Any tips for primary school appeals?

[smallmotherbigheart]

This is my first time doing this, and I want to do this right. My son didn't get into any of the preferred schools that we listed? Has anyone done an appeal before?

We have recently moved into the area and it is the local school.

She was also bullied at the school she is at now. Because of this she was forced to move down a table/group in her numeracy, so it is affecting her education.

She has also had problems with the teachers.

The local school has a fantastic anti-bullying policy and a holistic approach to teaching. This will be beneficial to her as she will begin to build up her confidence and self esteem again.

I have tried to build up my case based on these things, without bad mouthing her current school, but no matter what i put it just doesn't seem like enough. :(

The size of the classrooms can have some bearing on the number of pupils in them, but the 48sqmetre figure is an old figure which was superceded about 5 years ago. The figure for a new classroom for 30 pupils is now 62 sq metres but that does not means that every old classroom gets somehow downgraded. If you are talking about the difference between 30 and 31 pupils all the figures prove is that there is no real reason why one more pupil could not be accomodated if there are compelling reasons to admit. I would almost for sure guarantee that the net capacity of the school is 420, the standard for a 2 form entry primary school.

You need in my opinion to talk openly about the bullying and the effect it has had on your daughter so that the panel understand why you see this school as the one to go to. Panels hear many tales of bullying so it is important to submit any written evidence of you having meetings or complaining about bullying at the previous school. Don't be openly negative about the old school but bring out the bullying aspect as something they just did not gtet on top off. Yes it is by association being negative about the school but you are not openly criticising.

Also talk about the fact it is the local school and it will give your child the opportunity to build up a circle of lcoal friends, which is needs as she is shy.

Although i have had a lot of meetings with the school about the bullying, I don't have any written evidence. The school prefers to ignore the problem and hope it will go away. One of the worst things was that my daughter was threatened by one of the parents. The school just tried to brush it off like it was nothing.

I could talk for hours about how her current school have let her down.

I am trying to find a case against the Admission Authority, and so far have that they have admitted extra pupils into years 3 4 5 and 6 every year.

I am just a bit worried as this is the school that my daughter really wants to go to and i don't want to let her down by not having the best case i can.

Has anyone witnessed the bullying? Haven't you written any letters or sent any emails to the school about it? You must talk about the bullying but it will be more credible if you can produce something to confirm it has taken place.

Failing anything written correspondance do you have a diary or anything that can tell you when you went into the school to discuss. If you could actually name dates when you went to the school and discussed it with the head / teacher and explain that the school does not seem to want to put anything in writing, then at least it sounds more credible. If you do not have any data to present then the panel will only be able to go on the credibility of you as a witness and I am afraid that panels have heard far too many cases where bullying is alleged but there is no evidence. Appealants seem to think it is the easy option to get their kid into a different school by alleging bullying and many panels will not give much weight to the allegation unless backed up with evidence.

Wow this thread is so informative. We're in a situation where we haven't appealed as yet but our LEA is telling us to do so!

We're currently in the process of moving house. Not ideal timing as DS1 is due to start Reception in September. In May, once we were 'under offer', we requested a place at two schools in the town we're moving to, one of which we knew had two places left. This request was done via our existing LEA, who liased with our soon-to-be new LEA. The application was sent in time for third round allocations and used our current address i.e. miles away and in a different county.

We found out on Friday (a week later than the third round should have been completed) that we had been unsuccessful for both schools. Our local LEA were not told on what grounds so suggested we contact the soon-to-be LEA to find out! This was like getting blood out of a stone so we actually ended up phoning the school directly to see what they knew. They phoned the LEA on our behalf (soooo lovely of them) and came back to us saying they didn't know why we hadn't been offered a place as there was actually still one available! This was later confirmed by our existing LEA who also spoke to them on Friday afternoon.

We were however told that the new LEA muttered something about lots of local children still needing places, lots of appeals to do etc. I know for a fact this LEA has really struggled this year (I think it's the same LEA that had to put a bulge class for the 17 children earlier in this thread as I remember it all being in the papers etc).

My question is, if there's a space at a school and we've requested it and no other local children have, are they legally obliged to give it to us? Is there any obvious legitimate reason as to why they wouldn't?

The only explanation I can think of is that maybe there were local children who asked for a place, we were so far away we stood no chance, so they declined our application before they're going to go back to the other applications and applying the admissions code. Hence why the place was technically still available on Friday. Even if this is true it sounds like a pretty chaotic way of doing business so to speak.

Our LEA are waiting for an explanation but did recommend on Friday that we appeal so I'm beginning to prepare my case already.

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

If there is a place available at the school and there is no-one on the waiting list they must offer it to you by law. They cannot hold back the place for children who haven't applied for this school nor can they hold it back in case of successful appeals.

It does sound like things are fairly chaotic with several rounds of allocations and possibly some local children without places. They should have allocated places for all local children by now.

