Help with appeal...

[The3Bears]

Sorry to keep going on about appeals but I am begining to panic now and would just like other people opinions on my appeal.

My son is an extremely shy and anxious child, we are appealing for a place at the school joined to the preschool he is at now. He took a long while to settle at the school and has only just started to talk to the teachers there, he has made some friends in the class and has a very close cousin in the class and in the primary school.
We are just out of the catchment area however there is 6 children alone on our street and the street behind us who attend the school and 1 who will in Sept, we have been offered a school place that is 1.4 miles away and to get there we would have to walk up a very busy main rd and past an industrial estate everyday (not safe imo for a 4yr old who travels to school on a scooter). The school he attends now is 0.7 miles away and a much safer route.
I have a letter from his key workers at preschool which explains ds's shyness and how long it has taken him to settle and make friends and how they think its in his best interests to stay at the school as he is familiar to the surroundings and sees the recpetion teachers everyday.
I also have a letter from his health visitor saying that she promotes 0-5yr old welbeing and ds should stay where he is settled as it could hinder his ability to learn etc.
I have also spoken to the schools headteacher and last years intake was 61 pupils, 1 child got in on an appeal which I have been told was a social problem (the girl was apparently very shy and wouldnt settle in another school)
Now i am not sure what to do about the next part ds has recentley been in and out of hospital he fractured a bone playing and they found a lump on his bone he has had numourous tests done and he has benign bone cyst acording to the mri scan. Next month we have to travel from manchester to Birmingham to a specialist hospital to meet with a dr there he may have to have it removed Im not sure yet but I have been advised to visit ds's gp and discuss this and whether it would affect anything as he sometimes complains his leg hurts when he walks alot.
I really dont know wether this would help but I feel that as my ds is already anxious I dont want him to have to go through all this at the hospital and then send him to a completley different school to all his friends, I know it would be 100% the right choice to keep him there and believe me I would add all this extra stress on myself right now if I didnt think it was worth it.

Can anyone offer anymore advice any tips on what else I could do because I feel really stressed atm and cannot think
TIA :)

[Girlsgirlsgirls]

I sucessfully appealled dd1 primary & secondary schools and am just about to go through it again with dd2's primary. You need to used EVERTHING that is relevant, the more the better. The other parents will used everthing they have so the more reasons you can present the better. If you feel emotional during the interview, don't try to hide it, it does no harm for them to see how much this means to you and your son. Also take everything you need writen down, points you wish to make, as it can be easy to forget certain things you wanted to say. Good Luck

[PanelMember]

Hi. I can't remember if we've 'spoken' before.

From what you say about last year's admissions, I am assuming that the admission number is 60 (+1 last year admitted on appeal). This means that the infant class size rules will apply.

I'm afraid I disagree with almost everything GirlsGirlsGirls has said. Because this is an infant class size appeal, you should win only if you can demonstrate that there has been some error which has deprived your child of a place or the admissions criteria are so unreasonable that they can be regarded as perverse. Nothing you have said so far suggests that that is the case and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the panel, as GirlGirlGirl suggests, won't help if none of it indicates that there has been an error or some sort of unfairness or unreasonableness. Also, don't feel that you have to display your emotions - appeal panels know that parents feel very anxious about and committed to their child's education and know that it is important to them, we take that as read.

That said, I do see some grounds for optimism here. I am assuming that your school has 'social or medical need' as one of its criteria. It's not clear to me how much of the information in your post was included with your original application form. As I have said before (to someone else if not to you) being shy and wanting to stay with friends from pre-school is not usually enough to get into the 'social or medical need' category unless the child is so shy that it has been recognised as a mental health issue and is being addressed by CAMHS. Nor is 1.4 miles an excessive journey if that is the nearest school with a place.

However, I think this latest information about your child's need for an operation makes a lot of difference. If you have confirmation from your GP or the children's hospital that the problem with his leg means that your son needs a place at a school within easy walking/scooting distance, then that (coupled with the HV's letter about his social development and learning) might convince the LEA and the panel that your son should be in the 'social or medical need' category. That doesn't mean that the LEA were wrong not to place him in that category at the outset as they wouldn't have had this information, but it should now move him into a higher position on the waiting list. And, even though this is still not a basis for allowing the appeal, you may get a sympathetic panel which will stick its neck out and allow the appeal even though in law they shouldn't.

One last thing. If the pre-school is part of the school, then it is questionable whether workers there should be offering a view one way or the other on your son's appeal. Schools are supposed to stand neutral in the appeals process.

