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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

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Original poster

Still no secondary school

40 replies

funtimes · 19/05/2018 21:29

We still have no secondary school at all, despite naming 6 preferences and sitting 3 unsuccessful appeals. We are so distraught and our DC is beginning to pick up on our worries. We have one more appeal left and need it to work. can anyone offer any advice that could help us?(prh47bridge, tiggytape, or admission in particular?)

OP posts:

FanDabbyFloozy · 19/05/2018 21:33

Did your council not offer you a place at all? That really is unusual for May.

Original poster

funtimes · 19/05/2018 21:55

No we haven’t been offered anything, just told to add our name to waiting lists.

OP posts:

FanDabbyFloozy · 19/05/2018 21:57

@funtimes- that IS stressful! I am no expert but am sure someone more knowledgeable will be along soon.

Sitrus · 19/05/2018 22:21

Thats bizarre, they have to offer a place, it doesn't have to be in any of your listed schools however.

PhilODox · 19/05/2018 22:23

Well, they're still under obligation to find him something if they haven't yet offered.
Are you in a London borough? Maybe they were hoping a neighbouring borough would have a place?

Original poster

funtimes · 20/05/2018 07:37

Yes we are in London, I happen to know all the neighbouring boroughs are full, and for each unsuccessful appeal in those boroughs we have been deferred back to our council! Beyond distressed with this whole situation. It really doesn't seem kind or fair to a child.

OP posts:

GnotherGnu · 20/05/2018 07:58

I don't understand how you can have lost appeals: on the face of it, having no school place at all is clearly prejudice that outweighs the prejudice any individual school might suffer as a result of having your children there. In my admittedly limited experience, admission panels tend to want to know whether there is another school place available - what did the LA say about that?

clarinsgirl · 20/05/2018 08:10

The LA must offer you a place. It doesn't have to be one of your preferences but they have an obligation to offer a place. What have they said about this?

prh47bridge · 20/05/2018 08:42

That is not acceptable. Keep chasing the LA. If you aren't getting anywhere consider referring them to the LGO.

I have to say that I also struggle to understand how appeal panels decided against you if you had no place. If you had been offered a place but rejected it I could understand but not being offered a place at all and still losing an appeal is very strange. Unless, of course, the LA lied and claimed they had offered or were about to offer a place. I assume you weren't appealing for selective schools.

Imchlibob · 20/05/2018 08:48

Were all your 6 preferences on your application form far-away outstanding schools that you had no chance of getting? Reading between the lines of your op this is my suspicion.

Original poster

funtimes · 20/05/2018 09:24

so do the appeal panel speak to the LA after an appeal? We have only ever told the truth. The LA are trying to persuade us to go on the waiting list for a school that we don't think suits our DC (for various reasons that I don't want to go into on a public forum) if we do this they said they would possibly be able to offer it to us in September. I don't understand why they need us to go on the waiting list as I thought they would just offer it to us? and I'm reluctant to put our name on the list as it implies we want to get it! We applied to a mixture of schools, some selective, we are just in a bit of a no mans land.

OP posts:

PettsWoodParadise · 20/05/2018 09:42

Just to clarify OP by no place do you mean no place at one of your preferred schools or absolutely no place offered? We’ve seen on this forum different interpretations of no place offered. If absolutely no place that is very odd indeed. I’ve heard of people not getting one of their listed schools as they were unrealistic but not getting any offer and of children with complicated needs it taking time to get the right school for them but generally it is almost unheard of to have no offer of a place at all by this stage.

PhilODox · 20/05/2018 09:49

Did you submit by the deadline?
They have genuinely offered no school, not just one you didn't put on the form or didn't want?

Original poster

funtimes · 20/05/2018 09:55

no offer at all.

OP posts:

PatriciaHolm · 20/05/2018 10:22

Were all your appeals to selectives?

The panel should have known you had no offer - I'm assuming you told them too?

The LA you live in has an obligation to find you a place, you need to push back on them and demand a resolution.

Is the final appeal to a selective school?

AveEldon · 20/05/2018 11:03

Did you apply to any schools in your borough or not?

The council are probably suggesting you joining the waitlist for your nearest school as the waitlist will go by distance. It may be full now but due to movement you may get a place by Sept.

You need to consider your options - why did your appeals fail?

Did you apply to any schools you were likely to meet the entrance criteria for?
Do you want to home school?

Original poster

funtimes · 20/05/2018 13:00

2 of the schools are in borough. We meet all the criteria for the other schools. We have added our name to the waiting list for 2 more schools in borough since we’ve had no offer, but are low on the waiting lists. No we weren’t late for the deadline.

OP posts:

MarchingFrogs · 20/05/2018 13:56

We meet all the criteria for the other schools

Surely not - 'out of catchment with sibling' / 'in catchment without sibling' / 'any other applicant' or 'right religion, but never goes to church' / completely different religion but known to priest for flower arranging skills' / 'any other applicant'? Sorry, don't mean to seem unsympathetic, but I can't see how anyone can fall into all the admissions categories for a given school. Unless it is fully academically selective and the score was a pass but not high enough to be within PAN?

Unless you really do want to home educate from September, though, or can afford whatever indie place you are able to find at this stage, your best bet would appear to be to add your child's name to the waiting list of the school that the LA suggests, even if you are not keen on it. Have you and your child actually visited it?

AveEldon · 20/05/2018 14:01

So if you met the criteria why didn't you get a place at any of them?
Why did your appeals fail?

Do you live somewhere where you are just a bit too far from all the schools?

RandomMess · 20/05/2018 14:03

Problem in London is the overall shortage of school places...

eddiemairswife · 20/05/2018 14:21

Doesn't the government expect you to start your own free school in the circumstances you have described?

Original poster

funtimes · 20/05/2018 15:40

exactly what I feel, and it feels very wrong for a child. we can't go privately, home education would be our only option, but then I'd have to give up work so ultimately has a big financial knock on our family.

OP posts:

Tissunnyupnorth · 20/05/2018 15:49

I had no idea that this was possible. How stressful and unfair. I thought if you couldn’t be offered one of your preferences, then your LA was duty bound to offer you something!

NotARegularPenguin · 20/05/2018 15:54

Well I suspect that ultimately you will be offered a place at the school you don’t want to add his name to the waiting list for. If the LA are advising that they must know there will be spaces made there.

KittyMcKitty · 20/05/2018 16:18

They have to offer you a place (not necessarily at a school you either want or have named). What happened on National Offer Day? Were you offered a school you rejected?

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