college admission process timeline

1st of March is National Offer Day. This is the day across the country thousands of parents wait for an offer letter telling them whether or not their child has a place at their preferred choice of schools. In this article we show you the time of events leading up to this day, and what to do if your child is not given a place a your preferred choice of school. The Admission Process Local authorities publish information about where you can see admission arrangements for September the following year.

1st May – Local authorities publish information about where you can see admission arrangements for September the following year.
Over the summer – You can object to unlawful admission arrangements. Contact your local authority or object directly to the Schools Adjudicator.
September to December – Information and application packs for primary and secondary school admissions are made available by Local Authorities. You select schools to apply for.
September to February – You can submit your application for your child. Check with you Local Authority for the exact date. For secondary schools, you can name a minimum of three schools in the order you prefer. Some Local Authorities offer up to six preferences.

Primary applications may be open until March, check with the LA you are applying to for the deadline. Submit your form, by post or online to the LA where the school is. For secondary applications submit your form, by post or online to the LA where you live.

After the closing date – Admission authorities must consider all applications equally against their published oversubscription criteria.
National Offer Day – 1st March(or next working day) – If you made an application for a primary school place you should receive the decision between March and May. Check with the LA you applied to for the exact date.

If you made an application for a secondary school place you should receive the decision on, or after, National Offer Day. If your child doesn’t get a place at your preferred school On the 1st of March, if your child s not offered a place at your preferred choice of schools, then you have the right to appeal against that decision. You have 10 working days to request and submit an appeal application. You will need to contact your Local Authority for the appeal form. If you child is not offered a place at your preferred school, then the first thing you must do is to request for your child to be put on the waiting list. If you contact your Admission Authority to request an appeal, do not assume that you have been put onto the waiting list; you must explicitly request to be put onto the list. Generally waiting lists are not on a ‘first come first served’ basis, but some still are, which is why we recommend that you request to be put onto the waiting list. Legal reasons why you have been turned down for a school place There are only five legal reasons why a place is not allocated to a child. They are:

Where to admit the child would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources. LEAs and governing bodies may not refuse to admit children to any year group in which pupils are normally admitted to the school on these grounds unless the number of preferences or applications for places in that relevant year group exceeds the school’s admission number. Prejudice may arise by reason of measures that would be required to be taken to comply with the limit on infant class;
Where the child has been permanently excluded from two or more schools and at least one of the exclusions took place after 1 September 1997. The requirement to comply with parental preference is applied for two years after the second exclusion;
Where the school is wholly selected by high ability or by aptitude, and admission of the pupil would be incompatible with such selection under the admission arrangements;
Where state-maintained boarding schools have set separate admission numbers for day pupils and boarding pupils and have more applicants for one or other category than places available; and
Where another place has been offered as identified under coordinated arrangements.

Admission Criteria Admission authorities use a set criteria to assign places, but if you have not been offered a place at your preferred choice of school then there are certain admission criteria that are open for interpretation. You can use this to your advantage. These include:

Sibling Links – what is the admission authority’s definition of ‘sibling law’? Is there ambiguity?
Special Medical needs – can your child’s need only be met at a particular school?
Distance – was it measured correctly, what method was used?

How to construct a successful school appeal It can be daunting and emotionally stressful putting together a school appeal, but there are guides that will show you the process and that give you a few insider secrets to help you win your appeal.

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