Help! First preference school offered us a place, but LA say there’s no record of this!

[MoronikaFaceache]

Sorry bit of a long one. Feeling a little stressed out..
So back in March, got an offer for 4th choice school for year 7. Accepted, whilst on waiting lists for the other 3 schools.
First week of July, we received a call from 1st choice school, offering us a place. Parents would need to attend their transition evening event, in order to accept. (They would be unable to keep the offer open should we not show up.)
So we go, the Principal gives a talk, there’s an in-depth induction on school life/expectations, we complete all manner of enrolment forms.
I call the LA admissions team 2 days later to check whether this transfer had been updated and made official. Not yet, but we should expect a letter from LA to confirm and formally accept/decline.
Now many weeks later, several phonecalls to Admissions but database malfunctions, no reply to emails, etc.. finally been told NO OFFER WAS MADE.
1st choice school summer term ended 7th July, but little did we know that there would be literally no staff on site, phone line closed, no email, until 1st September.
Just no idea where to go from here!
Officially we are on roll at 4th choice. But what should we do?
1st choice term starts Fri 1st Sept, 4th choice starts Mon 4th Sept.
Possibility this can be rectified quickly or likely to be a long process going through official channels..
To top it off, current waiting lists expired end of July, so we need to re-apply asap or we won’t be eligible for any offers 😣?!
We are in Hackney, East London.

Have you anything in writing from the school?

Did you take an image of any of the forms you completed?

Reapply - if all else fails, you were already high enough on the waiting list to be offered a place, so would likely be right at the top again.

@meditrina @NeverDropYourMooncup No, just the call to invite us in, 2 days before the event, which was also their last day of term!
Didn’t think to take images of the forms 😑
Had no reason to think there would be any problems or delays.
We were only given the school handbook to take home. Other parents were also given student email logins etc but we hadn’t had ours processed in time.

A friend who is a school business manager in same borough reckons Admissions are permanently working through a backlog and simply haven’t updated the movements in waiting lists yet, that sometimes it’s taken 5 weeks to update databases. Don’t know what to think.

We will add ourselves back on the list. Just pissed off as DD1 so excited to get 1st choice, but I’m also juggling new baby, now have this hanging over our summer break.

There will be people in school around the results days, 17th and 24th of August. Not sure if that might help get in contact. It is likely to be early in the morning.

@Noodledoodledoo Of course, that’s a great point - thank you! Yes, just need a human to speak to!

Wow thats awful.
We had similar, contact from school choice 1 saying hear you have been offered this school come to.the parents info evening tomorrow. Admission truly shit as system down but.no answering phome or emails etc. So went to evening on a who knows. Didnt tell dd till next day. Finally.got.the offer on a friday after id told dd. She had already told the whole school. Missed pupil transition day, bus offering and extra transition days.

Admissions also didnt acknowledge my response!!! I would rate them 1/10.
I did also have email from the school we had a place at -second choice saying we hear you have another offer-let us know.
It sounds like admissions were confirming there was going to be an offer to.you.

Maybe say this is becoming urgent as you cannot buy uniform etc. It will start to be sold out.

Sounds like an error has been made and maybe a.place came up but because of.issues. And delays it may have later been offered elsewhere?

Maybe.confirm if there was a place as school told you july 7th. And where ylkuwere on waitlist at that point.

This was my concern re the delay as we already lost out during round 3 to someone.moving to catchment area with sib between rounds and getting the 1 space.

Maybe ask for it to be referred to a supervisor as the school must have been told by someone the place was yours.

I ezpect you could now.appeal as an admissions error but would need the info from them to prove it

Have you checked the handbook for an emergency email address? Ours has one that is checked regularly throughout the summer. Or ask any current pupils you know if they happen to be aware of one.

This sounds so stressful! My dcs secondary school office is open from the last 2 weeks in Aug, half days I think. Not in or anywhere near London but I wonder whether other schools do similar. Maybe worth calling in in person later in the month? Hope you get it sorted.

Def try on the 17th,.early though most a level kids will be in at 8 and gone by 9. Have you emailed admissions at the school? Not the office email specifically the admissions person. Also all schools will have inset day or days so if it gets to 31st August call early as they will have training etc.