I am not surprised your local LA is telling you to appeal. They know that your new LA is breaking the law.

Thank you so much prh47bridge! It's great to have it clarified. It will be interesting to see on what grounds we've actually been refused.

I was thinking of citing section 2.63 of the schools admission code (exceptions to infant class size) as part of our appeal but it looks like this only applies if there are more than 30 children in a class. Maybe section 1.24 is clearer:

"Section 86(5) of the SSFA 1998 requires that in a normal year of entry, a child must not be refused admission to a school on the grounds of prejudice to efficient education or the efficient use of resources except where the number of applications for admission exceeds the admission number."

I'm not that familiar with the code to know which is the most appropriate section?

Section86 (5) of the SSFA is the right quotation, which is effectively reproduced in paragraph 1.24 of the school admission code. Quote that at them and ask for confirmation that the school place is yours as you asked for it on (date) when there were no other people applying for it. Please can I have a response within 3 days. It needs to be in writing (email is fine) so that they cannot wriggle around giving you the place.

I, like others above me, am staggered by the wealth of ideas and support on here. What an example of a support network. Anyway .. my issue is a bit like Dreaming Spires above, although not exactly...

18 months ago we left our base in the home counties to move north for work purposes. This involved moving our children to new schools. We now are making the move home in reverse as the job has ended and we unfortunately couldn't find new work up here, whereas we can down south. (We kept our own home throughout and rented it out, renting a house up here).

Our two eldest childrens' schools are sorted but the primary school where all our children used to go, and to which we applied for our youngest child, is now full (we also applied for the two other primary schools nearest us, the second of which is also full, and we have yet to hear if we will be offered a place at our third choice where there seems to be lack of agreement as to whether there are spare places for year 4 or not - school says yes, LA says maybe not.) (We are applying for a year 4 place from September and move back to our old house at the end of July).

I have met with the Headteacher of our old school who was as supportive as she can be in these circumstances and has told me that she doesn't consider that admitting my child would prejudice other children (the children already know her, the teachers know her, she wouldn't need special support, there is room in the classroom, the teacher of her class has actually taught her before etc) but that it is not her decision to make and that what she says will not necessarily influence the LA as technically the school is full (all classes are at 30 and there is a single class intake per year).

My desire for my child is to minimise the disruption she has already suffered in her education/friendships through moving schools twice within two years and from a social point of view, this is where her old friends are and where she desperately wants to return; where all our prior relationships/out of school activities etc have been developed; where she can walk to school independently as she grows older, the school feels like home etc - but I fear these reasons are not sufficient to sway the panel. Other points to mention include the fact that when my sons were in the junior school, the policy was to allow up to 32 children per class, but that this policy has been changed since we moved north (i.e. the facilities/teaching levels used to be considered sufficient for 32 children); also that appeals which have taken the class size over 30 since then have tended to be for children with special educational needs; also that I am unaware of any other appeals for places in this year group, although there is a waiting list. Has anyone any advice for a sound base on which to appeal? (I have been asked to list ideas under religious/cultural/philosophical; social/medical; educational; and 'other'.)

Apologies for long post.

The head isn't allowed to support your appeal. However, if the LA ask her to attend the appeal and she says that admitting your child would not cause prejudice that would give the panel little choice but to admit.

You can certainly talk about the disruption your daughter has suffered and suggest that going to yet another new school will disadvantage her compared to returning to her old school. The fact that they used to allow up to 32 children per class in juniors is something you can bring up. I would ask the LA's representative (or the head if she is there) whether having this many children in Y4 previously caused any problems. You can also ask if they have had over 30 children in any years since they stopped going up to 32 automatically. Don't go into the fact that these children were admitted on appeal. That doesn't help you. The fact that the school coped does.

Apart from that I would think about any facilities the school has which would be beneficial for your daughter and which are not present in the offered school (when the LA finally gets around to offering one).

Thanks for this. I have just remembered that the class my daughter would go into has had 31 children in it, in the last academic year in fact, and that when the cared for child moved to a new foster family, the school reverted back to 30. So I should be able to make that point.

One additional thing, how do I compare facilities between the two schools when I think, timing wise, I will have to lodge the appeal before any other school is technically offered to us. (We were told to put our own house address on the appeal form and go ahead and appeal, but regarding the normal schools offer process, we technically still live in our rented house in the north and won't get an offer of an schools until we are physically back in the town which will be one day before appeals are finished being heard for the summer.)

You can add to your appeal case at any time. Provided you don't introduce substantial new documentary evidence you can add to your case at the appeal hearing.

I can understand the LA wanting proof that you are going to be living in the area before making an offer. I am surprised they are insisting on waiting until you have actually moved.

In the situation, I suggest you talk about any facilities the school has which will be beneficial for your daughter. You don't know whether or not the offered school will have these facilities as no offer has been made so put everything in.

