School has a very strong case

And there is no penalty for missing the notification deadline. The Appeals Code specifically allows the deadline to be missed if there is a good reason (which clearly applies when there are more appeals to be heard). But, even if it is missed without good reason, that won't give unsuccessful appellants an argument for a fresh hearing.

No. It’s as I said before. Decisions on appeals for any school can’t be taken until the last appeal for that school has been heard (because, as I explained before, if the panel has to whittle down the number of successful appeals, by identifying the strongest, it can only do so once it has heard them all and can compare them). So that does mean that, if there are lots of appeals for a school, those whose appeals are heard first will be waiting longer for the outcome. The clock for releasing results only starts when the last appeal is heard.

Thank you.

Yes, appeals are decided on the balance of prejudice, ie does the detriment to the child if they don’t get a place outweigh the detriment to the school in having to accommodate another pupil?

Decisions aren’t made until all the appeals for that school have been heard, so all decisions are made at the same time. If the panel considers that the number of appeals it is minded to allow is more than the school can cope with, it has to decide how many appeals can be allowed and then identify the strongest appeals to take those places.

So then you have to decide which of the children will be disadvantaged most? Depending on the number of appeals a child that might have been successful at appeal one year wouldn't be the next, because others 'deserved' the place more?

@DietrichandDiMaggio
Wd used to hear them all together for each school. Frequently over several days. No immediate decisions. Not spread out. That’s why there are deadlines for appealing.

The general consensus is that at appeal you just have to prove that it is more detrimental to your child not to attend the preferred school than it is to the school to go over PAN. How does this work if there are lots of appeals, because surely those with an earlier appeal date are more likely to be successful i.e. if several parents have argued they should go over PAN before you even get there, eventually the school's case will be upheld, because they are already over PAN having made told to admit x number of extra children?

can I argue that the receive extra funding for SEN pupils and that this should cover those children and the one 2 one teaching that is required??

The SEN budget doesn’t increase if more pupils on SEN support join-it’s based on a generic formula for your area and you are just expected to make do. Pupils not on SEN Support but with EHCPs don’t always have funding attached. If they do, it’s rarely full time and barely ever adequate.

Thank you @prh47bridge Unfortunately the papers have not been delivered, my husband has just checked our postbox. ☹️ Fortunately the e-mail had a phone number so I will call them now.

Yes, that's a reasonable question.

I’ve just had an email to say my appeals pack was posted out on Tuesday. I’m out at work so don’t know if we’ve received it or not. I can’t believe the info has been available all this time but I’ve not had sight of it. Got until next Friday to submit final paperwork. It’s happening across 3 days. Is it reasonable for me to ask how many appeals are being heard? I’m actually shaking!!

You could ask to see their Net Capacity Assessment. I wouldn’t leave it until the appeal, ask now.

It depends on what the classroom is being used for, but for a general classroom 55sqm is the current standard for 30 pupils. It used to be 49sqm, but they put it up in 2005.

You're very welcome @Hye000 !!

It's certainly not for me to judge the merits of your case, but you are a mother advocating exceptionally hard for your child, and so I reckon you deserve as much help and support as you can get! I wish you the very best of luck (and let me know if you have any issues finding the planning application as I would be happy to help where I can).

OP - just a suggestion on the classroom sizes, if it is a recently built school as you suggest, then the floorplans should be on the Council's website in the 'planning' section. Do a search for planning applications, and then use the school's address to find the application submission. The plans they submit for planning are legally binding, so they must be accurate - if they claim at the hearing the plans don't match the actual school building, then they are in breach of their planning permission which is a much bigger problem for them! I would also take a read over the planning application submission documents, specifically the 'design and access statement' as that might contain some information about classroom sizes. This may well undermine the school's argument (if the rooms are bigger than minimum standards)

20-22 still seems a much better number pushing for more than 28 doesn't seem a particularly good way to get a decent education.

Also private schools where we are tend to be 20-22 in a class.

Your dc are lucky - my children are all in classes of 30, which tends to be the norm around here, and the minute one leaves, another fills the space.

Oh yes, but every one I’ve seen has various + - x operations so, if you don’t know BODMAS, you’ll get it wrong.

Though to be fair a number of those ones aren't really maths they are tricks with stupid things like the number of petals on a flower changing and nonsense like that!

I never look at the maths threads, but I’ve seen the same thing on maths puzzles on Facebook where four bananas = 40 etc etc, so what is 5 cherries + 2 bananas x 3 satsumas?