C o m m u n i t y
NO RECORD OF THE CALL IS EVER KEPT SSAFA’s Confidential Support Line
S
SAFA Forces Help offers a Confidential Support Line for anyone with a military connection who needs advice or support. It might be about
loneliness during deployment, financial difficulties, relationship problems. Whatever it is, they are there for you, as Alex Bozeat at SSAFA explains…
Completely outside the chain of command, the Confidential Support Line can offer help on any matters causing concern. Each year thousands of calls are made to the trained staff who understand the unique problems faced by the military community.
We are trained to listen and not to judge. Some of the calls we deal with are extremely serious, abuse, bullying or even rape. We often get silent calls but we know from experience that these can be the first step for someone gathering the courage to talk.
The Service guarantees: • No names or identifying details are ever asked for or recorded.
• All staff sign a lifelong agreement never to disclose details of their calls.
• The MoD and others have no access to the calls.
• The location of the call centre is a closely guarded secret.
• Confidential Support Line staff do not see the e-mail addresses or phone numbers and they are not stored after reply.
Lines are open10.30am-10.30pm daily, inc Christmas Day. freephone from UK:0800 731 4880; Germany: 0800 1827 395; Cyprus: 800 91065. Falklands # 6111 Operational theatres, access via Paradigm, dial the access number then enter *201 at the PIN prompt.
A confidential email service is also available via:
www.ssafa.org.uk
Children’s Education Advisory Service School Admissions and Appeals
As Service families frequently move between homes on posting it is inevitable that they will find themselves having to find new school places for their children. Depend- ing upon where they go, there may or may not be places available in their schools of preference. The following gives an outline of what the general position is in England.
to have a place allocated in that school. Clearly, it is easier to express such a prefer- ence, and for an admission authority to meet the majority of parental preferences, at the normal admissions round; a process that many Service families are not able to partici- pate in. Consequently, many have to make late or in-year applications for school places.
Although admission authorities are required to have regard to the needs of Service chil- dren (SAC Para 3.22), they are specifically prevented from retaining blocks of school places for them (SAC Para 3.24a). Neverthe- less, school places should be allocated to children and their families in advance of the approaching school year if accompanied by an official MOD letter declaring a relocation date (SAC Para 3.22).
School admission arrangements are detailed in the ‘School Admission Code 2007’(SAC). The Code and associated supporting documents including the School Admissions Appeals Code are available on-line at
www.dcsf.gov.uk/sacode.
Parents have the right to ‘express a prefer- ence for a school’ but not an absolute right
Should a desired school be full, a parent has the right to appeal to an Independent Appeal Panel. Schools must provide information on how to make an appeal when they refuse a place. Only one appeal can be made for a place for a child in a particular school in any one academic year. Decisions made by appeal panels are final and can only be overturned by the courts.
Admission authorities are required to accept a unit postal address or notification of post- ing as sufficient evidence to meet residency criteria in the area concerned. The appropriate
references in the Schools Admissions Code are Para 3.23 (d) which requires that ‘Local authorities and admissions authorities must… accept a Unit postal address for applications from service personnel in the absence of a new home postal address’ and Para 3.24 (b) which states that ‘Admission authorities must not… refuse a place to such a child because the family does not currently live in the local area’. A further requirement is placed upon admission authorities by Para 2.39 which holds that ‘For children of UK Service personnel and other Crown Servants admission authorities must treat a family returning to their area as meeting the residency criteria for that catchment area even if no house is currently owned in that area once proof of the posting has been provided’.
Admissions issues are rarely simple to deal with as each local or admissions authority set their own admissions criteria within the requirements of the Code and individual circumstances may vary considerably. Should you encounter problems with finding a school place in any part of the UK, please contact CEAS who may be able to help by clarifying the situation with the admissions authori- ties, providing assistance with appeals or by referring the matters to the local admissions forums if appropriate.
Helpdesk 01980 618244 (94 344 8244)
enquiries@ceas.detsa.co.uk www.mod.uk/ceas
www.raf-ff.org.uk
Spring 2010
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