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?

I have called the LA helpline today, and it is them who confirmed the fact we are not allowed to try and get another school for him... well until 21 May. And when we do on 21 May, we will have to remove the other schools and therefore lose our place on their waiting lists. This is absolutely crazy! I do not have this in writing, but they record the conversations... The situation is quite simply getting worse and worse for us. We had chances on getting into a voluntary aided Catholic school near work as it feeds into the secondary Catholic school where both my husband and I work.

My LA has told me I can't go on any waiting lists that weren't my original preferences - is this correct? Also, my 3rd preference is in a different LA and they are really reluctant to speak to me.

We were also allocated (i.e. dumped) a school that nobody wants over 5 miles away. I feel so helpless and in the dark...

Practice seems to vary from LEA to LEA, TiddlerCat.

I can't see anything at all in the Admissions Code which prohibits you from joining as many waiting lists as you like. Some LEAs (mine included) will let you join waiting lists of schools that you didn't initially apply for. Other LEAs take the view that there is nothing in the Admissions Code to say that you can join new waiting lists and so won't permit it. I think they are wrong, because the whole spirit of the Admissions Code is to increase parent choice, but it seems to be a grey area (much discussed on this board in the last couple of years).

Don't be deterred. Keep trying to make contact with the LEA for your 3rd choice school. Ask your LEA about whether there are any nearer schools with vacancies - there ought not to be, because you should already have been allocated your nearest school with a place, but it's always possible that there has been some movement.

You should have been offered help with transport costs to your allocated school - were you?

Yes, those are the right questions.

If the school now changes its story the appeal panel should look very closely at that to determine what has really happened. They certainly should not just accept a bland statement from the school that they got the letter wrong. The council may not know one way or the other but there is nothing to stop you asking.

The school is permitted to limit the number of places offered in various categories to a degree but, if they do, this must be clearly stated in their admission criteria. It does not sound like this was the case.

The child with a statement of SEN will have been admitted automatically. Such children do not go through the normal admissions process so what category they are in is irrelevant. If the admission number is 42 they should not have offered 48 places unless the LA has agreed to a variation of the admission number. If they can admit 48 why not 49 or 50? Or have they admitted 6 children as a result of mistakes? An admission number of 42 or 48 would not normally be infant class size but that doesn't really matter in this case as it sounds like you have clear evidence of a mistake. The school will say they cannot accept any more children. That is always what they will argue at any appeal. That won't stop the appeal panel admitting your child if they think you have a good enough case.

The waiting list has to be in place until Christmas. It is up to the school whether they continue to operate it after that. You could ask them but it isn't relevant to your appeal.

The school must conform to its current published admission criteria. They cannot give someone sibling priority on the basis that the criteria were different a few years ago. They cannot apply any rules other than those stated in their published criteria.

Council involvement is no guarantee that waiting lists will be operated correctly! The school must tell you how long the waiting list will be in place. Some schools and LAs are reluctant to tell people their position on the waiting list as many parents don't understand they can go down the waiting list as well as up. There may have been other factors of which you are not aware that gave the children priority for nursery but equally it could be that the waiting list was no longer in operation and the parents happened to apply when there was a place available. If another child is admitted off the waiting list when you believe yours should have been you can appeal.

If any parents reject a place it must be offered immediately to whoever is top of the waiting list. They cannot sit on the place until September. However, if they have admitted over PAN there won't be any vacancies until the number of children drops below 42.

Your second point isn't particularly strong. By far your strongest point is that the school has not complied with its own admission arrangements.

SchoolsNightmare is right that, if a mistake has been made, they should admit your son without an appeal but most LAs and schools (and it is the school that makes the decisions in this case) insist on an appeal.

If you would like me to check the admission arrangements to make sure you haven't missed anything let me know which school and LA we are talking about. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post this publicly.

It does look as though a mistake has been made. However, it would be worth checking if the admissions policy has changed in recent years and if it did whether the new policy makes allowance for those potentially disadvantaged by the change. For example if a sibling has lower priority than catchment in the new policy, is there provision for family with a sibling already in the school to still have priority? It does happen but is rare. You should be able to get a copy of the Governor's minutes which agreed any such change in policy. It should be stated in the policy but you may find that a shortened version is published by the Local Authority.

