Primary school have 'lost' our appeal

[vfoster]

Hi all, sorry for the rant but I am furious!
We only applied for one school for my daughter in September as it is genuinely the only school that would work for us. We are on the border of the two school's intake areas so knew there was a chance we wouldn't get in.
We are half a mile from our chosen school but it is over subscribed but it works for us as it's on our way to work and breakfast club opens at 7:30 so I I would only just make it into work by dropping off at this time.
The other school is a mile and a half in the other direction and doesn't open until 8 so it genuinely doesn't work for us.
Unfortunately, we were offered the other school. It will work for now as I've just started maternity leave with my second but in the long run would be a nightmare. I have no flexibility to change my hours so we need a 7:30 drop off.
We appealed on this basis (and some other reasons that I won't post publicly) and had no idea if we would get in so accepted the other school placement that would obviously not be ideal when I go to work.
We haven't had any updates about the appeal so my husband called today. They have no records of our appeal despite us having written evidence they have received it. Apparently all appeals have been heard and classes are set!
I am furious that they have managed to lose our appeal and possibly ruined any chance we had of getting into the school. Pregnancy hormones are not helping my anger!
Does anyone have any experience of this? What could be our next steps?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

I know this isn't very helpful, but it might help you move forward.

I don't think you would have won your appeal based on what you've put here. There are very strict criteria I'm afraid. Are you on the waiting list for your preferred school? You could still get a place that way?

Move on. Those aren't legal grounds for appeal, you need to prove exceptional circumstances, which you don't have, they might seem important to you but they are not important enough to go over numbers, your child has a right to education and not a right to breakfast club that opens at the time you need it to. You definitely would not have won your appeal on that basis.

Put her name on the wait list and hope something comes up whilst you are on maternity leave so she can move to the school you want.

We are on the waiting lists and as I said there are other reasons for our appeal (though I'm still not sure these reasons would be valid). We were aware we may not be successful but it feels unfair that we didn't even get a chance to have it heard.

You wouldn't have got in with those reasons.

I would look at the appeals process, since you say you have proof they received it. If they haven't dealt with your appeal in accordance with the process, then you would raise this as a formal complaint through the LEA, or is it an academy? It might be helpful to seek support from your MP.

Sorry that this has happened op but with the greatest respect unless a mistake has been made regarding allocations then you have pretty much a zero chance of winning an ics appeal.

I note that you used the phrase " works for us " but this is about the best school for a child not to suit the parent's commute.

Did you get a receipt from the school?
Is there any way you can prove you sent the paperwork in?

However like i said it's unlikely to make any difference.
Have you checked your position on the waiting list?

It is an academy so not sure if we can go to the LEA? Thanks for your reply though, I am just frustrated that they lost it, not at not getting in.

I'm not sure I would waste time with an appeal. If you really want that school, perhaps go on the waiting list and hopefully a place will become available eventually.

Doesn't make it better for you now and I understand your frustration. Could you get a child minder rather than using breakfast club. I know many who do early drop off and then they can do the school run.

I fully understand that we probably wouldn't have got a place based on simply the commute issue. There are other reasons that I haven't stated. My annoyance is not aimed at us not getting a place, we would have accepted this but wanted to try the appeal anyway. I'm just annoyed at them losing it and I get they'll still say 'oh you wouldn't have got in anyway' but it's still frustrating.

We are on the waiting list (hopefully they haven't lost us on there too) and remain hopeful.
A 2 year old went missing from a childminder locally last year and it always made me anxious. Though I know this is the route we'll have to take as we don't have family locally unfortunately. We've pretty much accepted that we'll be at the other school but I'm hormonal and a bit frustrated.

Double check the process for appealing. Many academies outsource the running of appeals to the LEA anyway, so check how the appeal should have been requested- here it is through a link on the LEA website, not through the school.

Regardless of grounds, you have the legal right to an appeal. What are the timelines involved? What kind of written evidence do you have that they received anything?

Is the appeal Infant class size?

You have a right to have your appeal heard, regardless of how strong or weak it is. If you have proof that they received your appeal, then you can realise a complaint to the EFA, as it is an academy. However, your complaint will only be successful if they consider that you would have won the appeal in the first place.

Thanks for replies!
We appealed before the deadline for appeals and then my husband emailed the head teacher to confirm that they had received it. She replied saying they had received it and gave us some information on infant class sizes so we have that email. We knew it was a long shot but thought it was best to try.

For an infant appeal it is very hard to win, it's literally if the LEA have made a mistake with your application e.g. Put your address as 2 miles away instead of 0.2 miles, forgotten to add a sibling link etc

Reasons you won't win are
Childcare issues
Commuting issues
Transport issues
Best friend attends the school
Timings of school clubs

You can still appeal, it just will not get heard until September. You need to make absolutely sure that you are on the waiting list, which should be being held by the LA till the end of December.
Obviously when you go to appeal, you need to accept that if it is an infant class size appeal that your chances of success are low. You need to make sure that you document the reasons for the school, which to be honest are not strong and also make it very clear that the school have disadvantaged you by losing the appeal document. That disadvantage would be significantly increased if you were not on the waiting list when you believed that you were.

As a family who have just lost an Infant Class Size appeal I'd advise you not to bother. I'd be furious if they'd lost our paperwork though and I'd be complaining as far as I could.

As a family who have just lost an Infant Class Size appeal I'd advise you not to bother

I would never tell people not to bother. You need to be realistic going into an ICS appeal. Your chances of success are remote. But you never know. Even if you don't have any evidence of a mistake, sometimes information emerges during the hearing that shows a mistake has been made. And you might be lucky and get an appeal panel that is willing to bend the rules for really deserving cases.