A mum has been left furious after her daughter was not given a school place for the start of the new term. Lisa Doyle says her 10-year-old daughter Bobbileigh Scott has been forced to stay home and spent what should have been her the first day at school "stuck in her bedroom watching TV".
The parent claims that after moving from Stalybridge to Levenshulme in May, she notified Manchester Council to make sure the school transition as easy as possible for Bobbileigh, who has ADHD. But as pupils across the region returned to classrooms, her daughter still didn't have any placement confirmed, with the young girl now missing out on her first few days.
Lisa says she tried to contact Manchester's school admissions office several times over the summer, but no one was able tell her when Bobbileigh would be given a place. Speaking to Manchester Evening News, she said: "In May I moved from Stalybridge to Levenshulme and I put in an application in March with school admissions in Manchester because I knew I was moving.
"I have been calling the office constantly because my daughter has ADHD and I wanted the transition to be a smooth as possible. When I moved they said they had put Bobbileigh on the waiting list but every time I rang there was a different reason why nothing had happened with her school place."
Lisa claims she was notified by the admissions office in June that she needed to resubmit her application - which she did - but says she's heard nothing from them since. She explained:"We are now in September and she is meant to be starting year six and she hasn't got a school place.
"They haven't even sent out any work for her to do. She is just stuck in her bedroom watching TV. She struggles in school so has mixed feelings.
"One minute she is happy she is not at school but then she hasn't been able to make any friends and there is nothing here for her. She can go to any mainstream school but she can't start her medication for ADHD until she has a place.
"It’s impossible to speak to anyone from school admissions and I don’t know what else to do."
A spokesperson for Manchester City Council said: "We received the family's application for a school place on 22 June but a slight delay in processing time meant we couldn't finalise the offer of a place before schools closed for summer. The return of schools this week means however that we've now been able to do this and we've today offered Bobbileigh a place at a primary school preferenced by the family on their application form."
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