eAdmissions Error

[TheWaitIsOn]

I have just received the email from eAdmissions (London & Surrey) telling me my DCs allocated secondary school place. It says it is for the 2015 - 3016 Admission round and I need to accept by 8 March 2016 (which is obviously last year). My DC has been allocated a requires improvement school across the other side of town that we didn't even put on the form... don't suppose this error is going to help us in any way?

*2015-2016 Admissions round

*sorry I "must accept or decline this offer by 15 March 2016"

(Just as well I wasn't in charge of sending these emails out either... )

Yes, it has the same incorrect dates when I log onto the website too. It would be interesting to hear from others who have received offers via eAdmissions?

eAdmissions worked for us.

Hopefully you can call and get some clarity tomorrow morning. Your poor ds must be confused.

all correct dates from eadmissions here.

Realistically, it's highly unlikely to have any bearing on your application, but do follow it up, as its an oddity.

Of itself having the wrong dates on the email doesn't help you. An error is only significant if it has cost your child a place. Having the wrong dates doesn't affect the school allocated. The question is whether this is a symptom of a bigger problem. You definitely need to follow this up.

Yes, a typo in the notification email is no help to you at all, but a more fundamental error may be. Probe.

Thank you for your advice. Fortunately we also have an offer of a place at a private school but have to accept (& pay up) by Monday so don't realistically have time to probe far enough to get answers. We had hoped to go to our local (obviously oversubscribed) school with friends but will choose private over our current offer (I realise I am fortunate to be in a position to do this).

Is there a way to find out how many children got into our local (academy) school on appeal or from waiting list in past years? They over offer by quite a few places each year with intention of dropping back to PAN by September (as some people decline their places) so not hopeful of our chances?

Ask them. They are subject to Freedom of Information laws so will answer questions. And if you appeal they are required to answer any question you ask within reason to help you prepare for your appeal.

I would be a little surprised if the school is really over offering. The LA co-ordinates admissions so they make the offers. The school can only offer over PAN during the normal admissions round if the LA is informed of this. Whilst it is not a breach of the Admissions Code, the school should certainly not be over offering with the intention of dropping back to PAN by September. An appellant could argue that over offering means the school's real PAN is higher than the official figure. In particular, if someone is offered a place and drops out, an appellant could argue that the place should have been offered to whoever was at the head of the waiting list even though they were still over PAN on the basis that the school offered, say, PAN+25 places so they are clearly able to cope with PAN+25 without any problems. After all, if no-one dropped out the school can't withdraw offers so it would have to cope.