Thursday 19th September 2019
How the RAF Families Federation (RAFFF) helped a serving RAF mother in her success to a secondary school placement for her son, through extreme circumstances.
Hospital stay meant school application deadline missed
A Serving mother contacted us with an issue regarding her son’s secondary school placement. She was on long term sick leave after a very serious accident, which involved a significant amount of time in hospital. During that time the school place allocation deadline had been and gone. She had missed the slot to book her son into school, and was naturally extremely distressed.
She had been told by the school that her son would now go onto a waiting list with his ‘now allocated’ school place which was distance away (so uncertainty adding to the issue). Her son was oblivious that potentially he wouldn’t be going to the same secondary school as all of his primary school friends.
RAFFF appealed to the County Council
The RAFFF team has a network of contacts across county councils to facilitate our work. Case handler, Ken Wood, contacted the schools admissions officer at the local county council. He requested a case review, on account of the horrific accident and the suffering experienced by the child with a gravely ill parent.
School place offered
Ken received a call from the delighted client, informing him that, within a week, the county council had made contact and offered a school place for her son at the school his friends were going to in September.
This case highlights the relationships the RAFFF builds with outside agencies to provide help and support for Service families, and in this case it did make a real difference. Not every case ends up with success, but we are always able to explain the reason a decision has not been made in favour of the serviceman or woman, and their family members – and if an emerging theme of disadvantage can be seen we are in a position to do the lobbying.
Our impact
We provide confidential help and support to RAF personnel and families, wherever you are in the world. This can be advice offered, imparting our knowledge of policy and procedures, signposting and influencing on your behalf.
The issues you report to us provide ‘evidence’ which can help us to identify emerging issues in the Armed Forces community. We use this information, anonymised, to lobby government for policy changes – aiming to make life better for you.
If you need help with a challenge you face, report an issue to us.
