Schools refusing end of year 10 entry

[RayOfRainbow]

Has anyone experienced this?

Firstly, it’s obviously not an ideal situation but it is where we unexpectedly are due to external factors that can’t change.

DS is finishing year 10 and needs to find a school. I presumed we’d just apply but it’s been weeks of no answers/ outright no/ systems blocks

He has a history and reports of good behaviour. Mocks are ok, grade 5 and 6s. No social issues, everything ever says basically he’s a nice kid. We’re teachers and I’m not so worried about the academics as we planned to intensively support the swap over end of June/ July august but now I’m more worried about not have a syllabus over the summer to work to.

Schools all have some spaces. I applied to the nearest 9 across 4 LAs. Two schools on the phone said they simply don’t admit at this stage (academies). One LA hasn’t answers any emails or applications for their schools despite chasing. One LA keeps delaying with extra forms or questions which hold it up another 15 days, they haven’t processed the appointment still. Not stuff I’ve missed, but extra-eg this form for the ballast school, a letter saying no behaviour etc…. Two schools (with spaces) said outright they have none (published PAN is about 20 more than in the year group).

I’ quite stressed so please don’t just say ‘we’ll moved are difficult at this stage- I know. The whole situation was unexpected and stressful. It’s where we are.

I managed to get an LA response from the attendance team saying a school must admit a child if they have spaces- but after saying all schools I phoned saying they don’t admit they have not replied further. It’s been weeks. I get no one wants an end of year 10 child, but ds is academically solid and a pleasant child. They just won’t even consider it and it seems very reactive

Surely there are some kids that have to move sometimes in the system?!

A couple of my DD friends repeated year 12 - this was a LA comprehensive school

they didn’t fail - one wasn’t happy with her grades, the other changed her choices

There is- I’ve had plenty of year tens who should be in year 11

We moved schools primary though in the summer term and we had to wait until october before the La would allocate a place even thoufh we were top od the list, moved pretty much next to the school and the school said there were places.
Which meant he was at home during that time it was a nightmare. Thry pretty much would do nothing over the summer at all.
It was an absolute nightmare.
I can't imagine how much more stressful it is with a year 10.
No advice but fingers crossed for you.

How old is he? Can he repeat Year 10? Going into Y11 in a new school is a really bad idea if it can be avoided. He risks losing out on the GCSE grades he really deserves for so many reasons: new teachers with new teaching styles; different exam boards or syllabus choices; different set texts even if the same exam boards; less time for school to figure out what he needs in terms of support; gaps in knowledge if the school teaches the curriculum content in different blocks.
And with marks of 5-6 at end of Y10 it sounds like it would work in his favour academically to repeat the year.
New school is stressful. Y11 is stressful. That’s too much for one person to handle in one school year.

Im in Surrey and in year admissions didnt open until 1st July so they are telling me that its 15 days from then for response (I am looking for a primary place due to bereavement). Could that be why you havent heard anything yet?

Also here we can at least call the council hotline who get an admissions officer to call back for complex cases, is there definitely no way of speaking to admissions?

Year 12 is a new formal point of entry and the rules about post-16 education are different. Repeating year 12 is quite common, but not relatable to repeating a year within the years of compulsory education, if being educated in a school.

I changed school half way through year 10 (we moved from Liverpool to Southampton) and it was pretty traumatic as in those days syllabuses could be very different. Probably a lot of schools don't want their exam results affected but the LA has a duty to provide education.

I applied for new schools, SEN children, 3 different schools, at start of covid . Nightmare dosent even cover it !
the only way I got anywhere was to email and give clear instructions on what you want ; eg; if I don’t get a reply by x I will have no option but to complain to x
also email local mp, emailed mine today for diff reason as got a reply within an hour :)
can Ofsted offer any help ?

As I mentioned earlier I moved schools half way through y10 and it was very difficult. I took smp maths before (modern maths) and the new school did algebra/calculus etc. They taught their syllabus in a different order, I had to do a different era in history and was made to do cookery (food and nutrition) as a non academic subject- I can't remember what I had to drop!
My dm did say that they could delay moving and df could travel home at weekends but db was 12 months younger than me so it would have been 2 years.

How old is he - would undertaking an apprenticeship instead help at all?

Most private schools would make him repeat year 10

i'm going to be that person and ask why you are moving now.

Id be tempted to contact schools directly asking for place in yr10 starting in September.

If my maths is correct he is 14 and 11 months old.

Can you not commute him to his previous school for the last year? Is it too far?

I'd lodge an appeal. I'd also write to the head and chair of governors informing them of the appeal, copying the lead councillor for eduction. I'd also write to your MP.

I know schools are loath to admit so you are going to have to push.

If they're blocking year 11 entry I'd be saying in the same letters that if they can't facilitate year 11 entry then you'll take a year 10 place so one way or the other they can provide you with a place. I know plenty of kids who are out of cohort just fine.

If you don't want to home educate don't say that's an option or they'll go with that.

Also definitely get your MP involved if at all possible.

What about college? He might be able to complete his studies there and do the exams. I did this when I was 15 because they school I moved to couldn't accommodate 3 of the GCSEs I was doing.

You can repeat yr12 because you can have 3 years funding post 16.

What's the alternative provision like in your area? If you can get him in under a proviso that they accept you may be able to get them to curate a timetable that you can split between you at home and there. For various reasons they are less fixated on exam results so may be more willing to take him.

The 15 days will be working days do they’re only just over the timescale to be fair.

Your local authority will have a Fair Access Protocol which they should use to find your son a school place if the normal in year admission process have failed to identify a school. You should be able to find a copy on their website. Many local authorities have Fair Access Panels to place pupils and there might not be a Panel until September. I run the Panels for a local authority and we are just in our last round of Panels for this school year. I also second contacting your MP and also local councillor. They can be more effective than MPs because they are literally at your place of work and can appear at your desk!!

Although you can ask for a pupil to be placed back a year that is always a school decision. I would also agree with lodging appeals with all of the schools that are refusing. I am always amused by the number of school which suddenly find a place when faced with the expense of organising an appeal.

We take students in yr11s, it's never good, because inevitably the GCSE syllabuses don't match, but we just have to do our best. They're always disadvantaged by this, but sometimes families have no alternative.
There's some good advice on here, especially about lodging an appeal. Good luck.