Has anyone said yet " accept the offered place" even if you don't want it ?

[Theas18]

Meant to say this yesterday.

It seems to be very important and easily missed. You only get 1 offer. Accept it even if appealing. It doesn't give you a stronger position having no place or " threatening " to home educate - do this if you want but don't threaten to in the hope it'll help an appeal.

Well said.

The LEA is under no obligation to make a second offer or repeated offers until the parent deems one acceptable. Refusing the initial offer is a foolhardy strategy unless HE or private education is a viable option. The reality is that most appeals fail, so a child could end up with no school to attend in September.

A couple of people have mentioned it on other threads but it bears repeating. I have already seen one instance of someone saying on a thread that they were not going to accept the offered school for their DC. I expect there'll be more instances of that in the coming days. Maybe we can just keep bumping this thread?!

Would love some advice on what we should do.

We got offered our third choice of state school. I have friends who live about 50 metres further from it than we do and who really, really want it (conversely they got offered our first choice!). I'd like to turn it down in order to get the waiting lists moving, while remaining on the waiting lists for our higher preferences.

Is it possible to reject the school while remaining in the system?

ps have a private school place that we'd take over the offered school.

Thankgod if you really seriously would take the inde over the offered - accept the inde place, pay the deposit then, when all safely in hand, and not before, turn down the state place. You can still go on wait list for preferred state school , and forfeiting your deposit and probably 1st term fees would be a small cost when set against the huge savings if state education over 5/7 yrs.

Yes, turn down the offered place if you are completely happy to stay in the private sector possibly for years until you get a place at your preferred school. But don't do it if you imagine that this will somehow force the LEA to offer you a place any quicker or force the panel to allow your (hypothetical) appeal. It won't.

Just a disinterested bystander.
But thought I'd bump this as it's so important.

I saw this advice yesterday, and passed it on to some v unhappy mums whose Kids have been offered a school no one wanted 7.5 miles away. They called admissions, who said: you stay on waiting lists for your preferred schools whether you reject your offered place or not. You do NOT 'drop out of the system'.

This is from Richmond borough in london - can't vouch for others.

Sorry - just to be ultra clear: you do risk only getting somewhere even further away/less wanted if you refuse an offer. But you do not 'drop off' the waiting lists of your preferred schools - being on those is automatic, whether you accept or not.

Indeed, you will stay on the waiting lists but if you refuse your offered place now and do not come to the top of the waiting list by September you will have NO school place. You can hold out for a waiting list place for however long it takes but you will have to put some measures in place to educate your child in the meantime, be that Home Ed or private school.

No, Elibean, parents who refuse the allocated place don't fall out of the system completely and they remain on any waiting lists they may be on. But the point is that they might be at number 97 on the waiting list and declining the offered place won't do anything to move them up it. The LEA won't come back to them with any second offer unless or until they reach the top of the waiting list. That could take years and in the meantime their child may have no school to go to.

Yes, that's right - I understand that. But somehow last night I read a post (on another thread) that implied that you were struck off waiting lists if you refused a place, and I misinformed an already stressed parent as a result

dd's friends are all less than half a mile from us, in an area that is geographically problematic. They are not in catchment for ANY local school anymore (as our ex-feed school is now oversubscribed) and all those without siblings or SEN have been allocated places nearly 8 miles away at the other end of the borough, requiring several changes of bus. Pretty shocking really, I don't blame the parents for reacting.

Dd stayed as 5th on the waiting list for our preferred school for 2 years before we took her off. Don't turn down a place unless you have a definite alternative.

To be very clear, you need to ensure that you are on the waiting lists for schools. Many LAs do run a system that you are automatically put on waiting lists of schools you originally applied for but did not get in but not all do this. Plus sometimes mistakes happen and it is better to be safe than sorry.

I would always check with the admission authority that you are on waiting lists for each school you want and the position you are on the waiting list, so that there is no possibility you will be overlooked.

Yes, I've heard that too admissions - our unhappy parents have been told to call and make sure, and also to check position on waiting lists they're already on.

Those who have rejected offers would rather home ed than send their child there, or so they say.

I am guessing in Richmond there will be movement. If Turing opens that will release 150 places at other schools. I am guessing though mostly Twickenham academy and HA. But some will also be Orleans, Waldegrave and Teddington. I appreciate its the wrong end of the borough but it might have a ripple effect. Place released at Orleans offered to someone who has Christs space, releases space at Christs. Slightly better for SW13. What's Chiswick academy like these days ???
There will also be some who were offered RPA but that was there back up option if they didn't get private.

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