to keep the "riff raff" out.

If Hertfordshire is full, Hertfordshire is full. What Essex schools have places? Stansted (is that Forest Hall now?), Leventhorpe, Newport, Saffron Walden, Helena Romanes, even Tabor & Notley in Braintree would be closer than 30 miles away (DH used to commute BS to Braintree, it was 45 minutes by car and that was before the bypass was built).

Upthread you said you'd been offered Sheredes, that's 15 minute walk from Broxbourne station which is 4? 5? stops up the line? Where in BS are you that you're in walking distance from their high schools but not the station?

The council have made you an offer, you may not want your kids to go to that school but they've found places for you. If you don't want the Herts school, why not look at Essex?

As for paying for transport, does the council actually have to pay for transport when you move mid way through school? I have a friend who is, ironically, looking to move out of Stortford, but the council in the areas she's moving to have told her they won't. If she moves in to an area with no local school places then transport is her problem

I think I could get to that school in fewer than 7 bus changes and I'm four counties north.

If she moves in to an area with no local school places then transport is her problem

That isn't actually true although the LA may like you to believe it. The LA must, by law, provide free transport to any secondary school that is more than 3 miles from home by the shortest safe walking route unless there is a nearer school with places available. They cannot get out of it on the basis that you've moved to an area where there are no places available.

Oh, thanks. I'll pass that on to her.

She's been told categorically by the council that they will not pay for travel

If they continue to refuse they should have an appeal process. If that fails a reference to the LGO should sort things out.

The official dealing with the case may be confusing your friend's situation with people who move but insist on keeping their child at their old school despite the availability of places nearer to their new home. Or they may simply be trying to save money and relying on your friend not knowing the law. If she needs chapter and verse the relevant law is the Education Act 1996 Schedule 35B, paragraph 6. If she really wants to show off she can tell them that this schedule was inserted into the 1996 Act by the Education and Inspections Act 2006 Schedule 8.

Gabag,

The main job of those whose responsibility it is to ensure that all children are 'receiving an education appropriate to their interests and aptitudes' [Which is YOUR legal responsibility, by the way - the council has helped you by offering you a state school which has space to discharge this legal responsibility, but if you resfuse that option, then lthe full legal responsibility for educating your children falls to you - through HE, through private schools, or through appealing for a place at a different state school. In your current situation, where your children are not in school, unless you can show that your children are being HEd, you are breaking the law and can be prosecuted] is to ensure that all those registered in schools are attending them, not that those not registered in schools find them.

I have worked closely with some exceptionally hard-working and dedicated people in that role, reaching out to traditonally hard-to-reach communities (yes, they may be 'having meetings' - with schools, with families on Traveller sites, with representatives of other harder-to-reach communities, with the police, with SS, with legal teams - but 'having meetings' can mean some exceptionally hard, sensitive and occasionally dangerous work).

Exaggeration and misinformation is not going to get your children school places. In fact, it may jeopardise the chances of success that you have at the appeals you still have to come (I am still waiting for a reply about how many schools you have formally appealed for, and how that process is going, since yoiu say that I am wrong that you have not formally appealed for places). Accurate, dispassionate, rational argument is what will win a place for your children, and it is that you should be marshalling.

prh thank you so much!!!

My friend is having to move to a particular area because of her DH's job and is totally stressed by all this. I've emailed her the info

Thanks again!

freddiefrog. Yes this is what they were trying with me. I didn't think they were right about that.

Yet again the old ' Its your fault for moving home ' argument.

You'd a thought we were living in China, where you need government approval to fart.

Teacherwithkids...

It is the not my responsibility to build schools and educate kids. It is the local authorities responsibility to ensure that children have schools to go to.

Hertfordshire county council are taking the stance that it is just cheaper to push kids into home education than to pay for teachers and schools.

Well, they have discharged that responsibility, by making you an offer at a school which other local posters say is reachable on a reasonable journey.

Your clear responsibility in law is to ensure your DC receive an education.

If you do not want them to attend the offered school, what are you doing in terms of launching the formal appeal process for the schools you do want?

As that is nice....finally someone in this thread saying a thank you to prh for all their knowledgable input to the thread. Shame it wasn't the OP offering thanks but then we can't expect miracles although clearly she does.

And a dig at council workers too.

Okay OP you have waited five months for a place, I agree that is a long time. It is no good bellyaching about not being offered a closer school if they are full to bursting Perhaps a letter to the local MP regarding lack of school provision would be better than whining on here about lazy council workers and showing little gratitude to those here who have posted their thoughts from knowledge and experience. I haven't once seen a thank you from you to prh just a nasty dig that perhaps prh didn't know what she/he was talking about. Not nice and I think you owe them an apology.

I apologise for calling you a "self entitled twat" yesterday as that was wrong of me but I was irritated by your comments to some posters here.

There....see how easy it is?

Reading some of your other posts now OP. Glad I am not employed by the council....although clearly they need a kick up the bum from your perspective......maybe look for a job in their department and then you can show them what they are doing wrong.

There are places in herts.

Just not in BS.

Have you appealed yet?
I do feel really sorry for your children, especially the year 10 child.

OP needs to look in essex

The other misleading thing op has said is that there are 27 schools closer. Again I have no idea where that figure came from. There are a lot of schools closer but they are all in Essex because Bishop's Stortford juts into Essex and schoolswise is a bit isolated from schools in Hertfordshire if look at this map Most of closest schools in Hertfordshire to Bishops Stortford are a good 15 miles away. But even if they are closer by a mile or so ie in Hertford or Ware they are a longer commute as you will have to change trains.

It's good you have time to start another thread bitching about council employees but not one about the best way to appeal for your preferred schools.

Echo Jake's sentiments.