Application classed as late

[Sosalou]

Is anyone else in this position? Received a letter last week saying our application was classed as late because we had not sent proof of address documents in time.
These documents were not sent because we did not receive the December letter requesting them.
Apparently we were meant to inform admissions by a certain date but we did not know to do this because the statement telling us to do this was located as the third bullet point response to a FAQ about people who were planning to move house. As we had no intention of moving house we did not read the bullet point responses to this particular FAQ.
Any advice on how to move forward with this?

[Fatnorville]

Talk to your LEA.

Incidentally what score did your DC get and which schools did they apply to?7 It may only be a crumb of comfort but if DC scored highly and chose eastern schools, they may get an allocation on March 1st as an out of area applicant negating the need for proof of address.

However please pursue the proof of address issue with your LEA. They must have a plan to deal with this scenario.

[Sosalou]

DD's score was 229. We are in Eastern Priority Circle and applying for RHS only.
We spoke to the LEA but they were very unsympathetic and seem to be taking the hard line of - it's not our fault the postal system let you down and you should have read the letter properly. My argument is that a very crucial statement was located in an ambiguous place in the letter. I would imagine that large numbers of parents did not see it as that particular FAQ did not apply to them but they were lucky enough to get the letter in the post. We were very unlucky and feel we are being penalised for it. They almost implied that it was either stupidity or negligence on our part. We asked them to send us the letter so that we could send our proof of address. They did send it but also told us there was no point. Feel very desperate about the whole situation.

[hermanmunster]

I don't think there is anything that you can do at this stage other than complete the letter and send it back. They aren't going to suddenly say everything is OK!

However, if you have a look at the website then it states that

If your application is late, you will be added to a waiting list and may not be offered the preferred place

I don't know the relevant scores but if the your score is OK then it may mean you are high up the waiting list on March 1st and have a good chance of being offered a place sometime after

*just checked the scores and it looks like you have the score was well above the lowest score offered last year, so KFC

[kenyancowgirl]

Agreed with HM. Ultimately it is parents responsibility to make sure they have dotted every I and crossed every t so the LEA will be unsympathetic.

Fill in and return the form, keep everything crossed (I suspect you will be fine even if you may not be offered a place on March 1st). If you don't get an offer you can lodge an appeal, whilst remaining on the waiting list, and plead your case if it then comes to it.

[streathammum]

This won't help your position but I do think you've been hard done by. While it is up to parents to make sure everything is done properly, it's not helpful when the LEA puts complicated and seemingly arbitrary rules in place and then hides them in places where parent won't know to look

Once everything is sorted out (hopefully by an early offer from the waiting list) you should consider writing to your local councillor to explain what happened to you and ask whether the council would consider improving their processes in future years. Like I said, this won't help you (unless you have younger DCs coming through the system) but at least some good could come from it.

[Rugbymumto2]

A girl in DDs primary didn't return the proof of address (got the letter, just didn't do it), she scored in the low 230s. She wasn't allocated on 1st March but was offered a place (iirc a couple of weeks later). You should be ok, but I appreciate this isn't going to make you relax. On 1st March ensure you contact Warks and put her on the waiting list (again iirc you have to request to go on the waiting list for the grammars) and also possible put in a late application for Ashlawn to go onto their waiting list. Did you put any other school on you CAF?

[MadDad1975]

This won't help your position but I do think you've been hard done by. While it is up to parents to make sure everything is done properly, it's not helpful when the LEA puts complicated and seemingly arbitrary rules in place and then hides them in places where parent won't know to look

Once everything is sorted out (hopefully by an early offer from the waiting list) you should consider writing to your local councillor to explain what happened to you and ask whether the council would consider improving their processes in future years. Like I said, this won't help you (unless you have younger DCs coming through the system) but at least some good could come from it.

How is the process complicated or arbitrary? It involves posting some clearly specified documents and is intended to stop parents abusing the system. It therefore seems to be neither complicated nor arbitrary. 2000 plus parents each year seem to cope with it.

The process is explained in the leaflet sent to all Warwickshire parents, it's on the website, is explained in a further letter sent to parents, and is set out in each school's admission arrangements (it's not a council requirement but one set by the individual schools).

While sympathetic to the OP's situation there's only so much the Council can do.

[streathammum]

Parents have to remember at some point in December to check whether or not they've received a letter from the council about residence. If they haven't received it, they have the responsibility to chase it even if the council was in error.

I'm my view, this adds an unnecessary layer of procedure and puts an unreasonable burden on parents. In my local authority we submit our proof of address with our CAF so there's no need for this authority to do it in a separate mailing.

ETA The more times each parent has to send something to the council, the more likely it is that something will go wrong. The council should collect everything they need in one go.

[Guest55]

I'm my view, this adds an unnecessary layer of procedure and puts an unreasonable burden on parents. In my local authority we submit our proof of address with our CAF so there's no need for this authority to do it in a separate mailing.

ETA The more times each parent has to send something to the council, the more likely it is that something will go wrong. The council should collect everything they need in one go.

I agree - it should all be part of the CAF process.