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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

My child can't go to a school they've given him

70 replies

Ccivy1982 · 10/04/2019 12:04

I have a child whos been allocated a school that he can't go to as a perpetrator who he has a restraining on 4 children go there and we've been through 18 months of hell and he won in court against the abuser. We only.picked 1 school as he said he felt safe to go there and would.enjoy.school.once again ... the education welfare dont seem to care his life would be at risk if he attends the school and i have appealed to all local.schools but getting no where, I will end up home schooling him but I have a 4 month old baby and 2 brain tumours and work 12 hour.night shifts and I'm.not sure I can even do it but my child will be in danger And had threatened his own life if he has to go to that school with those children.... can any one give me any advise????

OP posts:

Jackshouse · 10/04/2019 14:28

Have you been to appeals panel for all 14 school?

Why do you think this one school is safer than all the others without the problem parent?

Tomtontom · 10/04/2019 14:28

Cross post - if he is 6th on one list that sounds very hopeful.

Tomtontom · 10/04/2019 14:31

There is a flaw in the appeals system here. In order to be successful you have to explain why only the school in question can meet the needs of the child. However in the OP's case, she will take any school except one. She has a valid case, but no hope of success because of the way the system works.

Can any of the appeals experts offer suggestions on how that could be addressed?

myrtleWilson · 10/04/2019 14:35

I'll tag a couple of the experts! @prh47bridge @admission

Original poster

Ccivy1982 · 10/04/2019 14:50

Thank you appreciate your comments ....and yes all 14 schools .....it's been very stressful.... and yes I've said I will.drive out of the village as far as it takes but it's separate boroughs and councils and they have been least helpful as possible, I don't mind taking him however far it takes.... I've fought this long and like.i said I keep hitting brick walls .... but I'll do what it takes to.keep him safe

OP posts:

stucknoue · 10/04/2019 14:50

I don't understand how a parent who has been subjected to a court case and has a restraining order can be allowed anywhere near a school, or or have parental responsibility, restraining orders are not issued without good reason. But that said the parent doesn't go to the school the children do and I'm suspecting they aren't part of the restraining order - whilst it's not very nice, the council haven't done anything wrong. I named the school I didn't want my dd to attend and why in my application, I'm guessing this wasn't the case here

Original poster

Ccivy1982 · 10/04/2019 15:00

Yes the children are not named on the order so understand it's not the council fault.however they should take.into consideration the outlined restrictions on the order and see that he wouldn't be safe with children there who were part of the case .....and.once it's known he's there who.knows what will happen ,the parent could turn up as the restrictions are.not.on the new school but on the current one....and the children were part of the abuse so 4 against 1 child.whos been through enough just isn't fair....the parent couldn't turn up at another school where her children don't go as that would be wierd and obvious ..... I just can't see him going through torment again and he really.doesnt want to, he's stood before a judge and jury and done his bit .... he just wants to.ve safe and learn in a safe environment .... all this was in all appeals and reasons why from.the start but like.i said I get no where

OP posts:

prh47bridge · 10/04/2019 15:17

I'm a bit lost with where you are with appeals. You seem to imply that your appeals have failed but I wouldn't expect appeals for admission to Y7 in September to have started yet. So have you been to appeal hearings or not? If you have submitted an appeal and there hasn't been a hearing your appeal has not been decided yet.

You have a good case for appeal in my view. You should argue that the presence of the children of someone against whom there is a restraining order raises safeguarding genuine safeguarding concerns regarding the allocated school and you therefore need a place at another school.

Original poster

Ccivy1982 · 10/04/2019 15:23

Yes I have appealed , some where sat on 29th April and we're rejected... some councils only deal with non academy schools and rest was private appeals and I have 1 left to go and been rejected from this 3rd appeal.....so 1 left to go but on all waiting lists for ANY school that's not the allocated one. You would.hope someone reads the appeals and looks at the safeguarding however I know with schools it's a postcode lottery too.... but I'll keep going

OP posts:

Original poster

Ccivy1982 · 10/04/2019 15:24

29th March sorry

OP posts:

prh47bridge · 10/04/2019 15:54

some where sat on 29th March and we're rejected

Are you in England?

If you are, 29th March is only 4 weeks after offers came out so a hearing that early seems very unlikely unless you are appealing for a year other than year 7. Did you go to a hearing where there was an appeal panel of at least 3 people in the room, the school presented its case to refuse admission then you presented your case for your son to be admitted? If you haven't been to a hearing your appeals have not yet been dealt with.

If you aren't, please say where you are as that will help people to advise you.

Charmatt · 10/04/2019 16:34

Have you tried asking to be referred to the Fair Access Panel? Every Authority has a Fair Access Protocol which looks after vulnerable children. This is the link to Nottinghamshire's FAP which was easy to find on the internet:

www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/media/108354/fair-access-factsheet.pdf

I am aware they have just gone through consultation on changes for this, but it shouldn't be too dissimilar for the LA in your area. I think your child may qualify for them to look at finding a solution.

prh47bridge · 10/04/2019 17:14

The Fair Access Protocol is unlikely to be appropriate. The FAP is for pupils who have difficulty securing a place outside the normal admissions round. The OP appears to have applied in the normal admissions round (assuming she is applying for a Y7 place) and she has a place for her child. In most LAs, that would rule out the FAP.

CatWhisker · 10/04/2019 18:26

Would this come under Exceptional Social/Medical Needs? It's the second priority after Looked after children in my dc's school admission arrangements.
Could you apply under that criteria to other schools?

prh47bridge · 10/04/2019 19:18

If the school had such a category it may have come under that. However, from what the OP has posted, we are past that now. It is only relevant inasmuch as, if the school does have this category and she provided evidence, she could argue that the decision not to put her son in this category was unreasonable.