The only thing that I would add to what PRH has said is to emphasise that you are moving back to your old house which has been rented out whilst you have been away. As such the LAs tardiness in not being prepared to offer a school place without having physically moving in, means that you are now without a school and this is causing your child stress not knowing whether she will be going back to school with all her old friends.
This puts a bit more pressure on the panel in terms of needing to ensure that the pupil is in a school but more importantly on the LA to get their figure out and decide whether they can off a place at the 3rd school.
I do have to warn you that if there is a waiting list for year 4 and only 30 in the class that it would suggest that there have been other appeals which have been unsuccessful. The key to winning the appeal will be the strength of your personal circumstances. So it might be kinder to your child to down play the possibility of getting a place at the preferred school until you know the outcome of the appeal.

Sorry, should also have said that if the LA is a bit naughty they will announce at the appeal hearing that there is a place at the 3rd school.

This puts you at a disadvantage in that the inference to the panel is that there is a school place available and that therefore they do not need to admit.

If that happens I would make a statement to the panel in part 2 of the appeal and probably the concluding remarks that you were advised to apply for the three nearest schools but that your preferred school is X and that it is somewhat unfair of the LA to spring this place being available at the other school today when they have had weeks to make that decision. Your preference is for school X and you ask the panel to view the appeal in that context not the context that suddenly there is a place available elsewhere.

Hi there

I am a Wanstead mum and I need some help; My daughter has been refused a place at any of the 4 schools I applied for owing to distance. I live off of Snakes Lane West and a number of mums and children were affected in the same way.

My daughter is without her rightful place at our most local school owing to an error made by Redbridge Schools admissions team.

Our home is located a maximum of 0.90 miles from our local school, The incorrect route provided by Redbridge measures it to be 1.413 miles from our home. When the first round of admissions took place the last admitted child was 1.005 miles away. Had Redbridge measured the route correctly, my daughter would have been offered one of those 90 places. On the day of the appeal the last admitted child via the waiting list was 1.20 miles away from the school.

Redbridge have also provided an unsafe route, the route was mapped and documented in a way that required I cross the A12 Redbridge roundabout with my daughter. As I would be required to cross the A12 as follows; 2 lanes of Westbound traffic, 3 lanes of Eastbound traffic, a 1 metre high central reservation, and a slip road for the M11. I do not see how this could be a safe route!

Redbridge have not responded regarding my route and have insisted that I raise my grievances via the appeal. The appeal panel did not allow me to question the authority and state my own case and I have lodged a complaint with the Local Government Ombudsman regarding some issues with the way the appeal has been handled and am also speaking to as many other people as possible.

The appeal was not upheld I believe on the basis of Infant class size prejudice. I am awaiting the formal paperwork. Both Redbridge and the appeal panel have not taken responsibility for the incorrect and dangerous route provided which is illegal and in breach of the Schools admissions code.

So, as before I am in touch with the LGO, but Should I go a step further now and also write to the Schools adjudicator?

Do any other Redbridge Mums know whether the A12, Wanstead bridge has been raised as an issue previously when measuring routes to Redbridge Schools?

Everyone I speak to in a formal capacity agreed that the case was strong and also is surprised by the way it has turned out, they all believed that the appeal should have been upheld.

Does anyone have any knowledge of other issues about the bridge and anyone have any good advice for me....?

Thanks x

Provided your route to the school follows public roads and recognised footpaths I would have expected you to win your appeal unless a lot of mistakes had been made and the school couldn't cope with all of the affected children.

You say that their route is illegal and in breach of the Admissions Code. I'm afraid I disagree. There is nothing in the Admissions Code that requires them to use a safe route for measuring the distance. The Code simply requires that the measurement is reliable and reasonable. No-one is saying you have to follow this route to the school, simply that this is the shortest route that meets the LA's criteria. The only question is whether or not that is correct.

The Schools Adjudicator would not get involved in your case. They are only interested in complaints that the admission arrangements are contrary to the Admissions Code. They cannot get involved in complaints that the LA has not followed its arrangements correctly. Even if they did find that Redbridge's admission arrangements are contrary to the code they still would not tell them to admit your child.

Stick to the LGO. They will look at the way the case was handled. If you are correct that the panel did not allow you to question the LA or state your own case that is a major breach of the Appeals Code. Equally the LGO will be interested in whether or not the panel considered your complaint that the LA measured the distance incorrectly. If they find that there were problems with the appeal they are most likely to order a fresh appeal with a new panel, although there is a chance that they may conclude that a correctly conducted appeal would only have one possible outcome and recommend that your child is admitted.

Thank you for the response. There were round 5 Mums / children that I know of being affected by the exclusion of the bridge mentioned.

I now know that 3 of the children have been provided a place via the waiting list (even with the incorrect distances). This leaves myself and another that I am due to catch up with soon. So 2 children.