So, is the school saying that in effect categories 2 and 3 are sub-divided and that within each category there's a sub-category for siblings and another for not-siblings? I don't see anything objectionable in that per se, although it ought to be spelt out in the admissions criteria. Nor do I see anything objectionable in having a catchment area that is made up of the parish plus a defined area outside the parish, as long as that is publicised.

The issue here is that if the admissions categories are, as the school implies

2a Catholic children living in parish/defined area - siblings
2b Catholic children living in parish/defined area - not siblings
3a Other Catholic children - siblings
3b Other Catholic children - not siblings

then they should still not have been offering places in category 3 while there were still applications in category 2.

If the admissions categories have been set up in such a way that children in category 3 can somehow leapfrog those in category 2 then that is an error. If the school won't correct that error then there are very strong grounds for arguing at appeal that the decision to refuse a place is so unreasonable as to be perverse.

I too would not make much of the 'school has to offer us a place to show they value our contribution to the parish' argument. If the admissions criteria don't make specific mention of parish involvement this isn't really relevant and it may come across as emotional blackmail. As you have such a strong, logical argument on your side you need to run the risk of alienating the panel with that.

Err. Don't need to run the risk.

OMG what a nightmare... im looking for help and advice in a very unusal case for my daughter who is adopted. We applied for our school choices in December and put down 3 all within our catchment. In March (5 weeks before we found out our school choices) I gained some information that there were relatives/ friends of my daughters birth family going to that school. I rang admissions immediatly and explained the situation but they said it was too late in the day to do anything and to just wait and see. Well we got our first choice which is now a no go (such a shame as a fantastic school... one of the best in the country :-) So now we are in a position where she doesnt really have a school place. TO send her to this school would jepordise her safety ( you get where im coming from)
Well we are on the waiting list for the other 2 schools... 2nd and 8th places. Im hopeful at the school where she is 2nd place as its on the border of 3 counties and on speaking to the head teacher he said that there is usually around 10 places of movement! In the meantime i am lodging an appeal (it will have to be infant class size appeal) and im hoping to get her a place as an excepted pupil. As from 2013 admissions adopted children get the same priority as LAC but not this year :-( Could i argue this at all??? Do i have a case for appeal or am i just wasting my time. If i didnt send her to school until next yr (term after she is 5) does that mean she would get priority as a previously looked after child as its 2013 admissions? Help!!!!!

No, you cannot argue that the 2013 admissions code should apply.

If you don't send her to school until next year you will get priority but you will be applying for entry to Y1 so your chances of a place are low.

I think your argument for appeal is that, having told admissions that your daughter's safety would be endangered if she was admitted to your first choice school, their decision to refuse to change your preferences resulting in an offer of a place at that school was unreasonable. The problem you face is that this argument should only win if you would have got a place at one of the other two schools if you had been allowed to change your preferences, and we don't know if that is true. However, in this situation you may get a sympathetic appeal panel prepared to stretch a point for you.

Hi prh47bridge. If we were allowed to change prefs then we would of certainly gotten into the school where we are second on the list. I think its a pretty unusual case (but i hopeful re the waiting list) and i am prepared to battle it out till the end. My dd ideally needs to move to school this yr with her friends (her friends are going to the 3 schools we chose). If they insist that she attends the school we have been allocated then what will they put in place to ensure the safe guarding of my daughter and us??? surely it is unreasonable to send her there?? We have the Social worker and Health visitor on board and im about to contact our local MP... its just sooooo difficult When will the the new admissions come into effect from Jan 2013?????
I didnt mean i would argue that they should take the new regs into account now but just use it as a means to and end etc.... some LEAs are doing this already (a known fact from a friend)

I still wouldn't use the new regulations. You would effectively be asking the appeal panel to change the admission criteria. They can't do that. The new code comes into effect for next year's admissions round.

Personally I agree that endangering the safety of your daughter is unreasonable but I cannot guarantee what your appeal panel will make of it. That will depend in part on the strength of the evidence that her safety would be endangered if she attends this school. Make sure you give the panel as much evidence as possible.

Obviously i cant go into such details here but there is a reason my daughter was adopted!!!!! I'm gonna give it my all and will try my damn hardest to get her into a school.... i dont see why her being adopted should have a negative impact on her education. Im wondering if they have ever even heard of a case like this??? Im meeting with our MP tonight to get him on board to. I dont even think it will come to appeal based on where she is on the waiting list but obviously i have to explore all avenues. `the joys of kids' At least my younger dd will get priority... and at least when it comes to secondary we will be priority yippee

Thanks for your PM.