Mustbetimeforachange · 10/04/2019 19:23

It doesn't sound like the OP has actually been to appeals hearings? I'm confused!

myrtleWilson · 10/04/2019 19:36

I thought that too mustbe which is why I tagged the experts in case I was misunderstanding completely.

Hopefully she'll be back soon and can benefit from brilliant advice of prh and admission and others too

PanelChair · 10/04/2019 20:13

Like prh47bridge, I'm very surprised to hear that OP has already attended multiple appeal panels - most LEAs now will still be in the process of setting them up, so this is remarkably speedy.

admission · 10/04/2019 20:30

I think that there maybe confusion here on what has happened. OP can you confirm that after you were allocated the school you were allocated that you have asked to go on the waiting list for each of the schools that you believe would be acceptable to you and your child?
I think the answer to the question is yes and that they have all said that they are full and have no places available. Are you saying this is the appeal for the school, because it is not?
I also find it difficult to believe that the schools have carried out the appeals so quickly. Have you been asked to supply your case in writing? Have you seen the admission authorities case not to admit in writing and have you actually been to an appeal hearing in person?
Your situation is one that any appeal panel would normally have a great deal of sympathy for, so again I question whether we are cross purposes as to how far this has gone.
If you want to PM in private if you do not want to divulge any more detail but I would be intrigue to know for a start where this LA is that is so efficient that they have all the appeals completed. Frankly I do not believe it is possible, so we must have a communication issue here.

shatteredandstressed · 10/04/2019 21:30

The appeal hearings in our area are all mid to late May.

MarchingFrogs · 11/04/2019 08:36

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/275897/school_admission_appeals_code_1_february_2012.pdf

Section 2: Appeal Hearings
Timetable
2.1 Admission authorities must set a timetable for organising and hearing appeals that:
a) includes a deadline for lodging appeals which allows appellants at least 20 school days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful to prepare and lodge their written appeal;
b) ensures that appellants receive at least 10 school days’ notice of their appeal hearing;
c) includes reasonable deadlines for appellants to submit additional evidence, for admission authorities to submit their evidence, and for the clerk to send appeal papers to the panel and parties;
d) ensures that decision letters are sent within five school days of the hearing wherever possible.

OP, to have operated within the law, no admission authority in England, be it own admission authority school or local authority, can have held a 2019 main admissions round appeal last month. 29th March was the earliest date that could have been set as a deadline for submission of an appeal by the parent, being 20 school days from national offer day (i.e. 4 school weeks, with no intervening holidays / bank holidays).

Your big mistake was only namimg one school on your CAF, when your main issue was the desire not to be allocated a place at one specofic other school. If you had heeded the advice published by your LA on how to complete your CAF, it should have been possible to have named at least one other school amongst your preferences where your DS could have been offered a place om March 1st.

In submitting an appeal against your DS being offered a place at a school to which you have now made a late application, you are appealing for a place at that school, not against the school you have been allocated, so if you really have submitted appeals for 14 schools, you have to present 14 specific cases. However, 'if you are able to provide appeal panels with documentary evidence of the danger that your DS faces in attending his allocated school, you may find that this helps to influence (at least a majority of) the members of the panel hearing cases for one of the 14 that the disavantage to your DS of not going to that specific school outweighs the prejudice to the efficient use of resources of that school having to accept an extra pupil.

DM1209 · 11/04/2019 08:53

OP, I appreciate you're very, very stressed at the moment. As this situation resulted in a court case, a conviction AND a restraining order, the circumstances surrounding the offence must have been very serious. As previous posters have said, courts don't issue RO's on a whim. Keeping that in mind, are you not able to get a supporting statement from the police? Social worker that would have been heavily involved at the time AND teacher and head from current school all evidencing just how serious the situation is? Has your son had help from the GP? Get a supporting statement from them too speaking about the impact on his health. Did he have counselling of any kind? If so get a supporting statement from them too.

Try and have solid groundwork prepped and ready so when you advocate for a school place for him, you have covered all bases.

People have won appeals on much lesser grounds.
Good luck.

prh47bridge · 11/04/2019 09:14

The appeal hearings in our area are all mid to late May

That is the earliest I would expect. As per the section of the Appeals Code reproduced by MarchingFrogs, the deadline for submitting an appeal must be at least 20 school days after offers come out and parents must receive at least 10 school days notice of their hearing. That gives us a minimum of 6 weeks after 1st March (offer day) before any appeals can be heard and, as the Easter holidays are in March/April, that takes us to early to mid May. So the possible explanations are:

the OP is applying for Y8 or above, in which case this is not part of the normal admissions round
the OP is not in England
the OP has misunderstood the situation

We need the OP to come back and respond to some of the questions to figure out what is going on here (or alternatively to PM Admission or myself).

pappajonessecretchild · 11/04/2019 19:41

op, was the 29th march the next round of continuing interest list? the appeals are separate to these and work on the admission form you sent in. the appeal is where you should be more successful as will be talking to a group of people about your individual case. i am totally with you, your child cant go into that school as even thou a parent wont be involved on the playground like primary, there are shows, open days, sports days etc where the parent might come into contact with your child, plus obviously the children of that parent will know your child, i would have thought the panel on the appeal will see this and give you a different school. as this a unique situation, it hasnt been noted on the admission form. i am just a parent, no experience of appeals like some of the posters here. take them up on their offer and pm them.

eddiemairswife · 11/04/2019 21:30

pappa the appeal panel cannot give a parent a different school. They can only allow/disallow the schools that have been appealed for.

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