School Appeal with Infant Class Size Prejudice - any tips

[xfabba]

Hello. My son wasn't allocated any of the three preference schools we listed for Reception places this year. We are appealing for the first and second choice schools. All are full so I am assuming the councils reason will be cited as infant class size prejudice - i.e that even though we have some suspicions that the distance wasn't calculated correctly (ground B) and that theer are some facts that I believe meet the unreasonable criteria (ground A), it will be extremely difficult to win an appeal becasue they won't want to take the class sizes above 30 (necessitating extra teachers etc).

ANy hint or tips to maximise our slim chances? All the advice I have had so far says we whould get fact and figures like how much square metre space ther is per child in the school, how the distance was actually measured etc etc , but I don't understand how I can get this information in advance of the appeal.

Spookylou, the fact that the teacher did not advise you of the imminent deadline when you visited is neither here nor there (I am not sure if you were planning to use that in appeal). You did not live in this country at the time so did not have an address to apply from and although I suppose you could have applied from NZ you would not have been allocated a place on the basis of moving back to the country in the near future.

It is entirely possible that not all the children admitted were Catholic. The admissions criteria for most Catholic schools will allow for the admittance of non-Catholic children after the usual categories of of siblings, baptised Catholics etc. If there were spaces remaining, then these will have been correctly allocated to non-Catholic children in accordance with the criteria. A late application from children who would ordinarily have been in a higher category for admissions does not trump that.

Are there any other local schools which you would consider? If so, get your name onto any/all waiting lists as your case for appeal does not sound strong and you may well end up needing at least one school place elsewhere. Having said that, I think you are still not in the UK so you will be very far down the waiting lists. Do you have a definite date for your move back?

You need also to investigate whether the LEA will find you a place at this or any other school under the Fair Access Protocol, which should be on the LEA's website.

As annh says, it's unfortunate that you applied late, but applying ontime with no confirmed address would probably not have made any difference.