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?

The standard for showing that a decision is unreasonable is very high. In essence you have to show that no rational person would have made the same decision as the LA. On the information you have posted I think you will struggle to show that. However, you may get a sympathetic panel or something may emerge during the hearing to show that a mistake was made. So you should go ahead with your appeal but don't get your hopes too high.

You simply need to set out as strong a case as you can as to why your son needs to be at this school. Explain the problems you have set out in your first post, tell the panel that you informed the LA of this and you consider their decision to refuse entry to be unreasonable. You should also look for features this school has that the allocated school does not and which will be of particular benefit to your son. Highlight those.

Your case will be stronger if you can get independent expert evidence to back you up.

I wouldn't get your hopes up but I would give it a try.

Oh, and by the way, if your son is admitted he will be an "excepted" child, not an "exceptional" one (although I'm sure he is that as well). It means he doesn't count towards the class size limit.

Brilliant, that is really helpful prh47bridge.
Many thanks!

Hi, I've recently found out my youngest didn't get into my preferred primary school. I only added this school to the admissions form as both of her older siblings attend and she herself is in the part time foundation year there. We live 1.8 miles from the school and are out of catchment. Unfortunately there are also 8 other siblings that didn't gain a place and we're 7th down the waiting list (as it goes on distance).
This year their dad split, we lost our family home and were homeless for 6 months. I'm worried about the stability of my kids if I don't gain a place at appeal. As a single mum I can't physically get to two different schools and can't afford childcare or before/after school clubs. It sounds far-fetched but my 2nd child is only happy at school. She screams and cries and loses control frequently at home. She's finding it extremely hard to deal with her dad leaving and our current living conditions. So I don't feel taking her out of the school would be an option. What will happen if I lose the appeal??

She was given at place at another school 1.8miles from our house and 2miles away from her sibling's school. The school closest to our home is repeatedly in special measures and the next closes to her siblings school is a faith school. Due to a high birth rate four years ago almost all of the schools have been oversubscribed.
There were 70 places (63 filled by catchment and 7 by siblings) and according to admissions they are currently 83 on the waiting list. The school has 2 and a half classes per year (half being a split year class) with class sizes of 28. In other years up to 5 kids have been awarded appeal places but with 9 siblings in total appealing along with those from other criteria i'm not very hopeful.
I have a doctors note and one from our support worker. As well as group letters from the confidence building "sparks" groups my older kids attend within school.
What are the chances of a bulge class? The school is in the middle of a built up area so wouldn't be able to expand but last year an extra outdoor classroom was built and is currently used as an extra space for music lessons etc.

With a PAN of 70 and the class arrangement you report this will not be an ICS appeal. You can therefore win by showing that the disadvantage to your daughter through not being admitted outweighs the disadvantage to the school through having to cope with another child. The fact that up to 5 additional children are being awarded places each year helps you and as it suggests the school can cope. Don't worry about siblings. The fact they get priority on the waiting list is irrelevant to an appeal.

You say that an extra outdoor classroom was built last year. I would ask if the school's net capacity has been recalculated since this classroom was built. If it has not you should bring this up as it suggests the schools capacity should be higher than the official figure. Again, this will help to show that the school can cope with additional pupils.

Transport and childcare issues rarely make a successful appeal case. The notes from your doctor and the support worker could help depending on what they say. You should talk about your family circumstances, your recent problems and how it has affected your daughter. Talk about her need to be with her older siblings and your second daughter's need to stay at the same school. I would also look for any features this school has that are missing from the allocated school and would be of particular benefit to your daughter.

A bulge class is most likely if there is a shortage of places in the area. LAs generally are not keen on allowing popular schools to expand unless all the unpopular schools are full. So the fact that there aren't enough places for all the people who applied to this school doesn't necessarily mean they will create a bulge class.