The school's refusal to answer your question rings alarm bells. They are required to answer any reasonable question you ask to help you prepare for your appeal. This is a perfectly reasonable question so there is no excuse. If you do not get all the information you need you should start your case at the hearing by saying that you have been hampered in your preparations by the school's refusal to comply with the Admission Appeals Code and answer your questions.

The LA similarly must answer any reasonable question you ask. I can't see any basis for them refusing to answer your question.

If the school turns up to the appeal without saying anything in their written submission and says "oops we got the letter wrong" the appeal panel should look very closely at that.

If they have admitted over PAN there are no vacancies until the number of pupils drops below PAN. The fact they are currently above PAN does not mean they have to stay at that level. I've actually identified the school (sorry) and I see they admitted over PAN last year as well despite not having any successful appeals. There is definitely something very odd going on here. I also note that they have had 16 appeals in the last 5 years but none have been upheld. As the admission number suggests appeals are not ICS this is also odd. It may be just one of those things but it could equally indicate that the appeal panel isn't truly independent.

Having looked at the admissions criteria it would be a clear mistake if they have admitted anyone from category 3. If you lose your appeal I would definitely refer the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman.

can i just ask a question? Ive just read through the schools admission code dated 1 feb 2012! When does this come into effect. It meantions previosuly looked after children a few times in here but i havent seen a statement saying that it only refers to 2013 admissions onwards

It only comes into effect for 2013 admissions. See paragraph 2 on page 3 where it says it will apply to admission arrangements determined in 2012 for admission in 2013/14. This year's admissions use arrangements determined whilst the 2010 code was in force and therefore the 2010 code applies.

2.This Code comes into force on 1 February 2012 and, unless otherwise
stated, applies with immediate effect. It will apply to admission arrangements
determined in 2012 for admission in school year 2013/14. The Code applies
to admissions to all maintained schools in England. It should be read
alongside the School Admission Appeals Code and other guidance and law
that affect admissions and admission appeals in England.

I read this paragraph to (and i am aware that the PLAC side comes into force for 2013 addmissions) but when reading the rest of the document i couldnt see a bit that said this!

1.7 All schools must have oversubscription criteria for each ?relevant age
group? and the highest priority must be given, unless otherwise provided in
this Code, to looked after children
17
and previously looked after children.
Previously looked after children are children who were looked after, but
ceased to be so because they were adopted
18
(or became subject to a
residence order
19
or special guardianship order
20
). Further references to
previously looked after children in this Code means such children who were
adopted (or subject to residence orders or special guardianship orders)
immediately following having been looked after.

I am just confused as it says it comes into effect on 1 feb 2012 unless otherwise stated and i cant see it stated in the document..... am i missing a part????

It doesn't need to say it again elsewhere. Paragraph 2 on p3 sets out the legal status of the code. The second sentence "otherwise states"! "It will apply to admission arrangements determined in 2012 for admission in school year 2012/13". Therefore we are currently using the admission arrangements determined under the 2010 code.

The admission arrangements for entry this year were determined this time last year. They cannot be changed part way through the process, which is what would happen if we were to apply the 2012 code to this year's admissions. You are basically saying that, after everyone had applied, all LAs and schools should have changed their admission criteria. The courts wouldn't allow that.

I know you would like paragraph 1.7 to apply today but I'm afraid it doesn't.

The code does come into effect, in Feb 2012 but it is for the 2013-14 admission round. The reason why it has to come into effect so early and have such a long lead in time is that the admission criteria, admission process and co-ordination procedures have to be agreed by April 2012, which starts the whole process.
I agree it is very confusing and actually in my opinion is a mistake by the Department for Education. They should have bought in both the admission and admission appeal code for the 2013-14 admission round but the admission appeal code is already in force as it applies to all admission appeals lodged after 1st Feb 2012.

i agree that its very confusing!!!!!! appealing seems too much of a nightmare all though we now have our councillor, MP, sw and HV on board along with the Head of the school in question. But as the LEA havent done anything wrong i dont see how we could win. SS disscussed funding private schooling (local prep school) until a school place becomes available but then i have the disruption to DD when its time to move. Mat be best to see if i can get them to fund for the whole year and then apply for DD to start school next year in which case the new rules will of come into place re PLAC. Looking on the bright side a yr of prep school may have its advantages :-)