another primary admission appeal q ;)

[toni555]

Hello
We are currently res in Herts but moving to Trafford in August. We have applied to our nearest primary school as in year transfer for my eldest for a year 1 place starting September. We have been told there is a place for afternoon nursery for my youngest there. However the year one place has been refused. The local admissions team say there are no places at any of the 8 or so nearest schools and only one which is a mile away.
I am unable to drive, and so the school run is going to be impossible as the eldest needs to be picked up at 3:20 and the youngest at 3:30 - a mile away, even if we got a bus or tram - we would still not be there in time.
Can anyone advise me on what to do next?

A lot depends on whether this would be an infant class size appeal. If they are running classes with 30 children in Reception, Y1 and Y2, your appeal will be an ICS appeal. That means you can only win if you can show the LA has made a mistake (highly unlikely in a case like this) or it has acted unreasonably (again, highly unlikely).

However, if there are less than 30 in each class this will be an ordinary appeal in which case your chances are much better. You would need to show reasons why the preferred school is best for your eldest. You must avoid talking about Ofsted reports or the relative quality of education at the two schools and concentrate on facilities the preferred school has which make it more suitable for your eldest. You can bring up the problems with the school run but they are unlikely to help you. Appeal panels constantly hear cases which talk about school run difficulties.

I would recommend finding out whether an appeal for your preferred school would be an infant class size appeal. If it would, investigate the other nearby schools. If any of them is acceptable and would not be an ICS appeal, that is the one to appeal for.

I would also check and see if the allocated school has a nursery if you haven't already done so. It may also be worth asking the local authority if there is a place for your eldest at any of the local schools which has a nursery.