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?

Will this be an infant class size appeal (ie does the school have 30 pupils per class in key stage 1)? If it does then, as you say, your chances of winning an appeal are very slim because things like travel and childcare costs don't enter into it. Your best chance - and even then it isn't very hopeful - is probably to argue that because of your children's additional needs, a refusal to give your youngest child a place at the school is so unreasonable as to be perverse. But that's a long shot as the LEA will argue that it's not their fault that your application got lost somewhere along the way and the school is now full.

If this isn't an ICS appeal, you have more scope for arguing along the lines you set out in your post.

is it perverse just to him though? It would have a detrimental effect on his life - there's no doubt about that. However if anyone, it would have a significant impact on my son with ASD and the family as a whole.

...and yes, the classes are of 30.

Uh. ICS appeals are very hard to win, as you'll have seen from other threads.

As I said, it's a very long shot indeed, but you could try to persuade the panel that - given your youngest child's additional needs and the difficulty of uprooting your other children so that they could all go to the allocated school (even if the allocated school had places for them all, which it may not) - the refusal of a place is perverse. The flaw in that argument is that your youngest child (if I understand you correctly) does not have a statement naming the school and it could be argued that his needs are within the range that any school could be expected to cater for. You would also have a stronger case if you had anything to show that you did submit the application and it was the LEA that lost it.

My son with autism could not move schools so it was never an option to move the older 3. My youngest son with speech dyspraxia 'could' be well cared for by another school, however I'm certain that the school my other children attend could look after him better as they are specially equipped to deal with children with disabilities.

Yes, that's exactly my point. That's part of the argument about why, as the children need to be together, it has to be at the school you're appealing for as your son with autism could not cope with the move. But the real problem here is that neither the LEA nor the appeal panel are likely to be very sympathetic because there's no evidence that you applied for a place on time.

Does anyone know what the school are required to tell me by law? ie I've been told that there was a precedent set - a few years ago someone apparently won on appeal and the reception class total exceeded 30. If I ask them if this is true and the circumstances do they have to tell me? This is just gossip at the moment but would be good to know if it was true and if so why it was allowed.

They have to (within reason) provide any information that you need for your appeal, but the fact that someone won an appeal several years ago doesn't really help you. That appeal will have been won on its own facts and its own merits and the child will have been an "excepted pupil". That does not constitute a precedent and does nothing to increase your chances of winning your appeal.

There is no such thing as a precedent in school appeals, every one is separate and is considered on its own merits. The very most information that you might et is that there was a situation where pupils were admitted as excepted pupils over the 30 limit but that is not that unusual and is certainly not a precedent for doing it again.

I thought as much. Thanks. I will see if I can get something in writing from them re other applications that weren't received as that should help.

Hello, Could anyone help. I've received today copy of appeal documentation. The appeal is taking place next Wednesday. All I've received is a copy of my appeal statement, our original application form, admission policy, and appeal hearing procedures. This is Church of England school we are appealing to. The Appeals Procedure says: 'The following documentation schould be available to the clerk for distribution, at least 7 days before the hearing:
a) a written statement summarising how admission arrangements for the school apply to the parent's case, together with any relevant background information;

b) a written statement summarising the reasons for the decision, including evidence that ''prejudice'' would arise if the child were to be admitted;

c) copies of any information or documents which are to be put before the panel at the hearing, including information from the parents;'

Does '... available to the clerk for distribution...' means that documentation stated in point a,b,c goes to the Appeal Panel and I can't look at the school case before the hearing?

I'm confused I thought that I'll receive written statement from the school which gives me a reason why my child hasn't been admitted so I can prepare for my appeal and I'll be abe to chalenge the school's case and ask them appriopriate questions.

You should have received the schools case along with your own statement, ring and ask why you haven't got it. If they produce it on the day without giving you the chance to read it, you can ask for an adjournment.

Hi there, can anyone help me, i have just had an appeal for my daughter for our first preference school, (didnt get any of our preferences and have 2 more appeals this week). This was a class size appeal but the point we were trying to make is that we did not feel that the admissions policy had been applied correctly. We felt that due to safeguarding issues our application should have been considered under there exceptions policy but this did not happen. As a result she has been placed in a school where significant risk has been highlighted but they say as this is due to my work (childrens nurse) they could not take it into consideration as they are not allowed to consider anything to do with my occupation. Has anyone experienced similar situation or does anyone have any advice for the other 2 appeals.

They are allowed to consider safeguarding issues arising from your occupation. If you were a police officer or social worker, for example, you may have good reason to be concerned if your child is allocated to certain schools. LAs have taken this into account when allocating places and appeal panels have decided that LAs have behaved unreasonably by not doing so.

