Grammar School Place Withdrawn

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SSH2
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu Oct 18, 2018 11:17 am

Grammar School Place Withdrawn

Post by SSH2 »

Hi All,
After receiving an offer at Bucks Grammar School in March with now less than 2 weeks before school start the offer has been withdrawn due to an admin error.
The admin error was made by MK and Buckscc admissions team, who admitted it's their error, apologised and told me to go through appeals process.
By now we have attended induction days, got allocated to a class, house, met teachers etc...we purchased the annual bus pass, got personalised uniform, all in all £1,500 spent. Worst thing is that my child thinks it's because they are a failure....It's unthinkable, heart-breaking and unfair, no one is helping me, we have no school for September.
Raised a formal compliant to head of education services, got a template acknowledgment.
Appeal now set for end of September.
We will be likely allocated an underperforming school as all grammar and well performing schools are already oversubscribed.
Looking for any advice...on the following:
1) how to prepare for such appeal, we had a school place and with less than 2 weeks to go it has been taken away
2) gross professional negligence by bucks and mk admissions, what do I do? solicitors? who specialises in education law please? money is tight :(
3) where do I start my child in September? under performing school and what if we lose the appeal?
Any help, advice, words of encouragement...please.
hermanmunster
Posts: 12815
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: Grammar School Place Withdrawn

Post by hermanmunster »

I am really sorry to hear that this has happened - awful so close to the beginning of term, have they explained what the error was?

Have a look at this thread for starters - https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum ... =withdrawn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Deb70
Posts: 340
Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2018 5:00 pm

Re: Grammar School Place Withdrawn

Post by Deb70 »

Surely they can't do this to your child. They should just allow the child to attend the school now. This is absolutely outrageous! Did your child pass the test?
hermanmunster
Posts: 12815
Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: Grammar School Place Withdrawn

Post by hermanmunster »

Unfortunately there are some circumstances in which places can be withdrawn including an error on the side of the admissions departments - incredibly unfair on the people involved.

Just found another case from quite a few years ago https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum ... =withdrawn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
doodles
Posts: 8300
Joined: Tue Oct 27, 2009 9:19 pm

Re: Grammar School Place Withdrawn

Post by doodles »

I am so sorry to hear this, I can only try and imagine how stressful it must be for your DC and your family. Have they given you any reason why the place has been withdrawn?
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit, wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad !
loobylou
Posts: 2032
Joined: Thu Nov 27, 2014 5:04 pm

Re: Grammar School Place Withdrawn

Post by loobylou »

I'm sure I read on here once about a case where the ruling was that the place couldn't be removed as it had been too long between the place being offered and the offer rescinded.
Hopefully someone will be able to remember the case. It sounds as though it would be relevant here.
Looking back at your post it looks as though your dd got 120 and you were considering review/appeal. Did she then get offered a place with 120? I suppose the argument would then be that you knew that should be impossible? But at this stage it seems grossly unfair on your dd to remove the place. And even more unfair not at least to hold the appeal hearing before she starts school.
I hope you manage to sort this quickly.
Last edited by loobylou on Sun Aug 25, 2019 11:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
ToadMum
Posts: 11944
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 12:41 pm
Location: Essex

Re: Grammar School Place Withdrawn

Post by ToadMum »

The actual wording in the Admissions Code reads:

Withdrawing an offer or a place
2.12 An admission authority must not withdraw an offer unless it has been offered in error, a parent has not responded within a reasonable period of time, or it is established that the offer was obtained through a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application. Where the parent has not responded to the offer, the admission authority must give the parent a further opportunity to respond and explain that the offer may be withdrawn if they do not. Where an offer is withdrawn on the basis of misleading information, the application must be considered afresh, and a right of appeal offered if an offer is refused.

2.13 A school must not withdraw a place once a child has started at the school, except where that place was fraudulently obtained. In deciding whether to withdraw the place, the length of time that the child has been at
the school must be taken into account. For example, it might be considered appropriate to withdraw the place if the child has been at the school for less than one term.


So any time up to the child actually starting is allowable, unfortunayely, with a further extension where fraud is proved.

OP, assuming that you went to review and were told you had been successful and you live somewhere which, though OOC, is a feasible distance from the the school (i.e. it wasn't a case of, 'Gosh, this school must have been really unpopular this year - we're the first people from here to succeed in getting a place for at least 5 years!'), do you know whether any other families have been affected?

Unfortunately, at appeal, the school will also be presenting itself as a wronged party, if, as you say, you have been told that the error was made by one / both of the LEAs involved and not the school itself. On the whole, the coordinated admissions system works very well, but it does depend on those responsible for administering it applying the rules correctly.

Good luck with your appeal :).
Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx
Ricky74
Posts: 732
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2016 1:55 pm

Re: Grammar School Place Withdrawn

Post by Ricky74 »

I'm so sorry as I know first hand the distress this causes.

My son had a comprehensive school place withdrawn in the July and the whole experience was stressful. I posted about it on here at the time (2 years ago) and other posters were incredibly helpful and supportive.

I'll be following this thread in the hope that I can help too.
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