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Secondary education

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

Original poster

LA is bulling me to put daughter in lower year

114 replies

NinaKKjones · 30/07/2019 11:27

I really am desperate for advice,
After a relocation due to a forced move i applied to the local school for a place for my daughter for year 10 it was now March 2019 (year 10 start date was Sept 18).
The school did-not see us untill early May and then REFUSED her a place, did not offer an appeal .
I contacted the LA for help they advised there was no other schools in the area they would ask school to reconsider.
We have now reached July no one has any concern as to school missed and im freaking out .
The LA send me an email to say that The school will offer her a place but in year 9, and i HAVE TO ACCEPT IT NO APPEAL ALLOWED.
And if i dont force my daughter to face this public humiliation i will be prosecuted.

Does any one know where i stand have made a complaint but the LA seem to think despite it proven to be damaging to a child this is acceptable.
No where to turn and still no school place

I have tried out of school areas colleges even looked at how i could fund paying

OP posts:
ChicCroissant · 30/07/2019 11:33

I think you may have posted about this before but from a different angle, unable to get your DD a place?

Is it due to the subjects she'll need to take for exams? Some schools start the subjects in year 9 because they take one or two exams early in year 10.

If you are the poster I'm thinking of, hasn't your DD missed year 9 anyway?

Todaythiscouldbe · 30/07/2019 11:34

So there is only one secondary school locally? Is her name on the waiting list at any other schools?
I have no experience of being offered a place in the year below but, unless there's a back story, that doesn't sound right at all.

LolaSmiles · 30/07/2019 11:35

I would imagine that this case is more complex than the details in your OP.

I've never heard of schools forcing students into younger year groups.

The more pressing issue is that she hasn't studied year 10 in full now and will be seeking entry to a school at the start of Year 11 and having to learn new content and new specs in under a year.

You could try looking at the 14-16 department of a local FE college as an option.

I can't help but feel this situation is probably much more complex than an LA randomly deciding they will push a student down a year.

Bluntness100 · 30/07/2019 11:36

Why do they wish her to repeat year nine? Have they explained?

TinyMystery · 30/07/2019 11:36

There were certainly a few students at my secondary school who due to relocation ended up starting in year 9 or 10, when they should have been in year 10 or 11. They were usually considered very cool. One of them is now a doctor. It definitely did him no harm.

LolaSmiles · 30/07/2019 11:37

Cross posted with ChicCroissant
You're not the poster who moved to Wales, DD didnt like the school, then moved back to the original area but couldn't get a school place are you?

MontStMichel · 30/07/2019 11:39

I suggest you contact The Coram Children’s Centre to see if your DD could seek judicial review (High Court Action) against the Local Authority, because they are acting unreasonably? Ask them if she would be eligible for legal aid?

MontStMichel · 30/07/2019 11:40

Sorry - The Coram Children’s Legal Centre!

Bluntness100 · 30/07/2019 11:40

Who says they are acting unreasonably? Other than the op? They may have very good reason for her to start in year nine.

NuttyOrNice · 30/07/2019 11:43

.

ChicCroissant · 30/07/2019 11:43

That's the one I was thinking of too LolaSmiles. Probably missed year 10 then and not year 9 as I said originally. But she has been out of school for at least a year.

Is this the school that she was attending before you moved, OP?

Bluntness100 · 30/07/2019 11:46

It would make sense it was her old school, hence the phrase "public humiliation" if it was a new school no one would know her.

So it seems the school is deeming she's not educationally in a position to join year ten or eleven and it would benefit her to start in year nine. Maybe they are prioritising that over what her mates will think.

LolaSmiles · 30/07/2019 11:50

ChicCroissant
It has echoes of it with the forced moves and so on. If I remember correctly on that thread the various moves weren't forced and the OP didn't get the responses they wanted.

I think the OP on this thread is better looking at 14-16 provision in an FE college.

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius · 30/07/2019 11:53

@NinaKKjones - when we moved from England to Scotland, my eldest son was in Year 10 - we moved at the end of April, so he was over half way through the first year of his GCSEs.

We talked to him, and to the school up here, and made the decision to put him back a year. Scotland has a different exam system with its own syllabus, and if he had gone into the right year for his age, he would have had a LOT of work to catch up, and it made sense for him to start the Standard Grades syllabus from the beginning, with the lower year group.

