appealing for a place based on class sized prefudice - for year 2

[mummag]

hello, i wondered if anyone has any advice on how to get my dd (year one at the moment) into a different school. I moved my son to this school in jan after years of bullying at his previous school. I could not get a place for my dd but thought one would come available. This hasnt happened as yet. I was reading through the appeals information and i do not see what i can do to speed this up and wondered if anyone anywhere has managed this. In sept next year ds2 will be going to this school (we live across the road so we are defo catchment area and of course ds1 is there)i have a horror of dd being devastated when both her beloved brothers are at a different school to her. We chose the first school on my partners religious beliefs which is why they didnt go to the nearest school from the outset.

If the school is running classes of 30 in Y2 you stand very little chance of getting in. For an appeal to succeed you would have to show that the LA has made a mistake or acted unreasonably. That is highly unlikely in these circumstances.

You may strike it lucky and get a sympathetic panel if you appeal, but realistically you are just going to have to wait until a place becomes available.

Of course, infant class size rules no longer apply in Y3 so your chances of success at an appeal next year are much better.

I would agree with PRH, you have little chance of succes at present if they are in classes of 30.

I would keep the pressure on the school by regular contact with them and also keeping eyes and ears open for any suggestion of a year 2 leaving the school. From September the school will no longer have responsibility for admissions where a place becomes available, it wil be the local authority. How the LAs will handle this will vary from one LA to another but if there is any suggestion of a place becoming available I would get a written request in for a place to both the school and the LA.

You do have 12 months before this becomes a major problem, so I would suggest that you do not try for an appeal before you have a got a place confirmed for DS2, which would then give you two siblings at the school and an appeal for starting in sept 2011 when DD will be going into year 3 and ICS does not apply.