Disastrous school allocation - Help needed with next steps

[KitHenry]

The worst has happened and we’ve not been allocated a place at any of our preferred schools. We’ve been offered a place at an awful school. I can’t sleep and I’m not sure what to do next.

Hi OP I saw your post on the other thread. I'm in the same area as you and also allocated a school we didn't apply for that we really don't want. DH and I still up and wondering what to do and how we are going to tell DS in the morning.

It’s awful isn’t it. I don’t know how I’m going to tell him. I’ve got a job interview tomorrow too so couldn’t have come at a worse time.

Oh, that's terrible timing. Hope you get some sleep and good luck for the interview.

It seems so unfair for him and so out of our control. Sorry, I can't be any help. I can only offer sympathy.

Well, you can appeal if the harm done to him by not getting a place will exceed the harm done to other children by overcrowding.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/choosing-a-school/state-schools/secondary-school-appeals/amp

There is some clear advice on what constitutes good grounds for appeal on there. Sorry you've all got this stress to contend with.

I posted on the other thread but waiting lists are not specific to grammar schools- all oversubscribed schools will have one. Make sure you're on the waiting lists for the choices you didn't get and, if allowed (I believe some LAs have a limit on the number of waiting lists you can be on and some don't), ask to be put on the waiting list for any school that would be preferable to the one offered.

However, accept the current offer, unless you are prepared to home school. This doesn't mean they have to go there and won't affect your position on waiting lists. If you refuse the offer the LA has done their job by offering you a school place and is not obliged to offer an alternative. Good luck- there will almost definitely be movement, even up to and including September

@WindInTheWillows, thank you, that link is really useful.

Do not reject the place! The council, having made you one offer, is not obliged to make another. So unless you can genuinely home school, or have a private place lined up, you need to avoid the risk of no place at all.

You need to go on the waiting list for any schools he could reasonably travel to, that you like better than this one.

Tell him in a totally matter of fact way - this is not the end of the world and if he does end up there he will need to make the best of it, so you need to be at least neutral even if you can't quite manage positive today.

Then start planning your appeal/s

You need the full info from each school, so you chan check which admissions priority he was placed in, and if distance from school to home looks right, or if any other part of the admin looks wrong. If an error was made, and that error cost your DS a place that he would have been offered if no mistake had been made, then you will win at appeal (and might not even go to appeal for a clear cut case)

Also, appeals can be won on 'balance of prejudice' (or the prejudice/potential harm to DS greater than the prejudice/potential harm to the school and all its other pupils if they go over numbers.

Schools cannot admit over the PAN (permitted admission number) but done regularly,cope with numbers slightly higher. You need to find out both the PAN and the actual numbers in each year group for the last few years. Admissions authorities (school itself for VA/academy, LA for others) must provide information to help parents who wish to appeal.

Keep a record of any and all conversations with LA (email the person after phone calls with your version of what was said).

Remember you are appealing for the school/s you want, not against the allocated one.

So for each preferred school in turn, what is it they have that uniquely benefits DS (don't just say it's a better school academically/pastorally, as this may alienate the panel who know all the schools well). You need specifics - do they offer everyone triple science? (DS excellent at science, does XYZ outside school this school offers triple but currently allocated does not) - what languages are available? (DS learns Spanish, needs school that offers it to,continue) - music (one has orchestras, choirs etc). Things like availability of co-curricular clubs in areas where DS has existing (evidenced!) interest/skill would count too.

We got offered a place at that school because it was the nearest school to us with places. If there are other schools in the county with places still available that I think are preferable can I ask to go there instead?

Where do I find all the information I need?

@KitHenry

We got offered a place at that school because it was the nearest school to us with places. If there are other schools in the county with places still available that I think are preferable can I ask to go there instead?

Where do I find all the information I need?

