Appealing on anxiety grounds - advice please!

@Pebblecat33 realise this is an old thread but I’m appealing on similar grounds just wondered what happened with your hearing?
thanks

The panel uses the evidence, common sense and the rules about appeals to come to a decision. Each panel member may have a view about the appeal which is discussed in private and a decision given.

Transport tends to be outside their remit except where a serious disability/ permanent illness of child or parent meant the nearest school or specific school was an absolute necessity

My thoughts would be if she has an issue walking to school then a taxi, other arrangement with a parent would solve the issue.

If her medical issue is severe enough then you need to approach the Council travel to school providers who will provide transport under the 3 miles to those who qualify.

This would likely be the panels approach to 99.9% of transport issues in appeals sorry.

I would be constructing an appeal but not on any travel to school problem. Evidence her mental health and well being, herself worth, the impact of her anxiety, what help she has accessed and its impact. What is known to help her and evidence this.

That would be my thoughts

I'd look into getting her some CBT for her anxiety, whether you win the appeal or not, it will only get worse without adequate treatment (and school counselling is unlikely to be adequate).

As a parent of a child with very bad anxiety, social, and general, I really do empathise. DD has had counselling for four years now, privately, and it has helped, but she will always have anxiety, the counselling just helps you deal with it.

For appeals grounds, I don't think your DD is unusual, lots and lots of DC's seem to have heightened anxiety these days. So many are under counsellors it is like an epidemic. |So not sure whether this will be taken into account, but worth a try in any event.

Although she thinks she needs her friends, she really needs to be helped to cope without them, the counselling hopefully with do this. Remember, most friendships change and move in secondary school. Even if she gets in, she may not be in the same class, or the same sets. She may find they move on, find other friends, and this is also a big deal, a huge deal in fact, if you are relying on a group of friends, if that happens she may be really thrown off course.

This sounds all very negative I know. But, honestly, just in case the worst happens, try to get her all the help you can, pay if you are able, and get her to be more resilient. It's really hard, and very upsetting for parents, you will never stop worrying about them, but they do learn to cope eventually, and hopefully move on healthier and happier.

I'm so sorry your DD has anxiety. Arguably avoiding sources of anxiety isn't helpful. The anxiety will transfer to something else. Better to treat the anxiety than just avoid anything that could trigger it.

The only thing op, are you sure that her anxiety isn't based on something going on at school and a fresh start might be the very best thing for her? My dd is like a different child since starting secondary - all her old friends went to a different school.

I would pay for a private professional to meet with her, discuss the situation with her, assess her and write a report. Plus gp stuff and current school. Good luck.

We had 380 appeals here in my county. 4 were won. All based on children with disabilities. One was in a wheelchair for example.

It's really really hard to win an appeal. Due to the fact that so many people do appeal and if more won. They have to let others win

This is why the percentage of winning an appeal is almost zero. Sad I know. If your dr has no real letters on her file about her anxiety. I realise he does have some. But they were related to cardiac. Which you've not cancelled. It could be seen that because you didn't attend the appointment. That you might be seen as not trying to help. If you get what I'm saying

Maybe it would be better if you could take her and get them to put in writing that it isn't cardiac. And it might be anxiety related.

Then you could start with the gp etc.

You’ve explained it well. I hope I’ve explained how appeals work and what panels can and can’t consider, as they are working within the parameters of the admission and appeals codes, so that you can frame your appeal in the most effective way. I wish you luck.

Appeal panels do care about a great many things, but they have to work within the terms of the school admission and appeals codes. They have to balance the interests of the child against the interests of the children already at the school.

You can certainly mention that part of your child’s anxiety is that she needs to be with her friends on the journey to school as well as during the school day. But as LIZS says, logistics of getting children to school - especially getting two children to two schools - don’t carry weight at appeal and the panel would expect you to use (say) a breakfast club if it came to it.

If you felt you needed to do that you would have to make alternative arrangements for your ds. Be that breakfast club, dropping at friend to take him, or a childminder. Unfortunately logistics are unlikely to be enough on their own.

Unless there’s clear evidence that the child cannot do it, the panel will expect that any Y7 child will be travelling to school independently, as the vast majority do.
@PanelChair yes I know, however if the op says her daughter cannot travel independently for anxiety reasons then it will be her not her dd’s friends that will be expected to accompany her.

Whilst others have focused on the obvious things that are around what is different about the school from others I think you also need to do a bit of checking of the distance from school to your home. As a "as crow flies" distance the ability to measure to a very high level of accuracy (certainly less than 1 metre) cannot be effectively challenged. However given you are only apparently 4.3 metres outside the last offered place, it is worth checking on one of the sites on the internet that can do these measurements that the distance quoted does seem reasonable. If so then forget that for the appeal.
The other thing to check is what the school admission criteria says about how the distance is measured. Most will say that it is from the "seed point" on the school building to the "seed point" on your home, which cannot be challenged, but if it says something else, especially at the school end, that might bear further investigation. I have certainly sat on panels where there has been statements like "to the gate on the school" when there has been more than one gate of the school. Just worth a check.

MyDCAreMarvel - Unless there’s clear evidence that the child cannot do it, the panel will expect that any Y7 child will be travelling to school independently, as the vast majority do.

In that case, yes, you can roll it up in the point about needing to be with her friends because of the issues around anxiety and confidence, which brings you back to the need for supporting evidence from health care professionals.

There is no argument for being safer with her friends as she would be safe if you took her to school. The fact that you may work would not be seen as a valid reason why you couldn’t accompany her.

Yes, if the school has an admissions category for social and medical need (and not all schools do) it needs to be applied for at the time. Supporting evidence would be needed, in which medical professionals stated that in their opinion the child needs to attend this particular school. But parents can still use the appeal to highlight those needs as part of the picture of why the child will be disadvantaged if they don’t attend the school. In some appeals I’ve chaired, the LEA has agreed to take the evidence of medical/social need back to the MedSoc panel, who will decide whether the child should be placed in that category. If they do, the child will be placed in the (in our LEA) higher category on the waiting list, so even if they don’t win the appeal they still have a better chance of getting a place via the waiting list.

Is there a medical criterion in the admissions policy?

You need the Doctor to specify the problem, it's effects, name the school and why. This should have been included originally if it applied and fell within the criterion and was such a serious issue.