Can special needs of parents by factored in to admission criteria?

[happywhale]

If the parent that will be taking children to school as a disability that affects their ability to walk long distances would that be factored in to admissions criteria or waiting list status if you have moved into a new area - i.e. would it give your child any special needs priority or do they only take into account special needs of the child itself?

depends on where you are i think different lea will have slightly different admission criteria/rules

London which basically all have same criteria don't they as pan admission system or does it vary borough to borough?

iam not sure, iam in harrow borough and they do consider medical needs of the parent in their admission criteria, i do hope you get place you need, i have 3 disabled children and struggled to get dd1 into suitable school and am praying that ds gets place there too as ive since moved.

best of luck

Sorry to hear you had a struggle but glad it worked out. ds should be ok because aren't siblings first priority?

yes but sometimes there are loads of siblings and are only 90 places, last year i think there were 60 places taken by siblings alone and iam panicking as i only put the one school down, its best one for them as there are no steps or stairs at all in the primary school and they have a genetic condition where their joints dislocate all the time

i have to wait till april to find out and its worrying me every day as he struggles terribly daily with pain and i just want him to get a place at aschool where he has minimum risk of hurting himself.

its so difficult isnt it? i really hope your borough have admission rules that are helpful in your circumstances

The school admissions code is available here. The section on social or medical need says:

Social and medical need

2.27 If admission authorities propose to give higher priority to children for social or medical reasons they must ensure that in doing so they are not failing to comply with paragraph 2.16(g) of this Code, which prohibits the use of oversubscription criteria that discriminate against or disadvantage children because of their special educational needs or disabilities.

2.28 Admission authorities must not use this criterion to give a child a lower priority in obtaining a place at the school, but it is acceptable to give higher priority to children or families where there is a social or medical need (for example, where one or both parents or the child has a disability that may make travel to a school further away more difficult).

2.29 If using this criterion, admission authorities must give a clear explanation of what supporting evidence will be required ? for example a letter from a registered health professional such as a doctor or social worker ? and how this will be assessed objectively. Admission authorities? decisions must be consistent and based on this objective evidence. The supporting evidence should set out the particular reasons why the school in question is the most suitable and the difficulties that would be caused if the child had to attend another school. Admission authorities must not give higher priority to children under this criterion if the required documents have not been produced.

(emphasis added).

So, LEAs are allowed to take account of parents' disabilities as well as children's when considering social and medical need but you would need to check what your LEA says in its admission criteria (which should be available online in their school admissions booklet).

If you have recently moved to the area and missed the application deadline, you will be treated as a late applicant but if you are accepted as having a social/medical need for a place this should place you near the top of the waiting list if you don't immediately get a place at your preferred school. (Waiting lists are - or should be, some LEAs get this wrong - held in admissions priority order).

I'm assuming this question is about admission to Reception. For older children (ie KS2 where the class size limit of 30 does not apply) you may be able to argue successfully at appeal for your child to be admitted even if the school is 'full'.

Thank you SO much for this. Can I just say how wonderful I think people like you are that have an expertise come and give advice on Mumsnet. This is the second very important question I've had answered this week on Mumsnet that I've had trouble finding the answer to elsewhere. (Can't see it in our local authority booklet for example.)I do try and answer a question for everyone i ask on mumsnet but not usually such an expert...

Anyway, I reckon I definitely fall into this criteria. Next question is, how does that affect my ordinary parental wish to seek out my preferred school? Our problem is we are trying to move and so will miss reception deadline. So, for example, if we move to somewhere within easy reach of a preferred school but with an even nearer school that I'm less keen on does bringing my medical condition into the equation oblige me to take a place at the very nearest school or can I hold out for preferred school if that's feasible for me physically?

ps ariane I really hope it works out for you - sounds like it will as you fit sibling and special needs criteria. fingers crossed!

As I said, you need to check the school's admissions criteria and how they define 'social and medical need' and how (if at all) they include parents' disabilities and other needs. Most schools will use the LEA's standard admissions criteria but faith schools (for example) may set their own.

On late applications: you may find that by the time you apply in your new area, your preferred school is full. If you are accepted as having a social/medical need for a place, that will move you up the waiting list.

You have the same rights to express a preference as any other parent. You need, though, to think carefully about how you argue your case. If you say that you need a school within easy walking distance because your disability means you cannot walk far and at the same time say that you don't want your nearest school but prefer one that's further away, you might undermine your own argument and the LEA might be rather sceptical about quite how strong your case for medical/social need is. If there is one school that you very definitely want your child to go to, the sensible option is to move as close to it as you can.

Yes. Of course. I think hte main thing is it may help me get a place nearer to new home rather than the lea insisting i go to a school near where we are moving from because that is where we are having to apply from.

And perhaps it would depend on the distances involved. If the nearest school and the one you prefer are quite close, the LEA may be more inclined to accept the social/medical need for your preferred school as well as for the nearest school.

Social/medical need cases are usually considered by a panel of health care and other professionals, not by the LEA's school admissions team.

Well presumably if you had a doctor's letter that said for example that your physical tolerance was about a ten minute walk max then if there were two schools within that distance and you preferred the one that was slightly further shouldnt' that be ok? While it would be quite wrong to misuse a disability it would also seem wrong if because you were raising special needs you were therefore not allowed to express a preference based on the children's education rather than just your own physical condition. ??

Yes, that's what I was trying to say.

Assuming that the LEA has framed its social/medical needs criterion in such a way that parents' needs are also included, then (as far as I can see) it would work as you suggest. If your doctor's letter were to say that you can walk for no more than 10 minutes and there were two schools within that range then of course you could express a preference for one over the other.

The potential difficulty - and I know this is not what you are suggesting - would be if someone had a letter from their doctor to say they could walk for no more than 10 minutes but at the same time attempted to use the social/medical needs criterion to get a place at a school 20 minutes' walk away. In that case, as I said earlier, the LEA (and the panel) might doubt how genuine that need was.

I have sat on appeal panels on exactly this situation. As long as the medical criteria is there and that the parent can provide sufficient medical evidence then usually the LA will accept the application under the medical needs criteria. If it was not a primary school application then they make take a different view given that they might expect an 11 year old to walk to school on their own.
However you do need to get your application in before the deadline or it will not be given any preference until after all applications have been dealt with. Check with the LA but they normally will not require the medical evidence immediately, that can follow on.
If it is a late application then an appeal panel may let you in if your case is good, but if it is an infant class size case even with the best case you will not get a place unless a mistake was made.

Admission, presumably that is in the case of nearest school. What's your view of if one was also trying to express a normal parental preference ie. not necessarily for very nearest school but trying to avoid a very far away school. This will only arise if we move - which we have been trying to do for nearly a year now - which won't now be before deadline. We are fine where we are but are trying to move so likely to be resorting to late application or waiting lists in a new area, even if within borough.

If you have good medical evidence that says you can't walk more than 10 minutes that should support an appeal for any school within that radius, not just the nearest school. However, it won't help you if there is a place available at a school which is nearer home than the one for which you are appealing.

thanks very much for your help all.