Grammar School offer withdrawn

[Alex]

I see now that I had misunderstood the situation as nicleah wrote:

Five days later (1st May) I had call later afternoon from our home LEA Admissions Director that the admissions authority had 'made an error' in offering the place.

The terminology can become confusing.

As I now understand it, it was not the Admission Authority which made the mistake, but the Maintaining Local Authority.

To clarify the terms and avoid confusion:
Admission Authority: This is the body responsible for setting and applying the admission arrangements for the school. For academies and foundation schools and voluntary aided schools, this will be the school itself, and I am making the assumption that the Grammar School in question is its own admission authority. Only Community and Voluntary controlled schools have the Local Authority as the admission authority.
Home Local Authority: The Local Authority in which you live (and through whom you make your application and receive your offers)
Maintaining Local Authority: The Local Authority in which the school is situated.

Had the mistake been made by the admission authority you would have been on very strong ground as the responsible party also is the party who has the power to rectify the situation, i.e. reinstate the place. however, in effect, the school is now being asked to pay for a mistake which appears not to be of its making.

I think in this situation my previous suggestion of writing to the Governing Body of the school to complain would not be helpful!

I think it is essential that you find out as much as you can about how the error occurred before going to appeal. As the school is its own admission authority it is possible that it arranges its own appeals and the effect of this would be that the Local Authority who made the mistake will not be there to be questioned and indeed, may not even send a written explanation unless either the school or you ask for one.

I would request a statement from your Home Local Authority in writing describing the events as they have recorded them. Tell them you want this to use for your appeal.

I would also request an explanation from the Maintaining Local Authority. If it appears they may not respond you may have to do this under the Data Protection Act and hope the response reaches you before the appeal. I should want to see all records of communication between the maintaining local authority, the school and the home local authority.

It is up to you what evidence you wish to take to your appeal.

I think I would be scrutinising very carefully the responses to see if the admission authority (the school) made any contribution in any way to the mistake being made by the maintaining LA (maintenance of reserve list, timely communication with Maintaining LA etc, etc.)


I have made another assumption in this reply and that is that your DC is qualified for the school, that is, that, if there is a minimum score for admission that DC reached this, or that there was no minimum score only admission on score order.

[mystery]

I still think we are having to make assumptions to help Nicleah. I would still suggest that Nicleah sets out the facts more clearly on here to enable people to help him / her. At the moment the people helping Nicleah have gone to more effort than Nicleah to be clear in what they are saying. I hope this does not sound rude.

[Alex]

To be fair, mystery, it can sometimes be quite difficult to know just what is the relevant information to give and the terminology can be quite confusing.

nicleah, I should have gone on to say, that whatever the position as regards what mistakes were made by whom, you still have the opportunity to make all the arguments as to why your DC should have a place at this school which the Independent Appeals Panel will weigh against the school's case for not accepting another child:
see:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... bed-school" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mystery]

Yes I agree and sorry if it sounded bad. But my advice would be when getting advice on this piece of shoddy treatment to be clear about who said and wrote what to whom and when, the type of school concerned ( v a, academy, etc), and the same when seeking redress or appealing. Otherwise it is all very puzzling. Good luck with it. I hope you have another place at an o k school in the meantime.

[nicleah]

Sorry Mystery, but that was not necessary. I can't spend all my life - particularly at the weekend - on here! Last time I looked there were only, i think 4, posts. And, for obvious reasons, I can't give too much info because of identification....

My DD was below the cut off point. Experts let me know what other specific info you need! Thanks to all.

[mystery]

Good luck to the experts and you. Hope you have another school you like instead.

[T12ACY]

As DD did not reach the required score to be offered a place I don't believe the Admissions Authority should give one despite this difficult situation you have found yourself in, however I would obviously still appeal. Your story may find empathy with the Panel, but I'd warn against over playing it because if I heard this as a sole reason to give an oversubscribed (and very sought after place) it wouldn't necessarily sway my 'vote'. You could of course very briefly mention how disappointed DD, and you, were but let the panel ask questions if they want to.

DD may have been offered a place, in error but if she didn't meet the criteria of score that is unfortunate. It's a horrible position to be in for you all. Good luck in your quest

p.s. I am no expert, I am just the same as mystery and many others who have a continuing interest in helping others if we can x

[Marylou]

I'm no expert, but doesn't the fact that the OP may have missed out on other school places as a result of this mistake carry any weight? The place offered was accepted in good faith and naturally the other places that might have been available were freed up for other applicants. These would of course no longer be available, leaving the OP in a worse position than if the mistaken offer had not been made in the first place. Otherwise, should everyone who ever gets a letter offering them a school place be advised to ring and check that the authority really does mean it, before accepting it and burning their bridges with other schools?
Just my twopennorth.

Best of luck to the OP - what a horrid situation to be in.

[T12ACY]

Perhaps Marylou, but if the required score was not attained and the panel are not satisfied of 'suitable' ability then they have no duty to even consider this error no matter how other offers have been affected by the error. I would want to learn why the school is most suited to DD, not why they feel aggrieved by the system (it's obvious this has been appalling) or what other School's they may have got. OP has to hope the panel are able to agree DD is of the required ability and add weight to their argument in order to gain their much desired place.

My personal view is that an Admissions Authority should not offer to a child who did not achieve their pass mark because the LA made a mistake.

Don't the LA have a duty to offer as if the GS error hadn't occurred from preferences on the CAF? It's one of the exceptional reasons why a school can be forced to take over PAN by the Admissions Authority I thought.

OP can you confirm if your DD was offered a school you listed or if she has no place at all? Sorry if I missed that......

[Fingerscrossedmum]

Can I just check something please? If you knew your daughter had missed the cut off mark, you must have realised the offer was a mistake so can I ask why you told her she'd got a place without double checking it first?

I'm not trying to be mean, its just a question I would think any Appeal Panel may bring up - the fact that you told her she'd got a place, knowing full well she wasnt entitled to it.