AIBU for appealing school decision?

[BadHairForDays]

Hi,

I can't decide if it's worth appealing a school decision regarding DC2. If anyone has been through the process I'd really appreciate your thoughts as this is new to me.

We're moving out of city to a village and doing an in-year transfer for DC1 (year 3) and DC2 (reception).

DC1 has a place at a school in the village - let's call it School A (for which we applied in-person). DC2 is at the top of their waiting list now so there's hope...

The only school that can accommodate DC2 is 3 miles away and applications are done through the LA. We'll call that School B.

DC1's school is still quite a walk, but it's a fab school. We'd be happy for DC2 to go there when there's a space and that would make drop-offs and pick-ups a lot easier.

The thing is, there is another school even closer to us which is over-subscribed (School C), but is en route to DC1's school.

AIBU to appeal the decision based on this?

• The distance to and from our new place and School B. One parent doing a round trip with both kids is impossible. We both work full-time.
• DC2 doesn't qualify for home-to-school transport as they are 4 years old.
• We don't have a car yet as we need to save some money after the move.
• There's no way we could walk three miles with DC2 and public buses don't come often.
• DC2 has 2 food allergies and it means if there was an issue, it would take us some time to get to School B.
• If DC2 was at School C (en route to DC1's school), we could be there in five minutes, one parent could do drop-off and pick up.

I realise these reasons may not be the most compelling so if i'm wasting my time please let me know.

Are you appealing for A or C? The only potential grounds would be the medical one, if he has an EHCP ideally or you have written medical opinion that only A or C could support him. When is he 5? If not CSA yet you could keep him home until a space came up but that risks it not happening before him needing to be somewhere or Home Educating.

Logistics are your problems to solve - not part of the criteria for the school to consider i'd imagine.

If School C is oversubscribed for Reception entry then an appeal would fail. Infant class size appeals are rarely successful because panels can only uphold them if the admission arrangements were unlawful or incorrectly applied. Personal, social, or even medical reasons aren’t considered reasons for admitting above the legal class size cap unless the former two criteria are met.

Unlikely you’d succeed a friend had 3 different children at 3 different schools and didn’t win her appeal.

Unlikely I'm afraid. Reception comes under infant class size legislation, so they would only get a place if there has been a mistake made in refusing a place. Sorry!

You would have more chance getting DC1 into DC2 school.

Re: transport, if the nearest appropriate school is over a certain distance, then the LA may fund transport for you. For 1 child, this might be a taxi with chaperone.

It's certainly worth looking into if you are having problems with the logistics.