PARENTS of students "dumped" from their places at a heavily oversubscribed say their children have been "led down the garden path" and left in limbo.

But Notre Dame Catholic Sixth Form College feels it responded "ethically and morally" to the situation.

The debacle began to unfold on Wednesday night at 5pm when a number of students, who had already been offered and accepted places, received a text to tell them their enrolment the following day was cancelled due to the college being "full".

Enrolment first began on Monday and was set to be completed on Thursday, with students assigned specific slots.

But the T&A has been inundated with stories of furious parents and upset children, who had their places cancelled at the last moment, or did not find out until the day of enrolment itself.

Daisy White, 16, from Cleckheaton, was plunged into that exact scenario.

She received a text at 5pm on the Wednesday informing her not to turn up on Thursday.

Lisa White, Daisy's mum, said: "I thought it was a scam or something, this can't be right."

She added: "The text was sent directly to the student. There was no communication to parents."

Daisy and her mum and dad - who had taken the day off work - went to Notre Dame on Thursday anyway to try get some answers.

The family arrived at 8.30am and there were plenty of people there.

But nobody addressed the throng of people until around two-and-a-half hours later, according to Mrs White.

She said: "Everything was shut, the gates were shut. You could see people inside."

She added: "It was 10.10am when we first saw somebody.

"The crowd just started to grow but we were all in different situations.

"One girl we spoke to was told to come on Thursday because she was on holiday for the other days."

Chris Everett's daughter, from Bingley, was also due to enrol on Thursday, but received the same "blunt, short" text on Wednesday evening.

He said: "It made her upset and panicky as she had not accepted and other offers as she was led to believe she had a place there".

A letter from the college, believed to have been sent out in late June, mentioned the setting was "heavily oversubscribed" and reminded people of its prioritisation criteria.

But this included prioritising those at schools nearest to Notre Dame College, something multiple people have now claimed was not part of the original admissions policy.

As of 4.30pm on Thursday, downloading the admissions policy from the Notre Dame website provides a document that makes no mention of the "order of nearest to College" priority criteria.

Mr Everett said: "There was no mention of this selection prioritisation throughout the interview, the two webinars we attended or any of the communications we received.

"There was a slight reference to it on her enrolment letter but it didn't make it sound like a big deal."

Mrs White said: "I just think it stinks.

"It's massively unfair to the kids, they've not been transparent in their communications at all.

"It was a last minute addition to the letter, a letter that quite frankly should have come in October.

"They've been led down the garden path.

"There were some very educated people there, we're not stupid parents, we can read, we understand what's going on."

Students have been left scrambling to find places at other colleges or sixth forms just weeks before the new academic year starts and it was proving all the more difficult with most settings being closed.

Daisy managed to get an interview at Leeds City College, but would be away from her two friends from Whitcliffe Mount School, who were also "dumped" from Notre Dame at the eleventh hour.

A statement released by Notre Dame yesterday said: "We fully understand and share the disappointment and frustration of those of you who have unfortunately not secured a place here at Notre Dame.

"We are an outstanding, over-subscribed non-selective Sixth Form and have been over-subscribed for a number of years.

"We believe we have responded ethically and morally to a unique set of circumstances, including: the significant demographic growth in post 16 numbers in the Leeds region combined with better GCSE results.

"This has meant we had to make the very difficult decision to stop enrolling, as we had hit unprecedented capacity."

The college explained that there is "enormous pressure" on successful sixth forms and colleges across the country, due to the rapid growth in those aged between 16 and 18.

It reiterated its prioritisation policy and said all students have been added to its waiting list.

Notre Dame also advised students to get in touch with their schools and local authorities for help and support.

Mrs White feels the main issues have arisen from miscommunication.

She explained that, if they had told Daisy back in October 2020, when she first applied, that she might not get in because of the area, then she could have made a contingency plan, but now, all the colleges and sixth forms in Kirklees have had their enrolment days.

She added: "They have no idea what they've done, they've not got any comprehension.

"All the other schools are closed because they've had enrolment already.

"Daisy got a letter saying 'congratulations, you've got a place', why would anyone assume it wouldn't happen?

"If they knew they were oversubscribed, why offer so many places?"

"She's worked really hard to get the grades she needed and wanted to go there."

Mr Everett said: "The advice was to push it back on the school, but strictly speaking she is no longer a student of that school and they knew nothing off the situation, although they were very helpful even though they didn't need to be.

"It is Notre Dame's responsibility to sort out, not the school they have just finished at. She was left in limbo."