In Year School Admissions for September.

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Wondering if anyone can tell me if this is the normal process.

We have recently moved house into a new LA and I have applied for a school place for year 8 my my child to start in September. The LA manages new academic year admissions and you can apply from 1st July until 28th July and these will be considered from 30th July and then any application received after 29th July until 4th August will be considered on 6th August then 5th-11th, 12th-18th and so on.

So i applied early July and on 30th received and email stating that as the school I had applied for is an academy my application has been sent to the school governors and they will notify me when they receive and outcome. I called the LA yesterday to ask how long this normally takes and they stated they couldn't tell me and it may be early/mid Sept until the governors re convene.

This means that although we pushed for early completion at our expense to ensure we were in the first round to be considered this was pointless as all application will be considered together. It also means that we are in limbo until then.

If we do not get a place but are low down on the wait list he will attend his previous school which is a 40 minute drive away although both myself and my husband work that way. However if he is high up on the wait list we will need to consider alternatives close to our new home.

My son has ASD but does not have EHCP and this uncertainty is along with the already stressful house move is causing him to become distressed.

Is this the normal process?

Thank you

I am afraid the answer is yes. The schools will shut for the august break and little if anything will happen until staff start to return. Whilst the advice from the LA is probably theoretically correct when applications can be handled they are not living in reality of the holiday meaning their are no staff in the school.
In reality though it is in theory the trust governors of the academy who decide whether they can admit, their role is more setting the criteria for who can and cannot be admitted. It would be the principal and office staff who will be answering the question was to whether there is a place available in the year group that you want.

Its super stressful. We're moving 4hours away and can't get any reassurance on school places for my children going into year 7 and 9. My year 7 son will be the most stressful as so many schools are already oversubscribed. I'm just trusting the universe that we'll get them both in the same school once September starts and all the admissions have settled down. Until then they'll be staying in their current school meaning our family is separated. I'm going to talk to local councilors to try and get help.

@whotheeff Local councillors will not be able to do anything, as it is down to the school and LA admission policy, councillors can not over ride anything. Friends father is a councillor and has had families ask him, hence I’m going by what he says.