Awkward meeting with headteacher

[Lindaelisa]

Hi,
just really confused about something that recently happened and want your opinions and knowledge please. Basically my daughter was on a waiting list for a school place and we recently received an email from the school to go for a meeting to discuss a possibility for a place with the headteacher.

we accepted to go for the meeting and it turned out to be an interview like meeting with the headteacher, asking question why my daughter choose the school and what her interests are etc. at the end of the meeting, we were told that if the child decides to move then we will get contacted to receive the offer as it’s not for sure, and when asked how long we were supposed to wait, the answer was not sure but as I insisted it couldn’t last longer than a week, which was then agreed.

From my experience you are normally offered a place before you go for a meeting but the whole situation seemed really awkward and it made us both feel very strange as we didn’t like the approach and I was personally not expecting the meeting to end like this.

I just would like anyone with similar experience to let us know if this normally happens and if they have gone through something similar? Did you have to go for a meeting before being offered a place on the waiting list?

thanks in advance

Is it a state school? They're not allowed to interview as part of the admissions process.

Surely it's not up to the headteacher who
attends?

Yep is this a private school or a state school? If state, it's not ok.

If it's a private school it's totally normal to be interviewed before getting a place

"we were told that if the child decides to move then we will get contacted to receive the offer as it’s not for sure"

That suggests to me that the place is dependent on a child already at the school deciding to leave.

Surely the OP's daughter is already on the waiting list and provided that the place becomes available it will be hers.

If it's private, then I'd wonder if he's actually interviewing several children and is only choosing one. If you're not "chosen" he'll then say the child has decided not to leave after all.

State schools DO do this.

I had similar with my DD1 ( was quite a few years back) it was a great school and we were from a council estate and we were totally vetted 😱

It was supposed to be for us to have a look at the school but it was quickly made clear we were being interviewed. We got a formal offer the next day.

We joined in Y9 half way through year.

Yes this is normal if you've had no previous dealing with the school. You're invited in for a chat with the Head, meaning they want to know more about you and your child before offering you a place.
It's also your opportunity to quizz them on the issues that matter to you. The interview is both ways really.
If you did not like their approach and were made to feel uncomfortable you should perhaps reconsider and try and find a school where your daughter and your family feel welcome.
It's a buyer's market and you have choices.

It’s definitely not private, it’s a state school

Is this a state school?

Places in state schools must be allocated by the admissions criteria. If this was a state school, an interview cannot form part of the criteria, unless it is for 6th form and even then can only be to used to discuss options and academic requirements.

Any school that does so is breaking the admissions code, which has the force of law, and would open themselves up to successful appeals from children higher up the waiting list if they were jumped. They could also be reported to the office of the schools adjudicator.

It's unclear, though, whether the interview here was just jumping the gun a bit on a known vacancy - if you are top of the waiting list and they are pretty sure there will be a place soon, they may just have got ahead of themselves a bit. It is poor practise though as it could easily appear as if they were interviewing you.

Sorry @Lindaelisa , wrong end of the stick.

@PatriciaHolm Well we were told that we are top of the list but I don’t understand why they will interview us and say that they don’t know if the child in school will move away or not, meaning not certain of a place. Very unprofessional, why not wait for a place to become available and then offer it to someone rather than causing this uncertainty situation. It’s a year nine secondary school waiting list. Also it made my child very upset as not knowing what to expect, also the fact that they might not contact us anyway to offer a place.

@roestbruin we actually know the school very well as I already have an older child attending the school who is doing very well. (but no sibling priority) also been on the waiting list for quite a long time. so I am very confused with this

I too would be very confused in this situation @Lindaelisa
And I'd be cross actually; what exactly was the purpose of this meeting that unsettled your family and upset your daughter?
I'd bear in mind what@PatriciaHolm says about this interview/meeting potentially being in breach of the admissions code 😒
I think you were absolutely right to demand a prompt decision from them.

The school my niece goes to all the parents & children have to go for an interview & then the school suggests to parents of children they don't want that the school may not be the right one. It's a state school that wants to think it is better than all the others, only just having Y11 for the first time as it was a brand new school. The sixth form will open next year, only pupils with a minimum of grade 7 in all GCSE may attend with grade 8 in the subjects they choose to do A levels in, all pupils must pass an entrance exam & an interview, no BTEC's all A levels, no common rooms or free periods, fail any test or not do well enough in mocks & their place will be withdrawn.

What are the criteria if they don’t have sibling criteria?

Wow! That's higher than our requirements for A level study (7 in subjects you're going to study). And as for the fail a test and you're out, that will not go down well with OFSTED.

I used to work in a state school, and it's not uncommon. It's not best practice, but it also might not be quite as poorly motivated as you think. We were an oversubscribed school and often took pupils from less popular schools nearby - we had to if they applied and we had a place. This often left other schools in a difficult situation - it's very easy to get into a downward spiral of falling rolls and falling budgets. Sometimes parents would already be on their 4th or 5th local school, and kept just bed-hopping whenever a school committed some perceived minor fault. Often parents would have totally unrealistic expectations of what would happen if they moved (we would wave a magic wand and solve all their issues, or produce an EHCP overnight, or whatever). And often it really wasn't in the best interests of the child to move. So if we knew we had a place coming up, we would sometimes invite parents in for a chat if they were high on the waiting list, particularly if they'd never visited the school (which happened a lot) - genuinely not because we were trying to weed out the difficult ones, as it was often the more clever and aspirational ones who wanted to move, but because we were trying to help out our fellow schools and manage parents' expectations. Ultimately, if they still wanted to move and a place materialised, then they'd of course be offered it. In theory, those conversations should happen once a place has been offered - but by then it can be a bit too late.

OP, the school shouldn't have interviewed you. If you're not offered a place, you can consider appealing on the grounds that you suspect the school may not have followed its admissions policy. If you have described the circumstances in your statement, the school would have to respond in their statement and can be further questioned by you and the panel. They would need to explain why you were interviewed and whether or not there was a place before or since you were interviewed. If there was a place, they would need to justify why the place was given to someone else. If the panel think you were treated unfairly they can direct the school to admit you, even if that means they must go one over their PAN.

Thanks all for your replies and your advice. So far we haven’t heard back from the school and don’t really know what to expect. Once we hear back we will decide what to do about the whole situation.
I will try and find out if everyone interviewed as I on know another students who were offered place

I’m confused. Why does your child not already got o this school if their sibling is there?

Are the school their own admissions authority or are they under the local authority?
Did you make an in year admission application? Was it direct to the school or to the local authority?
They aren't allowed to interview for the space, it's a breach of the admissions code.
Contact your local authority admissions department tomorrow morning and explain what you've said here, ask to speak to the admissions manager.
You are either top of the waiting list and are allocated the space or you're not and therefore remain on the waiting list.
Since September last year, there are very limited grounds that a school can refuse to admit a child.

The op said sibling status isn't one of the oversubscription criteria. Its unusual but not unheard of.

Are you not in the catchment area?

Catchments don’t apply for in year transfers. This all seems irregular to me. Schools should operate a waiting list in line with their in year transfer policy. If they have a space they must admit. As for talking to parents because their motives for applying might be awry??? No. Not legal.