Lost appeal, complaint to ombudsman

[gingerbreadmum]

Please help, I live 100m from a school, every child on the street attends the primary school but mine has been rejected as we are out of catchment?? We can see the gates from our window. We lost our argument that its a mistake as the catchment lines have not been reviewed for thirteen years and they should have been as new gates were added. Also we lost the argument that its unreasonable as all the other kids on the street go there. How can I win my argument, its crazy, we live on a cul-de-sac at the top near the school, there is a flow of traffic and pedestrians past our window, my son did attend the nursery now he's the only one not going. I am avoiding the windows, and will not send him to the school offered 1.5 miles away in the opposite direction to everyone else. What can I do??

If the school is full they cannot take any more children, and do you really want your child to go to a school which is over subscribed? Have you actually had a look at the other school, 1.5 miles is really not very far.

He is the only child on our street to ever be rejected from the school, all his friends and neighbours go there it would be cruel to send him alone in the opposite direction. It takes us 45 seconds to get to school, we do not have to cross any roads. It is illogical and irrational. The other school is on special measures/

The fact that other kids on your street go there is irrelevant, assuming they live closer than you/are in catchment. What's wrong with the other school? You can't force the LEA's hand - if you don't take up the offer of the other place, they have no obligation to find you anywhere else.

Presumably you knew the catchment when you applied?

I think 1.5miles is far. Have you contacted your MP?

I have contacted my MP and have a meeting set up thanks. In answer to Patricia, we live nearer than the other houses. There is a line up the middle of the cul-de-sac, it runs up to the school gates, even one gate is out of catchment. When the catchment lines were drawn up there were no gates on our street. I think the council should have reviewed the lines. I could never have conceived that I was out of catchment, I have lived here for 11 years and watched every child go to that school from our street. This is the first time the catchment line has been used. It is only now that the stupidity of it has come to light, but no-one is listening. Sorry to go on but my head is spinning with it.

I'm not surprised - it sounds ridiculous.

From your description I would agree with you it is madness. However the LA can only allocate the places based on the rules and if your house is out of catchment then I can understand why you might miss out on a place.

Are there other children who are in your child's year group who live on the same street and who have a place at the school or ais your son the only one for this year group?

I would make sure that you have your name down for a place at the school with the LA and wait and see what the outcome of the meeting with the MP is. LAs can sometimes get a bit nervous about MPs as they know that they can generate bad publicity especially on such a stupid situation as this.

What is the admission number for the school? If it is not subject to Infant Class Size Regs then I might be tempted to appeal again, now you are in a new school year. You have nothing to loose.

Thank you for your message, it is madness, we have been in the local newspaper 3 times, in the daily express, on the local news and on various news websites around the world. But the LA have dug in their heels and are refusing to budge. There is one in the year group on our street, our next door neighbour, she wasnt in the nursery but has a sibling, so my son has come out and she has gone in. I really hope that the MP can get the LA to open their eyes.

I understand that it all sounds madness to not get a place at this school but seriously, if after being through local and national newspapers, news programmes etc and then your MP is somehow able to 'overrule' the LAs decision and you get a place for your DS - how will you honestly feel about sending him there? Will you feel comfortable, will he really be welcomed? I know a family locally who 'won' a place for their child after appeal yet there was not even a desk space for him - it was all very awkward. You do need to really think this through very carefully.

Your neighbour's child obviously got a place based on a sibling having priority in the admission criteria.

I would agree with Ragwort that if you have already generated the level of publicity that you say over this and the LA will not budge then I am afraid that the MP will not get any further. I would suggest that you take a different tack with them and that is to ask them to get the LA to agree to change the lines of the catchment zone to include the whole of the street at the earliest possible date.

Any promise to do so, could not be before September 2011 because of way the admission system works. But a promise that it will happen can be used at a further appeal hearing as a lever to suggest to the panel that it would make sense to allow an appeal now, providing that the appeal is not under Infant Class Size Regs. If it is under ICS Regs then you do not have any real chance of success and your only route into the school is via the waiting list.