Secondary School Admissions - I am livid

[Mimiso]

Hi All,

As the thread title goes, my son was offered his sixth choice for y7 which we so did not want. Anyway we were gutted and I rang up the school we had chosen as first choice to ask him to be put on the waiting list. Well, the school rang me today asking if I had put them on the CAF and whether I had handed it in on time as they did not have my son's name on the list they received from their local authority and so were unable to offer him a place although they wanted to!!! I could not believe my ears, my son would have got into his first choice school had it not been for Southwark Council failing to inform Lambeth Council that I chose a school in their borough as first choice. WTF......All this stress because someone made a procedural error....

I chose two Lambeth schools so they only managed to communicate one of those which was my second choice and failed to communicate the other one which we desperately wanted. I am so cross it's unbelievable. The school I chose has ability tests as part of their admissions criteria and my son was on the top of the high ability band which meant that he would certainly have been offered a place. Naturally I am appealing but Lambeth have informed me that I might win or might not win as the fault is not the schools but my local authority. As it is I cant even put my son on the waiting list for that school because Lambeth were not informed.

Why have this stupid application process in the first place if human error can have such an awful consequence. I know people make mistakes but this is a big one, my son could end up going to an awful school and all I will get is a 'sorry'. I am going to decline the sixth choice and let Southwark sort it out. My son was not given a fair chance to be offered or refused a place because of Southwark admissions

No no no. You do not give up at this stage.

You phone up the LEA and tell them THEY have made a mistake, and you would like them to sort it out asap.

You also phone ACE (the Advisory Centre for Education) and talk it through with them.

Depending on what kind of response you get from the LEA, you then tell them that you will be appealing and/or that you will be consulting your solicitor.

You keep notes of all telephone calls and copies of all correspondence in a big fat file (presumably you have a copy of your online or paper application so you can prove it was the Council's mistake and not yours). If they won't play ball, get a solicitor.

If the council haven't followed their own guidelines, they have absolutely no basis to turn down your appeal.

The trouble is, the LEA for the school mimiso wants presumably have followed their guidelines, it's the authority she lives in that hasn't. But even if she won an appeal there, presumably they wouldn't have the power to order another authority to admit her DS - is there any body that does?

I'd have thought you would have no problem getting him in on appeal tbh. The LEA not following procedures correctly is one of the few clear cut cases where an appeal has to be upheld.

I think they would rusty - London runs a pan-london admissions syustem on behalf of all the local authorities - it's that system that's cocked up so Lambeth would have to take him.

The Greenwich decision means no child can be discriminated against becuase they live on the border of two or more LEAs, hence why all LEAs in London use a common system.

Thank you No1234, I have been in touch with Southwark and they will get back to me. I have also been in touch with Lambeth Council who have confirmed that they were only informed about one school and NOT the one we chose as first preference. I am so cross about this and you are right, if they dont play ball this will go legal and national. The fact that they cant abide by their own rules has certainly thrown me.

I am also getting in touch with ACE to hear what they say. Many thanks for the information

Sorry, just seen all the other responses, thank you all very much for your information which is all highly useful. I reckon because it is PAN who do the admissions that maybe if one borough fails to follow procedures resulting in a situation like mine then they should all be responsible because it is admissions on behalf of all the boroughs (but again I am biased)

Just wanted to say good luck, sounds like a horrible situation although I think you have a good case.

Rusty - In this case, Lambeth made the decision not to admit to the preferred school so the appeal would be in Lambeth. If a mistake has been made, it doesn't matter that it was Southwark's mistake. It should still lead to a successful appeal, although the fact there are two LAs involved does make it slightly more complicated.

Mimiso - They may make you go through an appeal despite the mistake. A lot of LAs do. Don't worry about that. Just go to the appeal and make the mistake clear - a copy of your original application should be enough. You shouldn't need to go legal on this as, if you are right, it is a straightforward mistake which should result in a successful appeal unless there are a lot of other people in the same position. In the unlikely event that you lost the appeal you would still be able to refer the case to the Local Government Ombudsman. Unlike going legal, this is completely free.

I think the PAN system sounds like a good idea - we could do with something like that here; a small county to start with that was then split into 6 different authorities, so there are lots of border problems when it comes to admissions.

The London Borough of Barnet made a mistake two years ago giving, if I can remember rightly 3 or 4 extra places on top of the allocated places to applicants for Mill Hill County High. Because the letters had already been sent out they let these people keep the places. All this meant was that the school had to wait for the same amount of people to refuse the places befor they started ntaking off the witing list on the secon round. Because it was the councils fault the places had to still be given out.

Sorry for the spelling. I was typing too fast.

Thank you all for your responses on my problem. I now feel more reassured that we are likely to appeal. I have handed in a letter to the school informing them of my intention to appeal as that is the advice they have given me. I dont know if it is different because it is a grant maintained school but they told me to write a letter explaining the issue and that I wish to appeal. The letter was addressed to the CLerk to the Appeals Tribunal c/o the school. Apparently they will write to me with a form to fill in, but I have already attached a copy of my online application form which details when I submitted the form and the choices.

I am still waiting to hear from Southwark but so far Lambeth have confirmed that one of the choices was not communicated to them. I sincerely hope we win the appeal as that would be a load of my mind as I was now considering private education which is too expensive but I would have found a means to pay for it. Thank you all again so so much x

Mimiso

Good luck with your appeal.

This is not the first time that inter-LA communication re school admissions has broken down.

When we were applying for my DS to go to a school in a neighbouring authority, we originally didn't get offered a place because the other authority (the one the school was in) hadn't communicated their offers to my LA.

I queried it with the school, and this all came out - luckily it was easier than in your case as the offer had been made by the school (we had just not been informed of it) but it still took several phone calls to the admissions officer at my LA before they agreed there was a problem, and a month for the LA to sort it out.