Yes- you can also ask to go on the waiting list for schools that are full at the moment but would be preferable to your current allocation. Go to www.durham.gov.uk/schooladmissions and 'Apply for a secondary place' and click on the PDF document on that page about applying for places- a phone number and email address for the school admissions team are on P2. From the link above there is also a page about asking to go on waiting lists that may be useful.

As Meditrina says, you should accept the place that has been offered. The LA does not have to make another offer if you reject this place. Rejecting it will not help you at appeal and could make it harder to win. I know this isn't what you want for your son, but it is better than nothing.

If there are other schools anywhere (not just in your county) with places available you can apply to those schools and they must offer you a place (unless, of course, lots of other parents have the same idea). Your LA will be able to tell you which schools have places available. Note, however, that your son will not be eligible for free school transport if you get a place this way.

Make sure you are on the waiting list for the schools you named as your preferences. That should be automatic but some LAs get this wrong.

Some LAs allow you to put your son on as many waiting lists as you want. If yours is one of these, put him on the waiting list of any school that you would prefer to the allocated school.

If your LA limits the number of waiting lists you can be on, think carefully about which waiting lists to go on - should you stick with your preferences or go for some alternatives. There is no point being on the waiting list of a school where you are never going to get a place.

Check for any mistakes in the admissions process. Has your son been placed in the correct category for each of your preferences. Have they measured the distance correctly. If they have made a mistake that will give you a strong case for appeal. Mistakes are rare but they do happen.

Regardless of whether a mistake has been made, start looking for things your preferred schools offer that are relevant to your son and are not available at the allocated school. As others have said, you need to show that the disadvantage to your son from not being admitted to the appeal school outweighs any problems the school will face from having to cope with an additional pupil.

You should also check whether any of your preferred pupils has been over PAN previously. If they have, that helps your case as it shows they can cope with more pupils.

There will definitely be movement on waiting lists between now and September. There will be some families who have been given an offer to a preferable school today, but who are planning to go private anyway. There will be others who don't know it yet but are going to need to move to another city or another country for work between now and September.

So, don't panic. Look at all the schools which would be preferable compared to the school you have been allocated and look at their entry criteria. If places are freed up they will be offered according to those priority criteria. It's a long wait but a lot of people get an offer to improve on an unwanted school without needing to win an appeal but just by being on the waiting list at the time when these freed-up places are reallocated.

It looks like you have to specifically ask to be on the waiting lists in County Durham for schools that were higher in your preferences than the one you were offered, so definitely contact the LA to be added OP. www.durham.gov.uk/article/2195/School-waiting-lists

There's a link to a useful guide on school admission appeals here - www.simpsonmillar.co.uk/media/secondary-school-admissions-2020-and-how-to-appeal/

OP I saw from your other thread that your DS is bright and that the school offered is extremely small (did I read that right - intake of 40 students in a year?)

If so, it's unlikely that it will be able to offer a range of subjects and activities. Is your son sporty? Allocated school probably won't have many sports teams - does the school you want offer clubs in football, basketball, hockey, whatever he likes?

Is he keen on science? You say allocated school only offers double science - if he has ambitions to do science A levels he would be better doing triple - does you preferred school offer this?

Does he play an instrument - does preferred school have orchestra? Did he learn Spanish or German at primary - does preferred school offer this while allocated only has French (if so small I imagine only one language offered)?

You see the idea I am sure. This is for appeal not waiting list of course, but it's worth thinking about and researching.

@clary

OP I saw from your other thread that your DS is bright and that the school offered is extremely small (did I read that right - intake of 40 students in a year?)

If so, it's unlikely that it will be able to offer a range of subjects and activities. Is your son sporty? Allocated school probably won't have many sports teams - does the school you want offer clubs in football, basketball, hockey, whatever he likes?

Is he keen on science? You say allocated school only offers double science - if he has ambitions to do science A levels he would be better doing triple - does you preferred school offer this?