[Girlsgirlsgirls]

Firstly I was not suggesting throwing every but the kitchen sink, I was suggesting op included everything relevant for her child as the guideleines below from the government page advise to:

?explain why you believe that the school would be the best place for your child
?tell the panel about any special circumstances that might justify your child being awarded a place
?submit additional evidence or documentation that might be relevant to your appeal, like a medical note from a doctor to support an application on the basis of social or medical need

There is a catagory of special circumstance and it may be that op will fall into this.

We are all entitled to our own opinions, but I have sucessfully won 2 appeals

[The3Bears]

The keyworkers have just done a letter supporting my claim on how long it took for him to settle etc its a private preschool joined to the school.
I am going to make an appointment for ds at the drs and discuss this with them as it isnt clear yet if he needs an operation but it seems likely they might want to take the benign cyst out. We wont know this till the 15th june however the gp might help and do a note explaining the situation.

I know I am already going to be an emotional wreck at the appeal because my childs health will be on my mind aswell so I will explain this and hope they understand I dont want to take the sympathetic route but I just feel that all this for a 4yr old boy is alot to take, I really hope I can do this for my son.

Does the route to a school not matter to the appeal then because walking to the school offered is imo dangerous just basically down a very long main road and past about 8 roads which lorrys come out of everyday.

I have practical reasons to which I have put on the form my sister has children at the school and in Sept I was going to go back to college the school is on the way to college and My sister was going to pick up ds in the afternoons for me. I could not do this if he had to go to another school.

My child is very shy but he has not been recognised as a mental health issue, I will talk to my gp about this though and see what they say.
Thank you for your imput on my appeal, I really appreciate it.

[The3Bears]

Thank you aswell girls,girls I appreciate your positive imput into this, and I really need all of that I can get.
I am going to get all the help I can from the gp and not forget anything I am going to take notes as I will be emotional so that will help.

[PanelMember]

Yes, the DirectGov page does say that and of course it's sound advice for all appeals. What it also says at the outset, though, in relation to infant class admissions is:

For infant classes of five, six and seven year olds the number of pupils is normally limited by law to a maximum of 30.

Admission applications can be refused if all of a school?s infant classes have reached their legal limit. In this type of appeal, the panel is only allowed to look at whether:

?the child would have been offered a place if the admission arrangements had been properly implemented
?a place would have been offered if the arrangements had not been contrary to criteria set out in the School Admissions Code
?the decision to refuse admission was not one which a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case

So what you say at an infant class size appeal has to address those three bullet points. By all means mention other things too, but without something that connects to one or more of the bullet points, the chances of winning are very small (unless the appeal panel sticks its neck out and allows the appeal in circumstances where it has no basis for law in doing so).

I am delighted that you won both your appeals. My perspective is different - I have been an appeal panel member for years and have heard scores of them.

[Girlsgirlsgirls]

PanelMember, I do agree with your last paragraph, the schools are supposed to stand neutral, our school nursery did, perhaps though they see ops child as an exceptional case, if not all the other parents going for an appeal will also have a letter of support.

[The3Bears]

My ds is the only child in the nursery who didnt get a place in the school, he is also only 1 of 2 children in the nursery who havent got a sibling in the school already and they know how much he has struggled, they have told me about it countless times and he was just starting to talk to them so they understand why it is so important that he goes to the school.

[PanelMember]

3Bears - Just seen your most recent post. I can't add much to what I just said. Even at the best of times, objecting to the route you would have to walk to the allocated school isn't likely to clinch the case for you. Presumably, as it's a main road, it is paved and lit and (unless there are unusual circumstances) the LEA and the panel are both likely to assume that you will ensure that your son walks safely. In an infant class size appeal, these issues are even less relevant because (as I've just said) they don't relate to those three bullet points. But as I also said earlier, I do think that your son's problems with walking because of the cyst do give you much stronger grounds for arguing that he should be placed in the 'social or medical need' category for the nearer school.

Good luck.

[Girlsgirlsgirls]

Sorry, that's also what I mean (when I said include everything) was to also let them know about the cyst, as well as the other concerns. Fingers crossed for you.

[admission]

You have to go with panelmembers advice because this is the best way forward. You are much more likely to get a place offered by being top of the waiting list than at an appeal that is an infant class size appeal.

The appeal last year, if the reason is correct, should not have been allowed, as panelmember has said at an infant class size appeal you can only get a palce if you prove that a mistake was made and you should have been given a place. Do not build yourself up to winning at appeal on the basis of this successful appeal.