Secondary place withdrawn today please help

[Middleoftheroad]

I am still shaking

I have equal ability twins. One got into grammar one did not. We moved closer to be near the grammar and to secure my other twin a place at the local school, which we did at the start of March.

We have been through much heartache as this is a new area and a new school and my boys have been sad. I worked with the LA to secure the place after we moved. because we moved around offers day we were originally offered a failing school in our old LA which we declined once we had the new offer at the local school.

We did also appeal the grammar place for the comp bound twin - we proved his academic ability and the HT (presenting officer) said we gave a very persuasive case, but we were unsuccessful as they never allocate places on appeal. The boys wanted to be together but we were safe in the knowledge that whatever happened we had a comprehensive school place.

The twin who is going to comp has previously been under CAHMs for anxiety. He started to display these signs again so we took him to the doctor and have been working really hard to gee him up.

Tomorrow was meant to be a special transition day at the new school (he watched his twin go off to the grammar one yesterday) and we were looking forward to it.

out of the blue the HT of the comp calls me today to tell me that the LA has made a mistake in allocating its places and have withdrawn the place. The school wanted to let me know before the LA letter arrives so we don't go to the event tomorrow.

I have emailed my contact at the LA (ironically she is in appeals) the last place offered was 1.02 miles we are 1.04. I suspect they are currently allocating appeals places which we have missed the right to appeal. she says she is looking into it but as of right now we have no school place and I have a son on his way home who will be broken if we tell him.

We've had such an ordeal to get here. Aside from being morally bankrupt, is there a legal leg to stand on here? Apparently the LA messed up on quite a few offers made.

I just don't know what to do. I took the call at work and had to leave early. we have bought the uniform and built up to tomorrow. I am in total disbelief and feel sickened that my son is being messed around this way.

I have emailed the school again to ask that they intervene. Please help Tiggytape anybody?

There's some excellent advice here from prh43bridge, PatriciaHolm, admission and tiggytape. There's also some advice I'd be very wary of.

The HT very clearly doesn't understand the appeals process and the panel chair doesn't understand it either, as s/he's compromising their independence by offering advice to the HT.

As others have said, you need to reiterate that you have had the place for months and so it's entirely unreasonable to withdraw it now. Keep up the momentum there.

If they're offering you an appeal, you should (in my view) go and, again, use it to reiterate that you are appealing against the withdrawal of a place that was utterly unreasonable in the circumstances. For good measure, you can then mention all the other aspects of the school that make it the best one for your son.

I would email everyone, school, LEA, MP and a solicitor if you have one, clearly setting out what has happened. It is their mistake and I would give them 3 days to sort this out of you will be taking legal action. Think you are going to have to get pushy. And it can't cost you your job as that is against all employment law. Good luck

What can an MP do in these circumstances? They have no formal responsibility for school admissions or appeals. They might make a few calls on OP's behalf but, just as likely, they'll feel that they need to be impartial and remain at a distance - other parents or would-be parents at the school are constituents too.

Equally, threatening legal action isn't much help. It would take months - and a lot of money - while OP needs this to be sorted out quickly.

so what is the alternative that they have offered? When is their settling in day? is it a good school? close to home? Have you visited it?

I think you need something positive to focus on with your son. He must be suspicious about the cancellation of the settling in day and as he's now missed it, he's not going to get that chance back. Will he not ask when it is then? I know my daughter the same age would do. The settling in day here is the 28th June.

MPs can be surprisingly effective in school matters and they seem to know who to contact to make things happen. A friend of mine was refused a place at school due to an error which school tried to cover up and the MP got involved and a week later was sorted. And threatening legal action can sometimes focus people's minds - the Head is hoping they will go away and he can cover his mistake. Letting him know they will not let it drop might help as he knows this will go on for a long time if he doesn't sort his mess out. If it was my child I would do everything and make them very aware this is not going to go away

Thanks - at present we have no school place. i said the induction was cancelled.

I have emailed the EFA to complain about both tge withdrawal of place and way appeals hearings are being handled

Hoping my MP can step in somehow.

