Online application for secondary school failed to submit

[NH78]

Hello

I am unbelievably stressed and any advice would be greatly received.

We completed and submitted our application form for DS secondary school on 28 October - three days before the deadline.

On 14 December I accidentally logged into the e-admissions website instead of DS school to check his dinner money account. Once logged in, to my absolute horror, I saw “application not submitted”. I could not believe it!

I immediately re-submitted the application and emailed the LA e-admission team and explained what had happened - their response was simply that the application is late and will not be looked at until after 1 March (National Offer Day) when all on time applications are processed.

I emailed the Headteacher at DS school, who emailed the head of admission’s and asked that under the circumstances our application could be considered as “late with good reason” but this was refused.

There are three decent schools near us and one bad one, which always has spaces left. As our application will not be looked at until after 1 March, it is inevitable he will be offered a place at the bad school.

I am distraught. I haven’t spoken to DS about this - he is going to be crushed!

We will obviously appeal but not sure on what grounds.

Has anyone been in this situation before?

Any advice would be appreciated!

Many thanks,

NH78

Less than 2 months to go now, thankfully!

Thank you all for taking the time to rrspond. It’s very much appreciated.

I’m not sure when we will receive our offer. Their website just says after 1 March.

Any ideas??

Many thanks all!

In London Boroughs, it's usually around 5-6pm in the evening of that day. An email gets sent out, but sometimes you can login to eAdmissions earlier and see the result before the email comes out.

Did you receive an email back in October stating your preferences? Aka is it possible its their system thats gone faulty not you? As that would be grounds for an appeal.

Is distance a criteria? In our area if you are within 0.5 miles you'd get in on wait list as other people go private

If you're really close to the school then you'll be very high up the waiting list. All secondarys have places after first offer day because lots of parents apply even though they intend on sending their kids to private schools. I would speak to the school you want, ask them how many children they usually get in on their waiting list between March to Sept and also if you'll go on the waiting list from 1st Mar.

Please don't just submit appeals unless you have genuine grounds, schools have to pay for the appeal panel!

Several people have asked if you received any confirmation after submitting your application in October? Does the lack of response mean that you didn't get any confirmation and assumed that it had been received?

@NH78 lots of us have asked us about confirmation texts / emails. Can you confirm you didn't get one after you (what you thought you ) had submitted?

I know someone this happened to about 2 years ago I think. They thought they’d submitted but didn’t. They did get a place at the preferred school quite quickly after National Offer Day but it was very stressful for the first few weeks!

Am I the only person who checked the submission multiple times in the run up to the closing date to check I had put the schools in the right order? I assumed everyone did that!

@TheWildRumpyPumpus You aren't the only one. I checked multiple times it's in the website showing correctly. There's also a confirmation email. The email will be the proof you need if you want to build a case for appeal. I've heard someone got left out by the council, but she did have a confirmation email to show she had submitted on time.

I think we have to assume OP didn’t receive the email confirmation. If they did then surely that would be proof of submission and no need to go through an appeal as the issue would clearly be to do with an IT glitch.

I did the same OP. There was a lot happening at work and I just lost track, so my fault and I felt terrible. In the end DD was offered a place at the least popular (and worst performing) school in our wider area, I kept her on the waiting list for our preferred school for which she got an offer in April when they had the acceptances and refusals through. The preferred school is hugely popular but was our nearest and everyone else who lives closer and wanted a place already had one. So, don't panic yet. In the meantime, when your son gets his offer. smile and tell him how good it is- if he ends up somewhere you didn't want you don't want him feeling anxious about it

Sorry guys, no I didn’t receive a confirmation email in October. I assumed if I pressed submit, the submission would be successful, or I would at least receive an email or text to the contrary. In hindsight, yes I should have checked my emails but I had no reason to believe the application was anything but successful.

When discovered this was not the case on 14 December, I resubmitted and got a confirmation email and text straightaway.

I asked the LA to check my online activity to prove this isn’t a case of “I forgot” or “I don’t care”. They did this, the dates tied in with my explanation to them but they still wouldn’t accept it as late with good reason.

