Comp school place withdrawn TODAY due to LA error

[Ricky74]

Thankyou everybody

Spoke to HT. He was just going into appeals as school's presenting officer and has been talking to appeals chair and panel! about squeezing us in for appeal next week. unbelievably. He said the panels legal advice is that tge appellants live closer and so a stronger case. we were 3metres out. If they knew I had a place it wod open a can of worms!

When I raised my concerns with LA over the legal advice taken they said they will address my questons in writing.

What can I do today. A HT luaising with panel surely invaludates all appeals. can i call EFA??

[Etienne]

Ricky - I think you would have to be an unsuccessful appellant for the EFA to investigate the process.

I suspect the headteacher would probably like you to appeal, so that the panel can say "Yes", and provide him with cover for going over the school's admission number.

[Ricky74]

I have submitted a complaint to EFA
As there is no appeal to complain about I was advised to email them.

[Ricky74]

Having been through one gruelling appeals process wotj weeks of prepration and paperwork the thought of another - rushed - appeal makes me hyperventilate!

[Ricky74]

LA response - I have to go back to work now but any advice? I have pointed out that the HT was talking to chair of appeals not just the clerk

LA response - what do i do next?

On Monday 12 June we became aware of the fact that an error had occurred in processing the applications for xx Academy. This error resulted in offers being made to children who did not meet the school’s admission criteria and should not have been offered a place. The decision on whether the school would exceed its published admission number or the places offered in error would be withdrawn fell to the academy because the Local Authority is not the admission authority for the school. After consultation with the school it was agreed that the places would be withdrawn.

The School Admissions Code (2014) permits offers to be withdrawn in a very small number of exceptional circumstances one of which is where a place has been offered in error. The Code does not provide any guidance on the timescale within which offers should be withdrawn other than to say that offers should not be withdrawn once a child has started at a school unless the place was fraudulently obtained. In this case, the place was withdrawn on the same day that the error was discovered and, although it is extremely unfortunate and regrettable that the error did not come to light earlier in the process the Local Authority and the school acted in accordance with the requirements of the School Admissions Code.

You raised a concern about the fact that the school has communicated with the Clerk to the independent appeals panel about this matter. To clarify the position, an admission appeal must be heard by an independent appeal panel and the Clerk to the panel must be independent of the school and the education functions of the Local Authority. A key element of the Clerk’s role is to be an independent source of advice on procedure and on the School Admissions Code. It is therefore acceptable that the school has sought advice from the Clerk to the appeals panel in relation to this matter. If asked for legal advice the Clerk would need to seek an opinion from an appropriately qualified person, unless of course the Clerk himself holds an appropriate legal qualification.

We are currently investigating the issue that has arisen with the offers made for xxAcademy to establish how this error occurred. In order to do this we need to look at how every application that was received for the school was processed and this will take some time. I am not able to explain how the error occurred until this investigation has been completed, but I will write to you again as soon as I have this information.

I am very sorry that this error has occurred and I do appreciate that this situation is extremely distressing for you and for ***. You do have the right to appeal against the decision to withdraw the offer and to lodge a complaint with the Local Government Ombudsman if your appeal is unsuccessful.

[Twinkle]

This is a dreadful story and my heart goes out to you Ricky74.

It seems to me that neither the HT or the panel can say at this stage whether or not your case is more deserving than others as it hasn't been heard by the panel and they do not know how strong it is. Also I cannot see why at an appeal stage the fact that other appellants live closer than your son is of itself the reason why their cases are more deserving than yours. I'm sure Etienne will say if I am wrong on this.

You asked what you should be doing today. I would work on the assumption that you are going to make an appeal. You need to get together evidence to support your case and I wold start with trying to get a letter from CAHMS and/or your GP to explain what they think will be the impact on your son if he is told at this late stage that he doesn't have a place at the school that he was expecting to go to. I have a child with anxiety issues and I know too well that as parents we walk a very fine tight rope - little things can take an anxious child into a horrible place. This of course is not a little thing - it is huge and it would be so unfair and wrong to undo work that you have done so far with CAHMS to address his anxiety to date.

Best of luck.

[Etienne]

It seems to me that neither the HT or the panel can say at this stage whether your case is more deserving than others as it hasn't been heard by the panel and they do not know how strong it is. Also I cannot see why at an appeal stage the fact that other appellants live closer than your son is of itself the reason why their cases are more deserving than yours. I'm sure Etienne will say if I am wrong on this.

I agree entirely with Twinkles. The panel is not limited to the admission rules - it can take anything into account.
If you were to read out some of the points in your first post (school uniform already purchased, notification the day before induction, son under CAMHS for anxiety, heartbreak of one twin but not the other getting a GS place), it would be a hard-hearted panel that didn't treat your case sympathetically.
I suspect the head might even be doing what he can to signal his support!

Of course, I can't guarantee anything - but this sort of appeal is much more straightforward than the grammar school appeal.
You shouldn't spend more than a couple of hours preparing.
I don't normally have time to check written submissions/presentations, but would help in this case if you wished.

[Ricky74]

Thankyou for the offers
Having lost an appeal (Etienne, you know this was a strong case) I have lost all faith in panels.

This one will already see us as troublemakers knowing I have complained to EFA. They would also give us just one week to prepare if they 'agree' to hearing us in this round.

[streathammum]

Would it be worth including in the appeal the fact that the OP has missed the opportunity to apply for waiting list places at other schools because she had been wrongly told she had a place at the good comp?

Ricky, if your MP is the same person as before the election (so has already got an office, staff etc) would it be worth getting in touch to let them know what happened? This is a strategic policy issue - schools shouldn't be allowed to withdraw places at this late stage, it feels completely unjust. Perhaps the MP could contact the chair of the academy on your behalf, ask them to reconsider their decision to withdraw the place?

I'm so sorry you're having to go through this, it's dreadful.

[Guest55]

On Monday 12 June we became aware of the fact that an error had occurred in processing the applications for xx Academy. This error resulted in offers being made to children who did not meet the school’s admission criteria and should not have been offered a place. The decision on whether the school would exceed its published admission number or the places offered in error would be withdrawn fell to the academy because the Local Authority is not the admission authority for the school. After consultation with the school it was agreed that the places would be withdrawn.

The School Admissions Code (2014) permits offers to be withdrawn in a very small number of exceptional circumstances one of which is where a place has been offered in error. The Code does not provide any guidance on the timescale within which offers should be withdrawn other than to say that offers should not be withdrawn once a child has started at a school unless the place was fraudulently obtained. In this case, the place was withdrawn on the same day that the error was discovered and, although it is extremely unfortunate and regrettable that the error did not come to light earlier in the process the Local Authority and the school acted in accordance with the requirements of the School Admissions Code.

I am so sorry to hear about this. Surely the point that they are missing is the offer may have been withdrawn quickly after the error was discovered but it's over three months since the offer was made.

I hope this is sorted soon.