Mother with cancer calls for reform of ‘unfair’ school places policy

A mother with stage four cancer has called for reforms to her local authority’s “unfair” school allocation policy, and a change to the national schools admissions code.

Christine Lote, 41, from Bristol, was diagnosed in 2022 with a rare type of bone cancer called chondrosarcoma in her heel.

This type of cancer does not respond to chemotherapy or radiotherapy, so she had her leg amputated in June 2023.

A year later, she found the cancer had spread to her lungs and was incurable.

Mrs Lote and her husband Damien have daughters Sophie, four, and Chloe, three.

Last year, the family went through the usual process to get Sophie into a local primary school.

Their preferred school was close by, which would enable Mrs Lote, as an amputee, to walk her daughter to school.

It also has bereavement-trained staff, which is important to the family because Mrs Lote does not expect to live long enough to see Sophie finish primary school.

Mrs Lote told the Press Association: “Statistically, I won’t see her through primary school.

“Because it’s such a rare type of cancer that I’ve got, there’s not an awful lot of data around it, but I did put to my consultant at the time that I was diagnosed: ‘How long are we talking?

“She said five years is optimistic. That was over 18 months ago.”

Mrs Lote said that, although her scans are currently coming back stable, she wants to “future-proof” the situation for her family.

She said: “Every part of me wants to be here for as long as possible, but I’d be failing my job as a mother if I didn’t future-proof her care.”

Despite these circumstances, Sophie was assigned to the family’s third-choice school, which is further away and does not have the specialist bereavement support.

The family appealed against the decision, but were again turned down because medical conditions are not considered by South Gloucestershire Council under its schools admissions criteria.

Mrs Lote told PA: “I felt that that was slightly unfair, and we’ve since been on a bit of a crusade about trying to get the council to consider their policy and review that, which they have promised me they will undertake that review this year.”

She said that, while she understands that policy must be adhered to, it is “a shame that a human heart can’t look into my circumstances and make an exception”.

Other local authorities do have a “social or medical need exemption” written into their policies and South Gloucestershire Council is consulting its community on the policy this year.

While any change would be too late for Sophie, who started reception in September, it could help other families.

Mrs Lote’s MP Claire Hazelgrove said the situation “feels wrong”, but the council is “legally tied” because of its policy.

The Labour MP for Filton and Bradley Stoke said she is sure the policy is “entirely inadvertent”, adding: “You can’t always foresee everything that might happen in terms of every individual case”.

That said, she is “confident that it will change” once the statutory consultation has taken place, and that it will “really make a difference” locally.

Mrs Lote also wants to try end the “postcode lottery” nationally.

Ms Hazelgrove arranged for her constituent to meet schools minister Georgia Gould in December and said she is “sympathetic” to the family’s plight.

While the Department for Education has no say over local admissions policies if they are legal – as this one is – many local authorities lift from the national schools admissions code.

This code sets out a framework and provides guidance and examples of situations where there may be a need for flexibility.

In the recently published Schools White Paper, the Government committed to consulting on changes to the schools admissions code.

When Ms Hazelgrove raised Mrs Lote’s story in the Commons earlier this month and asked whether that consultation would look at her situation, schools minister Ms Gould said it will look at how to “promote fairness for all families”.

Ms Gould added: “As part of that work, we will be looking at how to ensure that cases such as this are better supported through admissions policy in the future and, in the meantime, that schools and admissions authorities make use of the social and medical criteria.”

Mrs Lote and her MP will make a submission to the Government’s consultation, with Ms Hazelgrove adding: “I am feeling confident that we will see change, and truly that is thanks to Christine and what an amazing thing to do.

“Given everything she’s going through, all the worry that she has the whole time, and she is generously campaigning for others who she hasn’t even met.

“I think she is phenomenal and it is my privilege to represent her voice in the Commons and to take this forward, because this shouldn’t be the situation that she or anyone else faces.”

Ms Hazelgrove said when Mrs Lote learned to walk again with a prosthetic leg, one of the things she had “in her mind’s eye while she was doing it” was being able to walk her daughter to school.

She added: “On a human level, you hear the story and think, why is it like this? So when the system is in the way, then let’s go fix the system, is my view.”

A South Gloucestershire Council spokesperson said: “We sympathise with the family’s situation, however the school place application process is governed by laws outside of the council’s control.

“These state that class sizes cannot be larger than 30 unless very specific criteria are met, and a family member’s health is not a factor that can be considered as an exception to infant class regulations.”

The spokesperson added: “If the council were to take the personal circumstances of the family into account, or the appeal panel were to uphold the appeal, this could have been seen as maladministration due to the fact that the oversubscription criteria had not been applied correctly.

“This could mean that the council was open to challenge by other parents that may have missed out on a place at their preferred school.

“Any decision to review the schools’ admissions policies that are under the council’s control must be in line with the statutory guidance and are subject to public consultation.

“In light of the impact and the exceptional circumstances of the family we will be taking the opportunity to explore what changes might be made to local arrangements if practical or even possible, giving due regard to the legal process, to prevent the same outcome to the same situation in the future.”