They also said on 28 October they sent reminder emails to all applicants who had started their applications but had not yet submitted. They said the reason I didn’t get this email was because I did not start my application until later on that meaning, which is nonsense. I started the application on 15 September and then finalised and submitted on 28 October. The absence of this email or text message (I signed up to e-admission text messaging service) goes to show there are flaws in the system.

I have since seen the small print on their 60 page document regarding starting secondary school - “if you do not receive a number it means your application was not submitted successfully and you must login and select the ‘submit application’ button again.

So it seems applications are not always successful but they have covered themselves in the small print, so I don’t suppose I have a leg to stand with regard to an appeal.

There should be no need for an appeal if OP has evidence, but I have known LAs insist that their system was working perfectly even when faced with very clear evidence of a problem.

We will obviously appeal but not sure on what grounds.

you don’t have any I’m afraid

so if based on distance just cross fingers there’s space

I asked the LA to check my online activity to prove this isn’t a case of “I forgot” or “I don’t care”. They did this, the dates tied in with my explanation to them but they still wouldn’t accept it as late with good reason

you mean they saw you logged in on the date you said you did?

OP
dont waste your energy. You just have to hope that you get in on space due to proximity

If you have information that they've checked your online activity and their incorrect explanation for the lack of any reminder, you have evidence to take to appeal. I'm not saying it would work. That may depend on the appeal panel you get. But you certainly do have a leg to stand on in showing that there is a problem with their system.

The crucial question may be what happened when you pressed submit. Did it stay on the same screen with no changes, did a message pop up saying your application had been submitted or did it take you to a new page?

I have since seen the small print on their 60 page document regarding starting secondary school - “if you do not receive a number it means your application was not submitted successfully and you must login and select the ‘submit application’ button again.

we receive confirmations from every online retailers I can think of.
hotel booking? Yes email to confirm
I book my hair app through online booking? Yep email to confirm

I presume same for you.

and yet you didn’t think the absence of anything from the LA was anything to vaguely probe in to?

OP, you made a mistake. Now you just have to hope it will work out ok

This is wrong. Everyone always has grounds to appeal regardless of whether there has been a mistake. You can always appeal on the basis that the disadvantage to the child from not being admitted outweighs any problems the school will face from having to cope with an additional child.

I started the application on 15 September and then finalised and submitted on 28 October.

So on the 15th September you saved the part completed form, which meant you should have triggered a reminder email being sent to you from the LA. Correct?

oh anyone can appeal on any grounds

but there will be a clear policy re appeals written in to the schools admission policy

and it won’t include… human error

No there won't. There is an Appeals Code which is mandated by the government and sets out the appeals process and the grounds on which appeals can be won. The school cannot limit the grounds on which an appeal can succeed or override any part of the Appeals Code. Any policy on appeals in the school's admission policy has no effect whatsoever. At

At the moment it seems OP has two possible grounds:

1. She started her application on 15th September but did not receive a reminder, and she submitted her application on 28th October but the LA's system failed to register this. This suggests a malfunction in the council's system or, at the very least, that it was insufficiently clear to users how to make an application (which appeal panels have found is grounds for a successful appeal)
2. The disadvantage to her son from not being admitted outweighs any problems the school may face from having to cope with an additional pupil.

A parent in ds’s year did similar. Her ds would have got a place in the faith, sibling and distance categories and definitely would have got in but his mum didn’t apply before the deadline. He went to another school for about a year and a space opened up. This was for a reception place in a 1 form entry primary so there was infant class size rules to take into account and not as much natural movement that you get in a larger secondary. If your top criteria is distance and everyone who lived closer at the time of application has got a place then your ds will be pretty high on the waiting list and there will be people turning down places because they are moving out of the area, going private, or win an appeal at their preferred school. You may only need 4-5 people to turn down the place. You may only need one. Appealing is difficult with no actual reason as to why that school is necessary.

Kent

the admission arrangements were unlawful.
the admission arrangements weren't correctly and impartially applied.
the decision to refuse admission wasn't reasonable.

so yes, you can submit an appeal on any grounds you fancy under the last one.

but human error in an heavily oversubscribed school won’t be regarded as “reasonable” will it?!