Do we have a reason to appeal?

[37jonsialex]

Just wondering if anyone could give me some advice.
We're moving to a new area in Feb and have just found out that the two places that were available in our chosen school three weeks ago (when we sent off the in year admission form) are now gone.
This leaves us in a bit of a pickle as there are only four other schools in the area, all but the furthest are CofE or Catholic schools. The furthest one has no bus route, and as i don't drive and DP has to set off early for work, would be a 45 min walk for us there and then back for me, so i could get the bus to be in work for 9.

My DM (ex primary teacher) suggested we appeal- do we have any grounds for an appeal?

DS currently goes to a CofE in our current town and as parents, we're not happy with religion being taught outside of RE (the town we live in is VERY oversubscribed and out of about 12 schools, only 3 are non religious. We're moving as we hoped we could get him into a school that suited us better as a family). We don't really want to send him to another CofE.

Is there anything we can do about the decision?
Please help!

How old is your ds ? I don't think logistical issues are grounds in themselves.

He's 5, in year 1.

The central question is whether or not this would be an infant class size appeal. That hinges on the admission number and the class arrangement. If admitting your child will cause the school to go over the infant class size limit (30 in a class) your appeal would be heard under infant class size rules. That means you would have to show that the LA made a mistake in refusing a place. That is unlikely for in year admissions. The only real possibility I can see is if you applied before the parents of the two children who have been admitted but they were given the place.

If the appeal is not under infant class size rules you would have a better chance but transport issues don't make for a successful appeal.

I would take a look at the CofE school before writing it off. You may find this one is much less religious than your son's current school.

By the way, I think you will have to appeal to find out if the LA made a mistake. The places should only have gone to the other two children if they applied before you (or possibly if they applied at exactly the same time as you and were higher on the school's admission criteria). The only way to find out whether the LA got it right or not is to appeal. So I would go for it but be realistic about your chances of winning.