Offer withdrawn after two weeks - general discussion

[Here_goes]

Thank you Etienne. I’ve just read through the link you sent. Gosh, Ricky74 really went through the mill. I’m pleased it worked out for him in the end; it gives me a bit of hope. I will call WCC in the morning and see what light can be shed. I think my anxiety is compounded by getting half the information. And that in itself seems so insensitive. It is just too much of a cliffhanger. I shall keep you all posted, but thank you for your responses. I feel better already knowing that there are lovely people prepared to offer words of comfort and wisdom! I still won’t sleep tonight though.....

[Andypandy]

We’ve also come home to an email withdrawing an offer of a place at SGGS given on 1st March. I initially thought it was a hoax email but reading around on here it seems not to be. Devasted does not come close. We live in worcs but within priority area. Not sure what our current status - in terms of a place at any of her choices.
Will also be on phone to WCC tomorrow to find out more

[Daogroupie]

This sends a cold shiver of fear down my back and is just horrific.

What a terrible unexpected blow! You are just reading email and then suddenly there it is.

They needed to have called you in or phoned you to explain what happened and what you need to do next.

They have handled this very badly indeed.

I really hope that the two weeks is considered too long after and you get your place back. DG

[Etienne]

We’ve also come home to an email withdrawing an offer of a place at SGGS given on 1st March. I initially thought it was a hoax email but reading around on here it seems not to be. Devasted does not come close. We live in worcs but within priority area. Not sure what our current status - in terms of a place at any of her choices.
Will also be on phone to WCC tomorrow to find out more

Welcome to you too, Andypandy - really sorry to hear that you are in the same position as Here_goes.

Unless you get offered a place fairly soon, I think both of you need to start preparing for the possibility of an appeal. Not what you want, I know, but in the absence of any other solution I'm afraid it is usually the next step.

• • • Check the deadline for submitting an appeal - it is likely to be around the end of this month. (In reality you can submit an appeal after the deadline, but it might mean your hearing could be delayed until much later than it would otherwise be.)
    
    • Don't worry for the moment about the written 'grounds for appeal'.
    https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/general#a7" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
    
    • All you need write for the present is a brief explanation:

• • • • "We were offered a place at the school, but it has been withdrawn as a result of a mistake by the LA.
        
        We wish to appeal on the basis that any prejudice to the school is outweighed by the prejudice to our child. Unfortunately, in the circumstances, we have not had sufficient time to prepare our case properly.
        
        We would also ask the panel to consider whether, when we had a reasonable expectation of a place, it was lawful for that place to be withdrawn after [number of] days.
        
        We will submit our full case in due course."

[Here_goes]

Andypandy I am so sorry to hear that you are going through this as well. And you are in priority area. This is very worrying indeed.

Thank you so much Etienne for giving us some guidance on what to do next. I am just shell shocked.

My daughter’s high score may be a disadvantage in the end, because if it were lower we would have moved house to be in the priority area. As it was, I was confident that she would be somewhere near the top of the waiting list (more fool me!).

I am dreading hearing the scale of WCCs problem. If there has been a problem with other councils sharing data and higher scores in priority area have not been offered when they should have, then this is a disaster. The AQS has been set; probably too low if they didn’t include those areas when allocating.

If WCC are having to ‘backfill’ spaces then what chance is there of there even being a waiting list, let alone being near the top? I fear the worst.

Andypandy, may I ask what your Dd’s Score was? And where it ranked among all girls? Feel free to pm me if you would rather not post here.

Etienne, I shall do as you advise. I just feel desperately sorry for our children who thought they had a place somewhere they have worked hard to get, and it’s been pulled from under their feet. A great lesson in how not to trust ‘the system’.

[Andypandy]

I wonder how many others have received one of these emails - our cases are quite different so you wonder how they can have got things so wrong. I am so new to this so I don’t fully understand the allocation process.


My daughter scored 221 - therefore we were surprised when she was offered a place in the first round but as we’re in area I didn’t think too much of it. I’m at work at the moment so do t have the letter to hand with her ranking. I hardly slept last night and am feeling sick at the thought of what’s to come. I can’t bear the thought of breaking a 10 year olds
heart.

Will update once spoken to LA.

[Here_goes]

I have just looked at the email again and I notice that it's not personal. I.e. it's not emailed just to me (it hasn't got my email address in it) and it doesn't say 'Dear ****' it just says 'Good Afternoon' and it has a bcc circulation feel about it. In my eyes, that means that there are quite a few of us. This is really not good news at all.

[Amber]

I know nothing at all about this area but just wanted to say how sorry I feel for you both, and the no doubt others out there who have also been affected by this maladministration.

I wonder whether you can submit a FOI request to the authority to find out how many people are affected - ie what the extent of the problem is? I am not envisaging some kind of class action (though that is a tempting thought, is it not?) but it might give you some background for preparing your appeal, partly to know what you are up against and partly as demonstrating utter incompetence rather than an isolated error might be helpful? I don't know, just a thought.

Good luck today.

[hermanmunster]

I wonder whether you can submit a FOI request to the authority to find out how many people are affected - ie what the extent of the problem is? I am not envisaging some kind of class action (though that is a tempting thought, is it not?) but it might give you some background for preparing your appeal, partly to know what you are up against and partly as demonstrating utter incompetence rather than an isolated error might be helpful? I don't know, just a thought.

Good luck today.

Whole thing is awful. Wondering if it is worth contacting county councillors etc - may have some idea of the numbers if they have been contacted by others

[kenyancowgirl]

Or the local press...Stratford Herald is always interested in education stories...

It would be interesting to see where the source of the error is - a lot of the issues appear to be around cross county borders and/or discrepancies where a child lives in another county but still priority area. The former I can understand a bit, the latter should not happen as the priority area has not changed. I feel huge sympathy for everyone - the children who were told they didn't have a place when they should have, and those who have now had it withdrawn. Worryingly, depending on the scale, if schools are told they have to go over PAN to accommodate, this potentially will affect the education of every single child in that year, as most of the schools are literally full to bursting.

I suspect there will be very little movement from the waiting list.