Getting my daughter into school mid year.

[King Herald]

As some will recollect, 7 years ago we moved to the Philippines. Daughter was 8, seemed keen to go. When I was 7 my family was posted to Singapore with the RAF, and those three years in a tropical paradise were the best days of my life, and I assumed ehe'd revel in it too.

However, my daughter did not take to the Philippines, never settled in, never really found any friends, and for that reason, and a couple of others, we decided to move back to England last December.

In October I popped over here on my own to see about a school for her, as she is in 5th form, GCE exams looming. Our nearest local school seemed interested, very positive they could sort something out for her, told us to bring her in, so we rushed over as soon as we could get a place to stay.

We arrived here to live late December, and went in to see the school second day of term.....excited to get her back into it..... and they have basically shot us down, told us she might not do too well because of the differences from her school curriculum overseas. Headteacher finally came out with the gem "if she fails it will reflect on me".

My daughter is pretty smart, and did really well in the private international schhol we had her in before, so this is a bt of a shock.

Anyway, we went to the education department of the county council, who told us we have to apply to the school officially, with an application form. They then have to officially reject her, by letter, before the education department can move on.

Been to the school 3 times in the last week and they just fob us off, no reply has been forthcoming. So we are trapped in limbo.

I'd realy like to get her into school, somewhere, anywhere, as I am pretty sure it is illegal for her NOT to go to school?

Anybody have any suggestions, or know anything about the procedure?

Yes,I know it is pretty much mine and her mums fault for dragging her away from England, so no need for the usual suspects to climb on their high horses and start telling us so.

Edited by King Herald on Monday 16th January 06:44

[Wobbegong]

Are online courses a possibility if the schools are being awkward?

[Vaud]

Escalate to the governors, at least for the reply so that you know where you stand. The chair will be contactable via their web site or the school office.

[King Herald]

Wobbegong said:

Are online courses a possibility if the schools are being awkward?

Not too sure how we would stand legally not having her in a school at all. She's only 15.

The school suggested we send her to college, said they could 'tailor a suitable course for her'...

The main reason I want her in school is to get her with kids her own age, ger her some possible gce's and get back into the system, possibly go on to A levels etc.

Vaud said:

Escalate to the governors, at least for the reply so that you know where you stand. The chair will be contactable via their web site or the school office.

That could be the next step. I'm not worried about offending the school Headteacher any more as I doubt my daughter would fit in very well there once I had gone over her head, so to speak.

I shall see how today pans out when I go down there yet again.

[Vaud]

King Herald said:

That could be the next step. I'm not worried about offending the school Headteacher any more as I doubt my daughter would fit in very well there once I had gone over her head, so to speak.

I shall see how today pans out when I go down there yet again.

You could ask for an "off the record chat" and guidance, rather than a formal escalation.

[elanfan]

Will your daughter be sitting gcse's this summer or next? If it's this summer unless she is very bright and an incredibly hard worker you are setting her up to fail. It would be incredibly hard to fit a couple of years of coursework into 5 months. I appreciate some will be the same the world over but curriculum will differ. Think I'd take the offer of the tailored course from college.

If you are determined to get her in as others have said Chair of Governors and if you were to suggest the local rag are interested in running a story on a school more interested in their results overall than the needs of an individual child then I'm certain they wouldn't want the bad publicity.

[ColinM50]

Mentioned this to SWMBO who's a primary school secretary. She said it's not really up to the school as to who they admit, get in touch with the LEA Admissions unit, they HAVE to find a place for her. TBH SWMBO is in the primary education sector and not 100% sure if it's the same at secondary, but your LEA are the first place to try.

[tankplanker]

elanfan said:

Will your daughter be sitting gcse's this summer or next? If it's this summer unless she is very bright and an incredibly hard worker you are setting her up to fail. It would be incredibly hard to fit a couple of years of coursework into 5 months. I appreciate some will be the same the world over but curriculum will differ. Think I'd take the offer of the tailored course from college.

I would agree with this. My kids school has recently moved the start date for the GCSE curriculum from the start of year 10 (15 years old) to year 9 because they couldn't fit everything in since the difficulty went up for GCSEs last year. GCSEs are still getting harder as well, the kids sitting exams next year will do zero course work for most subjects and those subjects that need coursework will be doing controlled assessments instead, which are harder.

Unless she has already covered much of the curriculum and answering the new style of questions (its gone back to the old O Level style questions) she will struggle.

[Jasandjules]

You can in the meantime home educate her.

[King Herald]

The school did point out the difference in curriculum, compared to the subjects my daughter studied in her American system school overseas.

I suggested she be allowed tojust join and do her best, just to havevher in school, but the response was pretty negative.

I asked if she could drop down a year, as she has always been the youngest in her year, even when she was in school here before, born mid July, but I was told 'the maturity levels would be a problem'...

Joining college I would assume she would be a 15 year old in a class of adults of various ages, 16 to 66. Not ideal.


Anyway, I just got back from the school, they have promised the letter will be ready tomorrow for me to collect.

I shall look into the LEA department and they may get a call in the very near future.