I can honestly say that we have NEVER regretted it. He got some extra time to mature before doing his exams, and we are sure that he did better in the exams because of the extra time he had. It has also stood him in good stead since then - he worked hard at university, and got a good degree and a good job at the end of it. I think he also benefited from being one of the oldest in his year.

If your child goes into Year 9, they will get to study the GCSE syllabus from the beginning, instead of having to try to catch up with a lot of work. If they have already learned some of the work (as my son had - even though it was a different syllabus, some of it was the same - maths, for example, and sciences), going over it again will reinforce the learning and they may well do even better than they would have done without going back a year. Plus, as the oldest/one of the oldest in the year, they will be more mature, and I'd have thought they'd be a shoo-in for things like being a prefect, which is great experience and can look good on a CV.

eddiemairswife · 30/07/2019 11:59

If the school has a place in Y10 they have to give it to you, however inconvenient it is for them. It states this in the Schools Admission Code. Also they cannot refuse to let you appeal.

Bluntness100 · 30/07/2019 12:04

If the school has a place in Y10 they have to give it to you, however inconvenient it is for them.

Not if the kid hasn't done enough of year nine. Do try to read the thread. It's not overly long.

LolaSmiles · 30/07/2019 12:06

eddiemairswife
If this is the situation some of us think it is then there were no year 10 places within a set area, the school places weren't applied for until a few months after the 'forced move' and the child has missed most of a year of school during ks4.

I hear what you're saying if there are places available, though for September entry OP would be looking for entry to y11 if her DD stays with her age group. Most schools have already got a full year group by then.

Rockbird · 30/07/2019 12:13

So they want her to join year 9 when she should be joining year 11? That's a 2 year gap and more significant.

Oliversmumsarmy · 30/07/2019 12:14

Doesn’t the gcse syllabus start in year 10 anyway so going into year 9 is doing work that predominantly is irrelevant.

Maybe something like Maths she would have to catch up on but otherwise most other subjects it is year 10 and 11 that is the most relevant

Don’t understand why you would be prosecuted. If your dd isn’t in ft education wouldn’t you just apply for her to be HE

Any reason that she can’t be HE

It could mean her teaching herself but it could be done successfully if she puts her mind to it.

Buying the books and with so many resources on line it isn’t quite the same as being in a classroom but given your circumstances then unless you can find a school out of the area you can get her to and will take her in year 10 then it is the best option.

TheFirstOHN · 30/07/2019 12:14

Do you mean join Y9 now, and start Y10 in September? If she has been given the opportunity to join at the beginning of the GCSE course (rather than halfway through) why would you not take them up on this?

Joining a new school at the end of Y10 / beginning of Y11 would be a last resort. The new GCSEs are difficult enough, even when you have learned the whole course.

It's a new school, so there wouldn't be the stigma of going down a year and seeing your peers continue in the year above. Even if she were staying at the same school, any embarrassment of retaking the year would be short-lived, and preferable to the difficulties of joining a two-year course half way through, the effects of which will be long-term.

We usually see the opposite dilemma on these boards, e.g. child moves here from abroad aged 15, parent wants them to start Y10 rather than going straight into Y11 and is trying to find a school who can accommodate this.

Namechangeforthiscancershit · 30/07/2019 12:17

I think "public humiliation" is putting it a bit strongly.

If you're the poster I'm thinking of then your DD has missed a lot of school and this seems like a really good opportunity

Kazzyhoward · 30/07/2019 12:18

Personally, I'd snap their hands off. Far better to go back a year and do the course properly. My OH did this after several months of no school due to moving and says it really helped. Why would you want to risk her getting low/poor GCSE grades (which will hinder her future) rather than let her do the course properly???

Hoppinggreen · 30/07/2019 12:18

If this is the lady who moved to Wales for a while it was a very complicated situation
I know I’m not a teenager (but I do have one) but the LA will be more interested in her getting the best education than being in a class with her mates, and if she’s been living someelse for a while anyway they might have moved on so she will need new ones anyway

user1471449295 · 30/07/2019 12:19

If my daughter had missed that much of a school year I would want her to start a year below. I know it’s frustrating as you’ve been fighting to her her in. But she’s missed so much. It might be better for her academically in the long run

Kazzyhoward · 30/07/2019 12:19

Doesn’t the gcse syllabus start in year 10 anyway so going into year 9 is doing work that predominantly is irrelevant.

At my son's school, they start the science GCSE courses in year 9 due to the high content.

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