Secondary in-year admissions appeal

[Backhometothenorth]

We have just received our appeal date and school’s case for refusal of admission into current year 8 at our local school. Is there a fabulous MN appeals guru willing to give me a hand please?

The way it usually works around here is that you describe your issue/case/question, and people respond.

Ah ok thanks. A bit of background. My child has been at independent school for year 7 and 8 - missed out on school we are appealing for by 0.1 of a mile on allocation in year 7, only other option we felt at the time was the independent school as we were in the midst of adhd assessments etc. She is settled but husband made redundant and fees are now so high due to the addition of VAT.

She needs a good network of supportive friends for a successful transition which she has there, and the school offers a language that she excels at. We haven’t got any offer school at the moment and appeal date is in two weeks. Hugely oversubscribed area.

Has child been on the waiting list all that time?

Yes the whole time. Position 5 for last year.

Have you asked LA to allocate a place? Language is one argument but you really need more. Have you given notice?

No we are scared to give notice as don’t want to end up without a place that she will attend. So difficult to navigate. We filled in an application with just that one school and weren’t offered a place just turned down for the application.

Do you know what schools in your area have spaces? Have you looked to see if these would be any way suitable?
Am just thinking if you took her out of her current school where would she be offered a place?

All local schools are oversubscribed unfortunately so it’s impossible just to make a move.

Is it the only local school that offers that language? To use that argument you need to know this.

What does the school’s case on being full look like? Does it look strong? Have they said how many are in years 7 and 9 - if those years are bigger than year 8 it may be weaken their case that they can’t take 1 more in year 8 (unless eg those classrooms are bigger)

Yes it’s the only one that offers that language. And yes I got the figures and all years are well over PAN but years 7 and 9 both have 10 more pupils than year 8. I must say I had hoped that that might help so thank you for mentioning!

Have you asked your LA what would happen if you took your daughter out - where would it be likely that she would be placed? They might not be able to say but they might give you an indication of where there are spaces- how far away and what would happen if they couldn't place her as she would be entitled to an education.

I will give the LA a call tomorrow thank you

In my LA we would take your daughter to fair access to allocate a place if all schools are at or over PAN. If you've given notice to leave at the end of term we would allocate in the July meeting to start in September

Thank you all I really appreciate your advice. I will call the LA tomorrow and let you know what they say.

If you withdraw from the current school, the LA will have to offer you a place somewhere, it just might not be a place you're happy with. If all the schools are full then the Fair Access Panel will decide which school should take her.

As others have said, if you withdraw your daughter from her current school the LA must come up with a place for her somewhere, even if it means admitting her to a school that is already full. It may take a few weeks, and it may be a school you don't want, but she won't be left without a place.

Another thing to be aware of if you haven't yet given notice is that you are probably committed to paying the independent school's fees for the autumn term already. Most independent schools require one term's notice.

Regarding your appeal, the presence of friends is unlikely to help unless you have evidence from a medical professional or similar saying that your daughter needs to attend a school where she already has friends. The language point is better. That is the kind of thing that can win your appeal. It would help if you can identify some other things this school offers that are not available elsewhere and that are particularly relevant to your daughter.

Unfortunately, the fact you haven't yet pulled your daughter out of the independent school makes it a little harder to win your appeal. Normally, you can win by showing that the appeal school offers things that are missing from the allocated school and that your daughter needs to access. You don't have an allocated school, so you can only really go for things that aren't offered by any other local school. And, if you haven't given notice to the independent school before the appeal hearing, the appeal panel might think that staying at the independent school is an option, especially if you talk about not wanting to give notice until you've got a place for your daughter, in which case the language argument won't help.

Thank you. Yes it’s tricky - I’m lining up the medical support and just very keen to keep the disruption/ uncertainty my DD is aware of to a minimum. I really do appreciate your advice thank you.

Thanks all - it’s slowly coming together. I have the schools objections if anyone would be willing to cast an eye over them please?

Happy to take a look.

Thank you so so much - I will dm you later on

Just popping on with a happy update. We won our appeal on our second attempt and a delighted DD started back into Y9 at her new school after the Christmas hols. Many thanks for the advice, particularly @prh47bridge. Really helped to focus my thoughts.

Well done! So you lost the appeal in y8 but then appealed again and won in y9? Is that right? If so, what do you think made the difference? I sit as an appeal panel member and would be interested to know if you don’t mind sharing.

Yes that’s right. It took a great deal of thought to be honest. Together with adding a lot of additional evidence, I really focused in on the schools argument versus the benefits to my daughter and appealed to the panel to reconsider.

Well done!