Do you think this is the reason that the appeals panel seem to have decided not to uphold a single appeal for this particular school? ie: do for one, will have to do for all?

I appreciate that you say the route does not have to be the safest, but I am sure they have an obligation to ensure that it does not cross A12 like roads?

I will stick with the LGO, I do believe the appeal was not fairly conducted and your very last comment gives me great hope! Which is all I have right now!

Thank you!

I am going to disagree with PRH over the route being safe or not. The Redbridge admission criteria defines the shortest walking route and specifically says that the Authority is mindful of every child's safety and that walking routes will be well-maintained with unrestricted visibility and accessible at all times. If you honestly do have to go over a 1 metre high barrier then that clearly is not appropriate and the LA are failing to administer their process correctly.

However if you do get anybody to agree with you then it does not necessarily mean anything because it would mean that every pupil using that route would have to be remeasured and it could mean that you are actually worse off with the changed route. The other little gem is that the admission criteria says that the LA will not change any recognised route till the next year. Personally i think that is unacceptable but I suspect that the LGO would accept that to do so would cause chaos.

I am not clear from your posts whether you have an alternative route that is shorter or whether you just think the measurement is wrong. If it is the latter then that should clearly have been aired at the appeal and for such a significant difference the panel should have insisted that the LA remeasure the distance. If it is the former then my guess would be that the panel did not accept your alternate route as being appropriately meeting the criteria set. But again there should have been some discussion over this at the appeal.

Hopefully the letter from the appeal panel will clarify exactly what the reasoning was and give you a better feel for what to do next in discussion with the LGO.

Thanks Admission. I too understood that Redbridge criteria made comment re the safety of the route and have just spoken to the chap in Redbridge Highways department who's job it is to ensure the safety of travel routes to schools!

Redbridge hid behind the appeal and the appeal panel were not interested in listening to me ask questions about the route, also would not allow me to mention the route again, hence my feeling that the LGO will agree the appeal was not properly carried out!

We can only hope that someone out there is interested in doing the right thing!

The point I was trying (and obviously failing) to make is that using an unsafe route for measurement is not of itself illegal or a breach of the Admissions Code. However, it is a breach of Redbridge's admission arrangements.

I agree completely that the appeal was not properly carried out if the panel woudn't listen to your points about the route. However, the big question is whether the route you have (which I presume is an alternative route) meets the LA's requirements. If it does then you have a strong case. However, there remains the possibility that your route doesn't meet Redbridge's requirements in which case a safe route may be longer than the route they have used.

Hope it goes well with the LGO.

Hi there

The route I have provided meets the LA requirements as they have confirmed it will be used for the next year of admissions, due to start in September. My issue in addition to those mentioned before is that my child will not benefit from the introduction of the route as she is now behind all of the late applicant siblings on the waiting list!

I had naively thought that come September, the route would be introduced, she would be closer to the top of the list and with the probable movement she would get a place between Sept 11 and Sept 12....it is highly unlikely that it will work out this way with the 6+ siblings given priority in front of her.

It really bewilders me that Redbridge are reliant on parents to bring to their attention suitable / unsuitable routes, then the child suffers because they refuse to accept the error and introduce the route!

Frustrated is a major understatement!

It's always worth the appeal in my opinion. When I got to mine, it turned out the admissions board had got my address completely wrong from the postcode! Had they got it right, my son would have got a place at our prferred school without question. I didn't even have to wait for the decision. I got home from the appeal, to a phone call from the board, apologising for their error and saying that they were withdrawing the whole appeal and offering a place immediately! You've got nothing to lose trying and you never know if they've made a genuine mistake!

Hi
This is my first post. We have an appeal next week for a place in Y5. We have not moved home but none of the cohort will be going to the local secondary school, so our primary reason is to make transition smoother. We applied at the end of last term and were told that we would have a decision before the start of term. During one of many phone calls to get a decision from the admissions team, I was told that the LA had approved the move but were waiting to hear back from the school. On Sep 1st the school contacted the team and were told that the move had not been allowed. The school are happy to offer a place as they lost a pupil in the year group in July. The LA won't allow the move as the year group is still one over PAN. Numbers are significantly down on previous years both in the mixed Y5/6 class and in the school as a whole. The LA are arguing that the physical space is limited however, the current class is far more cramped. I am finding it difficult to get advice as it seems unusual for the school to side with the parent!

The school is not supposed to support you in the appeal. If the year is already over PAN the LA are correct that there is no vacancy. However, if a pupil has left the year group that allows you to ask questions about how they coped with that many in the year. If you can show evidence that the school have said they are happy to take your son that will be very persuasive. However you should try to come up with better reasons than smoothing the transition to secondary school. Look for things this school can offer which are missing from your son's current school which would be of benefit to him.