Without knowing exactly what the admission criteria say and the details of why you believe your occupation leads to safeguarding issues it is difficult to say for certain how strong your case is. However, if you can show that your child's safety will be endangered by attending the allocated school, I would argue that the LA has behaved unreasonably. I would give as much evidence as possible (without, obviously, breaching patient confidentiality) to support your position that your child's safety will be endangered.

I am unclear who said that they cannot consider anything to do with your occupation. Was this the LA or the panel? Either way, if you lose your appeal for your first preference school, it may be worth referring it to the LGO on the grounds that you believe the panel did not consider the safeguarding issues because they are related to your occupation.

It is all about the wording of the admission criteria and who it refers to. However in the 4 LAs which I sit on appeals for all would consider such a request as you are making with as much favour as is possible given it is an infant class size appeal.
If you PM me the schools and LA I will look what the admission criteria says and hopefully be able to advise how much of a case you have.

Me again, the LA have quoted the admissions code 2010 as saying that an admitting authority must NOT have regard to supplementary information when making decisions on admissiin i.e marital status, employment or financial status. This is actually not what the code says, it says Admission authorities MUST NOT use supplementary application forms that ask for any personal details about parents and families, such as maiden names, criminal convictions, marital, occupational or financial staus.
My local authority have interpreted this to mean that as i am a nurse they cannot take into account my circumstances as they are a direct consequence of the job i do. This was stated by the admissions manager at our last appeal

It seems to me that the LEA has got the wrong end of the stick here. It is true that they can't generally have regard to parents' employment situation. Many parents, for example, want a non-local school, where they do not fulfil the admissions criteria, because it is more convenient for their journey to work and LEAs can't allocate school places on that basis. However, they can have regard to parents' employment where that employment raises issues about the safeguarding of that parent's child. The sorts of cases I am aware of are police officers and social workers, whose children can't go to school in the area where they work, with children whose family members the police officer or social worker might have had dealings with.

You've provided a lot of information about the LEA and schools, which you might want to ask MN to delete. Without identifying yourself, can you say more about why you feel your employment as a nurse would put your child at risk if she went to the allocated school? You have suggested that there is an abusive family, but do you have reason to believe they will target you and your child?

I am not doubting what you say, but this is the first time I have heard safeguarding raised in connection with being a nurse and I want to understand better.

They are talking rubbish.

If your job leads to safeguarding concerns if your daughter is allocated to certain schools they should take that into account in their "exceptional social reasons" category. I would argue that they are being unreasonable by not doing so.

They cannot give priority due to your occupation but that isn't what you are asking for. You are asking them to give priority due to safeguarding concerns. The fact that the safeguarding concerns arise due to your job is irrelevant.

I totally agree and even stated that if i left my job tomorrow the concerns would still be the same as i cannot change what has happened. They seem very fixed on that statement. They say that it may well be the reason for us not wanting our daughter to attend my local schools but not a reason as to why she should go to one of our 3 preferred schools. Well where is she supposed to go!

We had our appeal last week and heard today that it was accepted, and DS1 has a place [phew]. Ours was based upon the fact that the admission criteria had changed too late and put us at a disadvantage for a CofE school. Taking him on has increased the infant class size but they said we had a v strong case. My advice for anyone would be to stick to the facts but say how you felt about the decision as long as you're not overly emotional! We had researched well but I didn't take legal advice, as I thought it was unecessary. Good luck everyone with their appeals!

bikewidow - They are correct in that it is, strictly speaking, a reason not to go to the allocated school rather than one of the preferred schools. But, if the result of ignoring this is that your daughter ends up at a school where there is a safeguarding concern, the decision to ignore it is unreasonable in my view. In your next appeal I would take the line that the LA's decision to refuse admission is unreasonable as the result of that decision is that they are placing your daughter in danger.

MrsJamin - Well done.

Heard yesterday that our 2nd and 3rd appeal had both been refused. They completely ignored our concerns re safeguarding and suggested i should put my child in a school almost 10 miles away as its on my way to work!. I am completely incensed. Thank you to all who offered help i am at a complete loss of what to do now as the appeal panel are appointed by the LA and recieve thier training by them, how can this be impartial!

Time to refer all three appeals to the Local Government Ombudsman.

If the panels accepted the LA's line that your safeguarding concerns could not be considered because they are related to your job I would expect the LGO to step in.

Thank you i am in the process of doing this with legal support. Apparently because they get so many requests from police, social workers and other community workers they do not feel it is exceptional!