See when MP runs his weekly surgery as an email might not get seen for a while. Go see them and take paperwork. I really hope the Head sees sense and they will just have to admit all 10 affected - unless it's a tiny school most secondaries could cope with that. The very best of luck for a quick solution

I would contact a solicitor immediately and have them deal with it. There is a 'reasonable' time limit on cancelling places and in this case it is certainly not reasonable.

Many years ago I had a similar situation with my son who was refused
a place because of 'distance' and I found out that 2 other children had been offered places who lived in the same village and these 2 same children had to travel past our house to get to theirs. i.e. we were nearer - 1 telephone call from a solicitor and my son had his place.

Not exactly the same, but if they are leaving them selves open to legal challenges, let it be you who challenges !

Thanks
My MP has stepped in and contacted LA. I sent our offer letters from school anf LA dated 1 March - 15 weeks ago so nearly four months!

I sit on appeal panels in a neighbouring LA to yours. We have several schools on the border, and the organisation in your authority seems very haphazard with parents' concerns about the admission process not addressed satisfactorily.

It's shambolic. Still no official response from council or even any idea if we have a school place. It is distressing and I'm furious over these blunders and cover ups. They can blatantly do what they want with no comeupance or care for families.

LA response - what do i do next?

On Monday 12 June we became aware of the fact that an error had occurred in processing the applications for xx Academy. This error resulted in offers being made to children who did not meet the school’s admission criteria and should not have been offered a place. The decision on whether the school would exceed its published admission number or the places offered in error would be withdrawn fell to the academy because the Local Authority is not the admission authority for the school. After consultation with the school it was agreed that the places would be withdrawn.

The School Admissions Code (2014) permits offers to be withdrawn in a very small number of exceptional circumstances one of which is where a place has been offered in error. The Code does not provide any guidance on the timescale within which offers should be withdrawn other than to say that offers should not be withdrawn once a child has started at a school unless the place was fraudulently obtained. In this case, the place was withdrawn on the same day that the error was discovered and, although it is extremely unfortunate and regrettable that the error did not come to light earlier in the process the Local Authority and the school acted in accordance with the requirements of the School Admissions Code.

You raised a concern about the fact that the school has communicated with the Clerk to the independent appeals panel about this matter. To clarify the position, an admission appeal must be heard by an independent appeal panel and the Clerk to the panel must be independent of the school and the education functions of the Local Authority. A key element of the Clerk’s role is to be an independent source of advice on procedure and on the School Admissions Code. It is therefore acceptable that the school has sought advice from the Clerk to the appeals panel in relation to this matter. If asked for legal advice the Clerk would need to seek an opinion from an appropriately qualified person, unless of course the Clerk himself holds an appropriate legal qualification.

We are currently investigating the issue that has arisen with the offers made for xxAcademy to establish how this error occurred. In order to do this we need to look at how every application that was received for the school was processed and this will take some time. I am not able to explain how the error occurred until this investigation has been completed, but I will write to you again as soon as I have this information.

I am very sorry that this error has occurred and I do appreciate that this situation is extremely distressing for you and for xxx. You do have the right to appeal against the decision to withdraw the offer and to lodge a complaint with the Local Government Ombudsman if your appeal is unsuccessful.

So they can make mistakes and not suffer any consequences. Utterly wrong.

The HT also consulted the chair. I feel sick and I have to go back to work

Do get back to LA re the head contacting the chair, and perhaps you should point out that the clerk and the chair are 2 different people!

Very quickly, as I ought to be elsewhere ...

It's helpful that the LA has set out its position, but it skates over the most important point. The Code does not (as they agree) give a timescale for withdrawing places, so in that case the timescale has to be reasonable in the legal sense. With nothing better to go on, I think that has to be the definition of reasonable that comes from previous case law, which is a few days. It certainly isn't 15 weeks. Saying that they withdrew the place as soon as the error came to light isn't good enough; they withdrew it just a day (am I right?) before the transition day and when your son quite reasonably thought he'd be going to that school.

I think you need to keep up the pressure: go on like a scratched record about the delay in withdrawing the place being unreasonable, that withdrawing the place at this very late stage is unacceptable and you'll be inviting the appeal panel to agree with you.

The comments about the role of the clerk are debatable, too.