Parents would need to attend their transition evening event, in order to accept. (They would be unable to keep the offer open should we not show up.)

How is this reasonable? I am surprised it is allowed under the Admissions Code.

What about places that become available after the transition event?

And how come they finish term so early?

I really hope this gets sorted out swiftly OP.

@prh47bridge might be able to comment here.

There will be staff in school the day before both exam results days, that’s the day the school receives the results so SLT should be there. So Weds next week onwards.

No, that's not legal.

But the absence of evidence of any offer being made would make it difficult. Somebody who had their formal offer withdrawn would be able to appeal on that basis, though.

Not sure what help an Assistant Head (for example) would be if the Admissions Officer isn't back in yet or is dealing with the results, though.

This is all quite odd.

They absolutely cannot make an offer contingent on attendance at an event. So whoever said that did not know the rules, which makes me think they may not have been an admissions officer.

Also, Waiting lists must, by law, be held until Dec 31 of an admissions year. If no offer has actually been made, OP should still be on the list for the preferred school.

If no place materialises, I would suggest OP appeal, assuming there is some evidence - letter, email - of what has happened.

Also - Hackney make it clear that they make the offers until end of the summer term, not the schools. The school should not have made an offer, and they should know they should not. . However, if they did, and OP can evidence that, I still think an appeal would stand a reasonable chance.

@TakenRoot @NeverDropYourMooncup @PatriciaHolm hi all, yes we thought it odd too. They made it sound very urgent and that we really ought to confirm in that same phonecall, as otherwise they would offer the place to other families.

Seems only Hackney borough operates this policy where they erase all the waiting lists at the end of the summer term and everyone must apply again between 1 Aug and 8 Sept to be on a waiting/transfer list. And they won’t remind you about it either. Mad.
@MadeinBelfast
I’ve just found the email address in the handbook! Blame it on the baby brain 😳Fingers crossed I get some clarity on this soon..

It sounds as if someone needs to get legal with Hackney!

@Boomboom22 if no response via email, i’ll try on 24th on GCSEs results day, as they don’t have sixth form there.
@TakenRoot academies can set their own term dates 🤷🏻‍♀️ the other holidays are the same. 3 out of 5 days a week they don’t finish til 4:20pm though.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope for anyone wanting to deal with this on GCSE results day- there will definitely be people in school, but they will likely be very busy dealing with concerns relating to their current Y11 (especially if they don't have a sixth form).

To be honest, it all sounds very odd- the requirement to attend a parents evening definitely isn't allowed.

@Postapocalypticcowgirl it definitely is a last resort to go on results day.. (Out of desperation!) we’ve even changed the dates of a trip we had booked so we could be back in London on the day 🫤
Was hoping it could be resolved much sooner than this, but have still heard nothing back.
As far as DH is concerned, we were offered a place, so that’s where DD will be first day on term. Uniform’s ready, everything’s ready.
What’s the worst that could happen? 🫣

Don't turn up on results day - or the first day of term.

You will be turned away.

@NeverDropYourMooncup Honestly cannot fathom why any of this has happened, but we ought to try to get some answers?
Why would a school offer a place and go through an enrolment process, only to not follow through and turn you away on the first day?

There's been a screw up somewhere and it needs to be clarified/resolved - but don't do that. It's unlikely that anybody in admissions is available (and wouldn't be able to solve it in person anyhow), nobody else particularly wants to have a random angry man demanding a place whilst his kid looks on and don't drop her off on the first day thinking that they'll just have to accept her. Because they don't - been there for the latter, the Police were called in the end.

Because it seems that that someone in the school who was not empowered to do so offered the place, given the LA was still in charge of offering places at that point and it would also be illegal to make an offer contingent on your attending an event.

Going to appeal would give you a reasonable chance, but still not a guarantee, as it would depend on the strength of the schools case.

Turning up on the first day without further confirmation would be a mistake.

The worst that could happen is that they very publicly refuse to allow your child into the school. This would be very upsetting for both you and the child. If she is not enrolled then legally they cannot allow her in, they are not insured to do so.

i appreciate that this situation is very distressing for you and your family, but unless you get it sorted before September - and I really hope you do - please don’t add to your child’s distress by trying to force the issue by turning up on the first day of term. As it stands your child does not have a place in this school, so is not entitled to be there.