Hi!! I'm very new to this but have found reading through previous comments has give my lots of advice!! I'm hoping somebody can give me a little advice as I am just beginning an appeal as my son was not given a place for september 2012 at the same school as his sister who is only one year older than him and in reception there now. It is a voluntary aided catholic school therefore is responsible for its own admissions via there admissions committee. I am weighing up all the grounds we may have for an appeal and this is my question..... The headteacher called me into the school as the decisions on the school places were being made(roughly one month before I recieved my local authoritys refusal letter).She told me that my son "probably was not being offered a place...and was telling me know as she did not want it to come of a shock to me when I got my later later on from the local authority". Should she have done this? Is she going against any rules by doing this? could I use this as one of my grounds for appeal? I would really appreciate ANY advice!! Thanks :)

No she should not have done it but I don't think it helps you with your appeal. If she had told you that your son was being offered a place that would be another matter. As it is I can't see that you have been disadvantaged in any way by this conversation.

I would check the admissions categories carefully and make sure your son has been placed in the correct category. If they give priority to siblings but your son did not go into the siblings category that would be a mistake which could help you win your appeal.

Hello, like many others we did not get our first choice school for our daughter and are appealing. I was hoping someone may have some advice as we believe the Admissions Authority has made a mistake. Admissions were carried out by the LA, in this case, Gloucestershire, but the school is a Foundation school so appeals are dealt with by the school directly. The school admission policy has five priorities for use in oversubscription. Fourth priority states "Children for whom Minchinhampton School is the nearest primary school". Fifth priority states "Children for whom Minchinhampton School is not the nearest primary school". It is our closest primary school, and all of the children on this estate already go to the school. However, we know that places have been offered to children who are marginally closer as the crow flies to the school, but for whom another primary school is significantly nearer. This is a rural area. Are we right in thinking that we should come under priority four and these families should have come below us in priority five as Minchinhampton School is not in fact their nearest school? If we can prove this, can we therefore prove an error has been made? Thanks for any advice.

Seems straightofrward as long as you are absolutely certain about the distances. Check the nearest school(s) for those under category 5 who were admitted though - they might be church schools which maybe excluded from the 'nearest alternative' criteria.

As long as you are sure the other children admitted don't come under priorities 1-3 (which I presume will be in care/siblings at school/medical need) then it sounds as though you have a case for an error.

Thanks for the comment. Their nearest school is another C of E primary but VA not Foundation. Why would this be excluded from the nearest alternative and how does the nearest alternative impact on our case? We think these families were admitted under priority four not five as they should have been. I am waiting for the details from the school on the breakdown of places offered under the five categories.

Hi. If we can prove an error has been made do we have to wait for the reconsideration period to finish (3 to 22 May in Glos) or can we take it straight to the school governors now? Thanks for any advice! I am 8 weeks PG and between the morning sickness and the stress about the school place I am a bit of a wreck....

but if they are siblings/social need they will go above criteria 4 even if its not their nearest iyswim?

Looking at Minchinhampton's admission criteria (having eventually found them on Gloucestershire's website which seems to be designed to make things as difficult as possible), it is clear that category 4 is for children for whom Minchinhampton is the nearest primary school measured using the straight line distance from the centre of the child's home to the centre of the school. For the purposes of this measurement they define primary school as, "state maintained school that provides education for children in Key Stage 1, or Key Stage 1 and 2 age groups".

Provided the other school is state maintained and is nearer in straight line distance to the homes of the other children then Minchinhampton you are correct that these other families should have been in category 5 and therefore should not have been admitted ahead of you. That would indicate that a mistake was made. However, that will only help you at appeal if your child would have been admitted but for the mistake. If the places would have been taken by other children the mistake won't help you.

Thanks for all the help and advice. Would be useful to know where we are on the waiting list...LA wouldn't tell me - they say we can find out after the reconsideration stage which doesn't finish until 22 May. I know there are four other families appealing, one of which is category 5. It would be irritating to prove the mistake and then still be without a place! I think we will write to the LA and cc the school this week. I don't trust phone calls as it's hard to prove what exactly was said etc. Wish me luck!

