Secondary application website crash

[AhBiscuits]

Several of my child's friends were unable to get their secondary applications in yesterday because the website was glitching and they could not log in. If this happened to you, did they still allow it as an on time application? They have emailed the council and can show they tried to apply on time.

Would be surprised if they allow it as on time, they literally had two months to get it in.

I think they'll need to allow it otherwise they are opening themselves up to appeals.
Though why 'several' left it to the last day ....
No doubt @prh47bridge will have a helpful opinion.

Absolute fools to leave anything like this to the last day.

It seems surprising you know multiple people who left the application to the last minute and couldn't submit due to a website error.

I would be surprised if they were considered as on time given how long they've had to submit.

Do they have proof the website was not working all day?

I would email the admissions line, assuming no one is answering the phone, with the details then technically it is in.

I have no idea why many councils set the deadline within half term then all aren't there, it's quite frustrating.

For those saying do it two months ago, some areas like ours where the majority of schools are partially selective academies we only got the results two days before half term. We are advised to submit before half term though. However there's no auto response or anything reassuring it's actually worked!

At least two of them said they had tried many times throughout the day and on several different devices. The website should send a code, which you need to log in, and the code did not arrive.

I did mine a few weeks ago, but some people were still dithering between first and second choice up to yesterday.

A deadline is a deadline and people have the right to leave it tiL the last day.

I agree, not the wisest move but the LA can’t just invite a value judgement. It’s their responsibility to have a functioning system up until the legal deadline

And possibly plan for a last minute rush on the system

Wow that’s very stressful. I hope they manage to get some answers. I’m always surprised the deadline date isn’t on a normal working day so the admissions teams are there to answer queries.

There would have been staff working (on the Friday at least if not the Saturday) it's the local authority not the school.

I think the priority is having a consistent deadline each year that is easier to remember and no confusion of seeing last year's deadline.

Our system allowed multiple amendments up until the deadline. I think this is a good idea, as I made our application several weeks ago knowing I could change it if needed (after 11+ results). I don't know how clear it is to people that this is the case though.

Yes, it should be advocated to everyone to apply early and then amend it up to the deadline if necessary when more results come out or you change your mind. That way, in the worst-case scenario, you still have the decent application you made earlier, which is way better than nothing.

Applying as soon as you get the results is fine, as that is definitely before half term and still leaves plenty of leeway. Leaving it until the last day is beyond me.

I think this varies between local authority. I did the same as you, but had to call up multiple times to get it changed as the admissions line were clueless (not sure what about my query was so surprising at this time of year?) as it could not be changed online once submitted.

I submitted mine early as it can be changed online up to the deadline. Other people reasonably assumed they'd be able to submit the application on the last day.

It's been quite a stressful time for DD, we've spent a lot of time discussing it and considering the best options. She's anxious about where her friends will go. Hopefully it will all work out as I'm sure there's a lot of people who will be impacted.

The deadline for applying for secondary school places is 31st October. Yes, parents have two months or more to apply before the deadline, but they can apply on deadline day if they wish. Personally I would advise against leaving it that late, but they are entitled to do so and they cannot be penalised if they do.

Local authorities must accept applications up to the deadline. If, say, a local authority chose to take its website down for maintenance on 31st October, they would have to allow those who had wanted to apply on that date to apply late and be treated as on time. Saying, "you could have applied earlier" won't cut it. The deadline is 31st October, not some random earlier date chosen by the LA.

If the problem was down to the LA or its suppliers, they should, in my view, treat applications from any parents affected by the problem as on time (provided, of course, the parents get their application in as quickly as possible). If the problem lies elsewhere (e.g. an ISP implementing an over-enthusiastic spam filter), the situation is less clear.

If the LA chooses not to treat the affected applications as on time and, as a result, children miss out on places they would have got, parents will be able to appeal. It will then be up to an appeal panel to decide whether the LA has acted reasonably.

I would recommend that the parents make sure that they have records of what has happened and, if the LA identify what went wrong, keep any information they get about that. If the LA agree to treat the applications as on time, they should get that in writing (email will do) and keep it so that they have evidence if the LA do something different.

I can’t imagine leaving something so important until the very last day. I submitted several weeks ago in case I forgot, knowing I could always amend my application if I changed my mind.

However if there was a genuine problem with the website then there should be some leniency with the deadline.

Yes it's sensible to get things in earlier but obviously it needs to be possible to submit right up to the deadline otherwise it's not the deadline.