AIBU to feel cheesed off that my son still does not have a school place for when they eventually open

[choosingcrumble]

We've moved back to the UK and we applied for a school prior to moving. They sent the response to the wrong address so I only found out there was not a space when I chased them. I then quickly put in an application for the next nearest school on 17th December. I've still heard nothing. They are an academy. The council said they would chase them last week, still nothing. AIBU to think they at the very least they should have let me know if he has a place or not when they re-open again.
It is for a secondary school place. So sick of it. I get we are in the middle of the pandemic but surely, it isn't a big ask?

Just ring them and ask them? The person doing admissions maybe at home which may slow things down.

Usually the school allocation thing takes months. Schools are often over subscribed too so they may well be having to search far amd wide fir a space somewhere.

I've rung them a couple of times, I just keep getting told the person that deals with it isn't in, they will pass on my message and come back to me. Then I hear nothing.

Most popular secondary schools are full and won't have places.

You need to phone the council and ask which schools in the area have spaces and then ask them to allocate you a place at a school with space. Then go on waiting list for schools that you do want

Applying not at the start of the school in normal time frames means that you don't get as much of a choice

It is the council, who have a legal obligation provide a school place that you need to chase . Not the school

Yup - ring the council and ask about current available spaces.

The council have an obligation to provide an education place. I would call the council and find out where the spaces are and take it from there.

I thought there was a link on all council websites that said if a school has places?
If the school is full, it's full.
They can't keep spaces available just in case someone moves in to the area.

You may not get a place at the nearest school unfortunately. Phone your council anc ask to be put through to admissions. I’m sure they have a few people with links to that role. Good luck.

Call the council and ask where places are available.

Wouldn’t there be grounds to appeal if the offer letter was sent to the wrong address?

@Whatwouldscullydo

Usually the school allocation thing takes months. Schools are often over subscribed too so they may well be having to search far amd wide fir a space somewhere.

It doesn't take months for admissions outside the usual phase transfer round.

@arethereanyleftatall
Nope-not in my area.

Did you appeal against the refusal of the place for your first preference school?

You can ring round the relevant schools yourself to ask about vacancies. If you can't get answers, I'd suggest you apply anyway for all the schools in your area that you think would be OK, and use the appeal system if you get refusals all round. The criterion for winning an appeal is essentially whether the prejudice to your child of not going to that school outweighs prejudice to the the school. Unless the school has unusual circumstances or is heavily over-subscribed, you have a strong argument that the fact that your child is out of education altogether outweighs any prejudice to the school However, obviously that only works if you've tried the full local available range of schools and been refused.

In the meantime, the council has a legal obligation to help you ensure your child receives full time education. It won't be the equivalent of school hours, but should be at least 10-15 hours a week, depending on your child's age. Contact the Education Department urgently to ask them to make arrangements for home and/or online tuition, and push hard to make it happen. You may well find that wakes them up anyway about the desirability of helping you find a school. If they do nothing and don't arrange tuition, threaten judicial review court proceedings.

You are entitled to a place, not a place at the school of your choice. You also cannot apply until resident in the area. Call the lea who can assist you in finding a school with places

What year is your child in?

Yes, what year are you applying for and are you now resident in the UK?

We've been here since December and resident here. He is Year 8

@mootymoo
We've been resident here since the beginning of December, I applied in October but the refusal from the first school was sent to the wrong address. I found this out on 17th December and applied to a different school the same day.

It doesn't take months for admissions outside the usual phase transfer round

But dealing with the usual phase transfer round does become a full time job whilst it's happening.

@Nith
I didn't appeal as there have been numerous appeals for the oversubscribed school and no one has won.

@NeverDropYourMoonCup
This is for an in year admission.

Unfortunately it does take time - we moved back to UK last summer. I applied at end of June for places for my two but we didn’t get a place until end of September. My eldest is year 8 and his took longer as all the schools in a reasonable distance were full so it had to go to a panel where the council made a decision (we were lucky and he got our local school).

It’s very frustrating but all I can recommend is keep ringing the council and chasing it up, be polite but firm.

I think it was called a Fair Access Panel - for children who had no school place

It took me a year to get my daughter into our catchment school when we moved. I would apply to more than one school to be honest and then put him on the waiting list for your preferred school.

[quote choosingcrumble]@NeverDropYourMoonCup
This is for an in year admission.[/quote]
Yes, I saw that. What I meant is that the Admissions Manager is quite likely rather busy right now with a timescale determined by law, so an in year admission that isn't governed by the same restrictions is likely to be lower on the list of priorities than the 1000 other applications they have to handle.