[BoRED S2upid]

Is the public school system an option? You can have your pick which one suits her best it's going to cost you but they might be more accommodating and there's no bureaucracy involved to get her started ASAP.

[Fozziebear]

Jasandjules said:

You can in the meantime home educate her.

^ This. My ex took my daughter out of school at 15, apparently the other kids were saying nasty things to her, home educated her with zero push back from authorities and education bods. She's now 17, 18 next month and at college sitting her gcse, so a bit of a cock up on mums side. If your daughter is smart, I have no doubt she isn't, she will be fine.

[mjb1]

I can fully understand the school's concerns. She might well be a bright, well educated 15 y/o, but the way it works with GCSEs and A Levels these days is that there's a very tight syllabus, and the kids are basically coached in the exact subject areas relating to the exam questions. You only have to look through a few years of past papers to see which questions come up again and again.

Chances of her catching up in time to do anywhere near her true potential in exams this year are slim. The best option would be for her to drop back a year and sit exams in 2018, seems odd that the school are reluctant to go wit this either. You could always enter her privately for GCSE exams this year, google about home schooling and how those kids do their exams. No idea how the coursework aspect works out though, that may scupper GCSE's this year anyway.

[WestyCarl]

Is the school year full? If not I don't think they can refuse a child as long as you live in catchment. If it is full it's easy for them to refuse.

Also worth check the school's enrollment policy, if they don't follow it to the letter (refusing you on some spurious grounds) you can appeal to the LEA and the result is final. Only problem is this will take a few months.

[King Herald]

I shall see exactly what their letter of refusal states, when we get it..

I have thought either trying another school, or, home schooling her until college opens, in September.

Or, trying to her into college now just to fill her days, then start again in September.

Or, try the private grammar school nearby for the rest of this year. It is pricey, but an option.

I do have my doubts she could be greatly succesful taking exams so unprepared, but it would get her back into school and give her some social life and interaction, something she was missing overseas.

[surveyor]

ColinM50 said:

Mentioned this to SWMBO who's a primary school secretary. She said it's not really up to the school as to who they admit, get in touch with the LEA Admissions unit, they HAVE to find a place for her. TBH SWMBO is in the primary education sector and not 100% sure if it's the same at secondary, but your LEA are the first place to try.

I'm pretty sure this was how it was for us about 6 years ago.

The school were expecting it - but it was down to the LEA.

Not sure if the school were allowed to veto the place. They had concerns as chap had been a student there before and was a problem...

[bazza white]

My parents had the same issue when we moved back to Cardiff when my father left the forces. We were out of school for ages in the end the local MP phoned the school and forced it through. I was 14\15 and it's a tough time to join. It's quite clique by then and the subjects I had chosen previously in my last school were full so I ended up wasting what I had learnt and had to play catch up in subjects I didn't want to do/like.

I'm guessing with the American style system exams are @18. If at 16 over there hold off and get her in for A levels for a fresh start.

[King Herald]

Yes, school leaving age is basically 18, so she is in a totally alien environment here, with the UK system.

I'll see what tomorrow brings and maybe have to the LEA involved. I'd rather not force her into a school that doesn't want her, but we'll have to see how it plays out.

I have suggested we do a road trip to Spain to pass the time, but probably not the best idea...

[Blown2CV]

if you've waited 7 years with her not liking it, then why not finish off school over there? Surely you must see that it isn't a hugely good idea to join the UK high school system about 4 months before the final exams?! Apart from anything else she will have missed just about everything she needs to know in order to do well, all the lessons, all the coursework... won't be hardly any further teaching lessons before they go into revision mode anyway. You can't blame this on the UK teachers - it really is a nightmare in a way for them as they haven't taught your daughter at all, and yet they are expected to make her pass (and likely you'll want her to do more than just 'well', as she deserves to). I know teachers over here get a lot of bashing these days, but a lot of it is pretty unfair. The system is one that we as parents demanded - we wanted schools to be measured in league tables so we could compare performance, and now we are complaining that teachers behave like they are having their performance measured.... funny that.

[turbobloke]

King Herald said:

Headteacher finally came out with the gem "if she fails it will reflect on me".

That warrants formal escalation. The headteacher knows that what she said does not represent an acceptable admissions criterion under the national Schools Admissions Code and she is very wrong with her open but culpable statement. But she said it anyway.

If your daughter had special educational needs, rather than simply having been taught under a different curriculum, that too would be no basis for pre-empting an admissions decision simply because she might take the school's average down. Tough titty, headteacher.

You don't have to accept this and should start a formal complaint if you still want your daughter to attend that school. The head's attitude to your daughter will change after his or her backside has been booted. If there's another school with a better headteacher who understands admissions regulations, you could try again of course.

We had something similar - in terms of a megalomaniac headteacher, not admissions related though - who over-reacted to a minor disciplinary matter with one of mine, and we would have supported the school to the hilt but for the headteacher's arrogance in imposing an indefinite exclusion when such a move was unavailable to him. Initially the governors supported the headteacher but we sent the Chair a copy of the government's policy for state schools and they back-tracked at speed. Get a copy of the Admissions Code online and if you want to take it further, you can do so.