Appeal help for son with aspergers

I had advice mostly from tiggy who I think has left MN but you won't go far wrong if you listen to prh above. We relied entirely on ourselves and MN.
We had exactly the same problem with the EHCP. After a battle over assessment we now have one.
With all these things you need to read the rules, seek advice and keep trying.

No, they cannot say that. They don't have to take medical conditions into account in their admission criteria but appeals are different. The appeal panel (which is independent) looks at the disadvantage to your son from not attending this school and weighs that against the problems the school will face through not admitting him. The appeal panel cannot refuse to consider your medical evidence.

Problems getting to your third choice won't help your appeal, I'm afraid. Transport issues are generally irrelevant for appeal unless the child has mobility issues. You can mention the problem but don't spend too much time on it. However, you should certainly bring up your concerns around school refusal.

Avoid the specialist advice like the plague. Most of it is useless, some is worse than useless. I've dealt with a number of cases where parents with very winnable appeals have listened to paid advice that was completely wrong and, as a result, presented a case that stood no chance of succeeding. You will get much better advice on here and it won't cost you a penny.

The letter from your consultant will carry a lot of weight at appeal. The only negative is that it refers to small secondary schools in general rather than this specific school. If you can show that this is the only small secondary school within a reasonable distance from home that will help firm up your case. It will also help if you can identify other ways your preferred school will support your son that wouldn't be available at the allocated school. This doesn't have to be related to his condition. It could be, for example, that he loves astronomy and the preferred school has an astronomy club.

That sounds like good advice. I went through the appeals process this time last year and I know how stressful it can be. What I didn't know then, is that you can get specialist help in preparing your case. I googled everything and ended up doing it myself, but I wish I'd known about the specialist legal advice available. If you'd like to know more please feel free to DM me.
Best of luck.

You can give it a go. We appealed and won based on dc's HF autism.
Can you get evidence of his previous school refusals? And why he refused.
Good strong letters from consultants with some points about your preferred school carry some weight.
The appeals deadline will be on the LA website but you should have a few weeks.
Make sure you are on the waiting lists too.

Collect as much solid evidence as you can in writing and make sure you submit it all before the appeal date. A panel can refuse to consider evidence brought in on the day, as they are given the evidence in advance and will study it beforehand.
Expect to be asked in detail about your problems with travel to the offered school.
Don't embellish or tell fibs, the panel will see straight through that.
An EHCP would be your golden ticket if your child has one.

Does he have an EHCP and can you name your preferred school on it?