A key element of the Clerk’s role is to be an independent source of advice on procedure and on the School Admissions Code is partially true but the clerk provides that sort of advice to the panel, not to the LEA or the world at large. If the LEA wants advice that it can't get from its own people (ours still has an in-house legal team) it should be consulting a specialist legal adviser. It would do no harm, I think, to point this out to the LEA now. Later (if necessary) you can use it to add weight to any complaint to the LGO about the LEA or to the EFA about the school.

Thanks - HT was also talking to chair though!

I agree. You don't agree with the decision as withdrawal was not in reasonable time. Make it clear you are taking legal advice and will be seeking damages for your son. Especially as he has missed transition day. Lay it on thick as they are wanting you to just go away. Can't see how you wouldn't win an appeal but you shouldn't have to go to one. Hope MP can apply pressure.

As I said, was posting in haste (and am still on the bus) ...

Speaking to the chair is even less appropriate because it suggests that this is a "tame" panel, too close to the school. Even more evidence for any future complaint.

Thanks Panel

I am worried about having 7 days to prepare and ptesent an appeal to a panel who will know we have complained about their closeness to EFA who now hate us already at the back end of appeals.

The panel should not know that you have complained about their closeness to the HT. If they do that is further evidence that they are not independent.

Make it clear you are taking legal advice and will be seeking damages for your son

Don't talk about damages. You won't get any for your son. The best you could hope for is reimbursement of any costs you have incurred in the expectation that your son was going to this school.

I agree with PanelChair. Saying they notified you as soon as the error came to light is avoiding the issue. They notified you 3 months after you were offered the place. That is not good enough. Keep on complaining that you have been disadvantaged and demanding that the place is reinstated.

I also agree that it is not the clerk's role to advise the school although this is not specifically forbidden. They have, in any case, skated over the fact that the HT claims to be getting advice from the chair of the panel, or even from the panel. Either of these is completely unacceptable. I do wonder, though, if the HT actually knows who he is talking to. If they have outsourced appeals it may be they are getting advice (albeit not very good advice from the sounds of it) from the company that manages their appeals and the HT wrongly thinks the advice is coming from the panel.

The fly in the ointment is that the school is an academy. That means they have the final say on admissions matters, not the school. The LA can apply pressure but they aren't in as strong a position to force the issue as they are with a community school.

At this stage you should keep pushing the LA and the school. If you want to frighten them a bit, tell them you have been advised that withdrawing the place 3 months after it had been offered, thereby disadvantaging you and your son in the ways I have outlined previously, is Wednesbury unreasonable.

Forgive me if I've missed something, but have you already complained to the EFA?

I shouldn't let that deter you. In fact, turn it to your advantage. Present this to the panel as their opportunity - despite their apparent closeness to the school - to do the principled, just and right thing, by recognising that the place should never have been taken away and so reinstating it.

Another point to bear in mind - because it seems likely that the school will raise it - is that what happens to other children who missed out on a place is not your concern and nor is it the panel's. They need to concern themselves only with your child and those already at the school.

Thinking of you

Hello all,

I have a couple of updates - I did complain to the EFA and it has asked me to send across paperwork.

The official LA letter has arrived stating that the decision has been made to withdraw the offer in accordance with paragraph 2.12 of the code.

My son's headteacher has sent the most amazing letter to the HT. I have contacted the Trust Board members as this is a MAT in the hope they could over-rule the head.

I am not sure what impact if any this would have on any potential appeal. I know the EFA normally investigates after an appeal but they know this is a complaint and are still looking into it. Not sure how normal this is the response was fast.

Either way, I've been quoting it to the LA rep, though she really is defiant now.

I don't know if it helps at all, but our DS was initially refused a place at an academy high school a few years ago, and due to our circumstances we ended up with no place at all.

We appealed, and it was upheld because the school (which was its own admissions authority) had made a series of administrative errors during the application process. Upon appeal, DS was given a place at our preferred school. The key to our appeal was the paper trail of emails from the school, which proved they had made mistakes.

I hope you get a positive outcome for your DS, I know how stressful it is. The experts on here are absolutely outstanding with their insight and advice, they helped me when we went through appeal, I couldn't have done it without them.