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Appealing a Y4 place

1 reply

louisea · 16/06/2011 08:49

Our situation is a little unusual but I'd be grateful for any insights.

We are currently overseas, returning to the UK in 3 weeks time. DD was at a faith school which is oversubscribed. The same school she attended before we left England. We've also applied to 2 other faith schools, all full. The fist school is under a mile from home, the second is about 2 miles and the third (different borough) is over 4 miles. I've found a place in a fourth school that is in yet a different borough and is 8 miles away, at leat a 30 minute drive every morning.

My question is, being as this will be Y4 transfer, are there any grounds that I can use to appeal for an increase in class size at the closest school. They have a 2 form entry with 30 in each class. I've been trying to come up with something that will persuade the school to admit DD. I asked about class sizes and was laughed at by the registrar who said that of course they are full otherwise they would have offered a place.

An additional complication is that we have sent our CAF forms to a different authority than the one where we will be living. As soon as we get home we have to transfer all of the paperwork. The rest of the schools in our area are not good so we haven't considered them at all and of course the LEA won't talk to us until we are back in the country, not even to tell me what they may be able to offer. I'm not asking them to allocate before we arrive, just to give me an idea where there may be places.

Our alternative is to send DD to a very small private school but will struggle with the cost.

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prh47bridge · 16/06/2011 10:43

The first point to make is that whether or not your daughter is admitted isn't the school's call. Once you are in the country and apply to the correct LA they will come up with a place somewhere. If all the schools within a reasonable distance are full they may tell one of those schools to admit your daughter.

If you are refused admission to your preferred schools you can appeal. It is unlikely you will be able to directly persuade the school to increase class sizes. Howeer, if the appeal panel decides to admit your daughter the school will have no choice.

The appeal panel will have to decide whether your daughter will be disadvantaged if she isn't admitted and, if so, whether that outweighs the problems the school will face through having to admit an additional pupil. If the allocated school is 8 miles away you can raise that but you should also look for features of your preferred school that will be particularly beneficial for your daughter and which are missing from the allocated school.

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