Does he play an instrument - does preferred school have orchestra? Did he learn Spanish or German at primary - does preferred school offer this while allocated only has French (if so small I imagine only one language offered)?

You see the idea I am sure. This is for appeal not waiting list of course, but it's worth thinking about and researching.

I may be wrong, but I have some knowledge of the schools in the OPs LA and if it's the one I'm thinking of, it's not that it has an intake of 40 pupils but that it only manages to fill 40 ish of its places as it is not a popular school. Apologies if that's not correct OP!

@clary's ideas are good but remember if you are appealing, you need to be arguing "for" the school you want not "against" the school you have been allocated. Appeals panels will not be sympathetic to an argument that boils down to just not wanting that nasty school for your precious child (I am not accusing you of having such an attitude). If a school has not been closed down due to too many failed inspections, then it is considered a reasonable place for a child to be educated.

That's the same thing as an intake of 40 though - there are 40 students in the year - even if it has space for 220! That's a tiny school and cannot offer any kind of range of extra-curricular or even taught subjects.

Here's a thought OP - what's its DT offering like? A school that small is unlikely to offer a full range of food tech, textiles, resistant materials etc. Check out what it does offer if this is something DS is interested in.

Yes agreed, remember you are appealing for a specific school not against this one. Hence my suggestions about finding out what is offered at preferred school (that might not be offered at a school of 250 pupils in total!

How can a school with so few pupils be visible? Surely in danger of closing down? Not remotely efficient re costs.

Yes, it’s PAN is much higher but only around 40 children are unfortunate enough to get allocated a place there each year. Its now joined up with an equally poor school who actually had just 4 pupils in its 2020 intake. So I believe that site closed down. It’s really just children from the village the school is in and my village. To be fair some people choose it, my neighbour did for her child last year. But the village (old pit village) I live in seems to have low aspirations. Some people here literally haven’t worked since the mine closed down in the 1980s.

It does have an extremely limited range of options which is my main objection, particularly the lack of option to study separate science.

Excellent advice here already. Make sure you’re on the waiting list for any school you’d be willing to accept and identify grounds of appeal for your preferred one(s), which can be curriculum, extra-curricular, pastoral or whatever.

And I appreciate that this has been unwelcome news, but please don’t tell your child that going to this school will be “disastrous”, because unless you find an alternative that will be their school.

Dear OP - I hope you would not mind me joining the thread? we are in the same boat with disastrous allocation - it feels so unfair as even kids who live further got into our desired school..

Our twins got into two separate schools 2 miles of each other and 2 miles from us with no transport. me and DH work full time and commute between 8 and 19 each day. Would inability to drop off / pick up kids for us and inability for them to walk by themselves be a good argument for an appeal process?

Thanks

How many pupils in the school overall then OP? Are there more in years further up the school?

To be fair, there is something to be said for a smaller school where you know everybody; and if he is bright I am sure he will do well. Agree you need to big it up as much as you can.

What is the pastoral care like? Is there a lot of bullying, poor behaviour or violence? If it is mainly the limited subjects then I can see why you are concerned but it's not the worst thing. An appeal for a school with a better range may have weight tho as I said.

@Elenus

Dear OP - I hope you would not mind me joining the thread? we are in the same boat with disastrous allocation - it feels so unfair as even kids who live further got into our desired school..

Our twins got into two separate schools 2 miles of each other and 2 miles from us with no transport. me and DH work full time and commute between 8 and 19 each day. Would inability to drop off / pick up kids for us and inability for them to walk by themselves be a good argument for an appeal process?

Thanks

You need to focus on your DC, I know it's hard; you don't know what reason there may be for other dc getting in to your desired school, LAC, SEN, sibling.

Two miles is considered reasonable for a secondary age child to walk (in fact three miles is) so that won't be a ground for appeal, I'm afraid.

Thank you @clary for your response. It won't be safe for them to walk through such area. May be when they are 15, but not at 11
But I see your point - really appreciate