Hi,
I must admit I have been impressed by the level of detailed help people are getting in here! I am completely lost and could really do with a bit of advice.
We are allowed three choices in Herts. As we are practising Catholics, we went for three Catholic schools. He is our first child, and as we have never gone through the process before, we were really surprised not get a place at any of our chosen schools. We were allocated a failing non-faith school quite far from home. We refused it straight away and are at the moment left without a school for our son.
Our three initial choices were as follows:

• 1st choice: a lovely voluntary aided oversubscribed school far from home (in Barnet actually) but minutes away from work. Our little one has been attending the private pre-school on site since September. They have a breakfast club and we could drop our little man every morning before work in secondary education. All the children our childminder collects after school go there.

- 2nd choice: the voluntary aided school that is part of the parish we live in. The church is really close to our home, but the school is quite far. We are 7th on the waiting list, and I was told we had next to no chance of getting a place as people tend not to refuse their offer of a place there.

• 3rd choice: the voluntary aided Catholic school that is the closest to our home (1.4 miles), even though we are just out of their catchment area.

Basically, for all three schools, there were a lot more applications than places available, and more siblings than usual (25 siblings for the 40 places available at our 3rd choice!). Two of the schools have not got a waiting list yet as they are waiting for the deadline (tomorrow) for acceptance of places. Our intention is to appeal for all three schools, and we were going to go for a social appeal on faith grounds. Does that sound reasonable? What kinds of documents would we have to provide, other than a letter from our priest? Would this still be an "infant class-size appeal"? Thanks A completely lost mum

Whether it is an infant class size appeal depends on the way classes are organised in Reception, Y1 and Y2. As a general rule, if the admission number is 15, 30, 45, 60 or some other multiple of 15 it is likely to be an infant class size case. Other admission numbers are less likely to be ICS.

If it is an ICS case you should only win if you can show that a mistake has been made and your son should have been admitted. If it is not an ICS case you need to talk about the disadvantage to your son through not being admitted. You can argue on faith grounds but it would help your appeal if you can find other grounds as well. Look for any features of the appeal school that are missing from the allocated school and that would be of particular benefit to your son.

Thanks a lot to both of you for such prompt responses. I am completely lost in the whole process...

Given our case, do you think that appealing would be wasting people's time?

I emailed the schools asking for "pupil audit reports" for the past 10 years, but only one has replied, and the answer was:
"We allocate 40 places each year. This current year 2011-12, we have a reception/year 1 class of 30 children, (20 receptions and 10 year 1), and a reception class of 20. Next year, 2012-13, we will have a reception/year 1 class of 30 children, (10 reception and 20 year 1), and a reception class of 30. The following year, 2013-14, we will have 2 reception classes of 20. I hope you can see that the make up of the class depends on the year of entry.
The 40th child offered a place lived in the parish and was 1350.18 metres away from the school. Distances are calculated by the Local authority for all schools."

Is there any way I could get data from sources other than the schools re. number of children in their reception classes in the past ten years, criteria under which the successful applicants were offered the places + distance, as well as the distance from my home to the schools, as calculated by the borough?

In Herts, after the first round of places were allocated, you were then allowed to have a "continuing interest list" with three schools only. To be on the waiting lists for the initial schools, you had to have them on that CI list. I kept 2 of the Catholic schools we were most likely to gain a place at, and added our local school which is getting a bulge year for reception 2012-13 (300 meters from home).

I have been advised to go on the waiting lists of other catholic schools, which I have done, but the borough tells me that my son would not be allowed a place since these schools are not on their Herts continuing interest list. This is crazy! So basically, I am not even allowed to try and get another school for him... I will only be allowed to change my continuing interest list after 21 May they are telling me... Do you think I could still fill in all the forms for other schools, and then change my Herts CI form after 21 May?
Thanks a lot
A more and more confused Mel

Thanks for all the advice yesterday. I called the local authority admissions team late afternoon yesterday and followed up with an email. They confirmed they were looking into the error I had identified and this morning they called me to offer a place as an error had indeed been made. A happy ending! It was so useful to run the scenario on here and get such great feedback. Thanks again everyone from one very happy and relieved mum.