Please help *Tiggy* etc. school admissions

[Waspnest]

I'm having a nightmare really. So dd didn't get first preference on Mar 1st (catchment school) so I rang LA (spoke to a man) and they told me she was 1st on waiting list and didn't get a place because of distance within catchment area (allocation stats table didn't refer to this at all) and to hold off on an appeal because we could possibly quickly get a place from the waiting list. I sent an email list of questions the following tues including could they tell me how far we were from the school and what was the furthest catchment area child to be admitted. Still haven't heard back 9 days later.

Spoke to a mum at assembly on fri and she said they'd declined their place to go private so I phoned LA to be told that yes if a place has been declined it goes to person on waiting list (no mention anywhere of second offer thingy) but to give the LA until next fri to sort it because they were snowed under at that time.

Roll onto today, phoned LA and was told my dd is now at 2nd place and that they (a woman this time) would put in for an appeal straight away if it were their child. She's also sent an email requesting someone replies to my email.

So (sorry this is so long) I've applied for an appeal but in terms of the school I have no idea what to put (aside from transport, school links etc which I read here are pretty irrelevant). The school dd has been allocated is a middle school out of catchment so it doesn't cover GCSEs. The high school near the allocated school (which is 9 miles from us) that I assume takes kids from the middle school is oversubscribed and obviously out of catchment so there is no guarantee dd would get in so I have no idea what school she would go to for GCSEs.

Please help, I'm alternating between screaming and crying and I'm not sure the LA know what they're doing.

Thank you Tiggy. I don't care about results really, I'd just like her to somewhere where she'll actually know someone. Yes the high school is done on catchment (after LAC, SEN, siblings etc.).

If someone only confirmed their acceptance with school but forgot to accept with Local Authority (assuming yesterday was the deadline) what will happen? The person will lose the place? I just wonder how many people failed to do so in time and how quickly they lose the offered place. This affect the offers for people on the waiting list. Those who lost a place because they forgot to accept, can they appeal? Assume they will be on top of the waiting list in this case?

The process for losing the place has been defined by legal cases. So the admission authority cannot just remove the place. They have to give the parents the set time and then contact the parents again confirming that they will lose the place if they do not accept by another set date in the letter to them. So reality is that no one will loose their place for at least a couple of weeks after the published cut off date.
If they lose the place then they have an automatic right to appeal.

Thanks for your help Tiggy, I got an email today saying dd has got a place at the school we wanted - we're so happy and relieved we didn't have to go to appeal (and have printed all the emails sent so they can't deny it!) Good luck to those still going through this, I didn't know I could get so stressed and am looking forward to a decent night's sleep tonight.

Yep I replied within about 5 mins (after running round the house crying/shouting) and they've emailed me the official confirmation letter saying that they assume I'm taking the place. Thank you again, the experts on here have kept me sane for the last couple of weeks.