You must appeal this as this kind of thing is simply not supposed to happen. If the facts of your post are correct then this is a clear case of maladministration. It does not matter that the school is full to the admission number, the issue is that you would have been offered a place if the school had been informed that you had expressed a preference for the school.

It is also incorrect that you cannot appeal or put your name on the waiting list. You can do that for any school, no matter whether you expressed a preference for the school or not.

It is worrying that Southwark LA got it so wrong, that Lambeth are suggesting it is not anything to do with them as it is and lastly that Lambeth are incorrect in saying you cannot appeal the school. Get the forms for the appeal to the school and see how it progresses.

I would also write to Southwark Admissions Manager and say that you want an investigation of this mistake and a written account of the circumstances that led to the missing off of your preferences to Lambeth. It is still possible that it is Lambeth's fault so you need to cover both ends of the sorry tale.

Thanks Admission for your reply, I have now typed out a letter ready to be emailed and posted to the head of admissions first thing tomorrow morning once I get their name. You are right in that I do need answers as to why this happened. Seimum,Rusty, Titchy,prh47bridge,sugar tits, admission; thank you very much for the best wishes and useful information. It has been much appreciated

I will keep you posted

Hello so sorry to hear this. I had problem with Southpark 3 years ago. They sent my ds' application to the wrong out of borough school. only heard about it as we had details of the specialist language test. Had no apology from Southpark Admissions. I dont think they like children applying to out of borough schools. They trumpet the fact that they have been able to allocate a Southwark school to every child irrespective of whether or not the child applied to them.

Contact your councillor to see if they can help. THis is such a worrying situation. lots of best wishes

This is horrible, Mimiso. I'm not in your shoes and don't have any experience. But, wanted to wish you luck.

Mimiso - If they admit there has been a mistake but still try to make you go through an appeal, refer them to paragraph 2.7 of the School Admission Appeals Code. This says that if there was a mistake and your child should have been offered a place they must offer the place without requiring you to go through the appeal process. The only exception is if a lot of children are affected and the school can't admit all of them. If they still insist on an appeal that is another thing you can complain about to the LGO if the panel rules against you.

As Admission says, if the facts are as you state this is a clear case of maladministration. I can imagine Lambeth trying to get out of it on the grounds that it wasn't their mistake but that won't wash. The rules are clear. A mistake has been made. But for this mistake your son would have been admitted. They are therefore required to admit him.

You shouldn't need good luck with this as it should be an easy win for you, but I'll wish you good luck anyway!

Hi All,

Thank you for your responses on the matter. Prh47bridge thank you so much for your support,I shall certainly quote that tomorrow when I speak with Lambeth and also Southwark admissions. I really appreciate your help. I called ACE and they were also very helpful and suggested I call them back if it is not resolved. I have been thinking of also writing to my local MP if Southwark and Lambeth dont play ball. So far I have written to the head of admissions asking her to investigate further as I was appalled by their negligence, thanks for that admission Mrsdennis sorry you had problems too, I cant fathom why Southwark are surprised that noone wants to go to school in their borough. There is no way on this earth I was willing to send my son to Globe academy. Thanks for your support
strix thank you too for your support

Mimiso - do you really mean that you found out completely by chance that one borough had failed to pass your admission on to the other?

I'm very interested as I live on the Lambeth /Southwark border (in Lambeth) & had a Southwark school as first preference.

We weren't offered a place there, which didn't really surprise me, as its a very over-subscribed school - & got our 2nd choice which I'm reasonably happy with, having known there was only ever a slim chance to get our 1st choice - but of course now I'm wondering if they even received our application...

Good luck with your appeal - if it turns out that boroughs really are failing to pass applications on, it should definitely be made public - it hadn't even occurred to me that this could happen.

Miso, honestly that is what happened and I only found out by chance after phoning the school to ask for him to be put on a waiting list. THe school thought we didnt put them on the form despite sitting the ability test which is why they rejected him. It then transpires that they in fact were not told that we had chosen the school. I would recommend that you phone your first choice and ask if they received your form.

I am still waiting as they were now trying to say that I put down my son's sex as Female thats why it wasnt passed on to them so I just printed off my online application and faxed it to Southwark and Lambeth

Thanks for posting

I presume you got your son's sex right! It sounds like they know they are in trouble and are thrashing around trying to find a way out.

Keep taking a tough line with them. They have made a mistake. If they hadn't made a mistake your son would have been admitted. When this happens the rules are quite clear - they have to admit your son.

Good luck.

Mimiso, I do believe you re: finding out by chance, but I find it very disturbing. How can parents appeal against maladministration that they don't even suspect may be happening?

I will definitely now want to know if our 1st choice received the form - although they are genuinely over-subscribed & AFAIK have a fair admission process, so even it has been received we prob wouldn't have had an offer. (DD met their scholarship criteria which is why she put the school 1st, but they are very clear that not all sucessful scholarship applicants will get an offer).

As it happens they are apparently not able to open a waiting list yet as they are "still waiting for information from Southwark" which sounds a bit to me - I am now wondering if Southwark have managed to balls the whole process up...

It seems to be very clear cut in your case though - the school wanted to offer your son a place but were unable to - Good luck!

Thanks Miso and Prh47bridge. Miso, thats odd about the waiting list as I was able to put my sons name down for one of their schools. The only thing the admissions officer couldnt tell me was what number he was on the waiting list as they were waiting for Southwark to get back to them with a definitive list of who had accepted a place etc. She said that as of the 16th March it would be possible to find out what number a child was on the waiting list

Hi All,

Just thought I would update you all as you were very supportive when I posted about my son's school place. I had a call from the school offering him a place so that is all sorted now, no need to appeal.