Kirklees Council apologises to Etherington family over school mix up

A FULL apology has been issued by Kirklees Council to the family fighting toget their little girl in the same school as her siblings.

But little Chloe Etherington, from Edgerton, will still have to stay on a waiting list for a place at Lindley CE Infants School.

The council have admitted that their claim the family had applied too late for a place at the school was wrong.

Last week the Examiner featured the story of Chloe, from Kaffir Road, who had been refused a place at the school.

Her brother and sister, twins Ethan and Georgia, seven, attended the school and are now pupils at Lindley Junior School.

All three children are adopted.

Their parents Adrian and Alyson say that it is generally accepted by child experts that it’s important for adopted children not to be separated.

A Kirklees Council education spokesman issued an incorrect statement at the time in which they said that the family had applied late.

The spokesman also said: “We did inform the parent of their right to appeal to an independent appeals panel and how they could do this.

“We are aware that a place has now been secured at an alternative school and that the parent can request a place on the waiting list for Lindley CE (VA) Infant School if they would like to.”

But Mr Etherington insisted they had done everything by the book:

The family’s application for Chloe to attend Lindley Infant School was received by the school on May 11, 2010, eight months before the deadline.

The family has already been through an appeal with Kirklees and it was rejected.

Chloe IS on Lindley Infant’s waiting list and has been on it since last April.

Mr Etherington said: “Kirklees are apportioning blame to us, but their statement is false.

“Our application was made well in advance of the closing date, we did exercise our right to appeal and we have been on the waiting list since April, when our application was declined.

“I don’t know who the spokesman was talking about, but it certainly wasn’t Chloe.”

He said that Chloe would remain on the Lindley waiting list and, if she still hadn’t secured a place by the end of this academic year, she would reapply for next year.

He added that Chloe has been offered a place first at Newsome and then at Rawthorpe after being informed that all of the other schools in North Huddersfield – Birkby, Fixby, Reinwood and Moorlands – were full.

He said: “There are simply not enough school places in North Huddersfield.

“Anyone moving into the area would be in exactly the same boat as us.”

Chloe is currently attending Greetland Academy in Calderdale.

Kirklees Council has now issued a full apology to the Etheringtons.

A spokesman said: “We have contacted the family to apologise for the error that was made about the application form being late, as that was not the case. This was due to a system recording error and has now been rectified.

“The local authority did advise the parents of their right of appeal and the process for doing this.

“As the school is Voluntary Aided and appeals are arranged by the admission authority of the school, rather than by the local authority, the local authority would not normally be made aware that an appeal had taken place or what the outcome of the appeal was.

“We can confirm that the child has remained on the waiting list for Lindley CE (VA) Infant School since the application was received and that we have recently confirmed with the family that they would like this to continue.”