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?

tiggytape : Thanks for the answer. We moved from Aberdeen to London due to my husbands work last year September and from that day onward we were on this house. We will try to find something close proximity but it is very hard in the area and what worried us a lot.

Hi All. Its a bit long, but please read.
I'm in desparate need of some hope... My daughter didnt get her 1st choice, we heard this on the 19th April...and ive cried everyday so far :O(( We are drafting up our appeal letter, but after reading your comments, we also have a ICS issue then! 45 places have been filled with 16 being local sibs, and 29 local children. The farthest one offered a place was 0.398 miles away....and we are 0.325 away, but the lady in addmissions said we were out out the primary care area... GUTTED doesnt even come close to how we feel!!
The thing is...both me and my sister share the childs care of all our children..So at the beginning of the week i work, so my sister has my baby and my daughter, and along with her 2 children (her daughter is the same age as mine and got her place at our 1st choice) they all to the preschool and school run- which is at my 1st choice, and then i do the same at the end of the week whilst my sister goes to work, AND my daughter is very familiar with this school, as shes been doing this school run for 2 years now. My heart is breaking at the thought of telling her shes not going there, where her cousins are going, PLUS all her little buddies from preschool are going. She is such a sensitive shy girl, this school is perfect, its small, and she knows it. Her emotional & social well being is going to be crushed :O(( Would this stand a chance in the appeal?? PLUS, how the hell are both me and my sister going to do the school run,the school offered is in opposite direction, infact its further away then are 1st choice. Her children will be late to school when im doing the school run, and vice versa. There is just no option of leaving work...so they will be late!! Which would effect there educations and disturpt the classes when they arrive late, OMG...im having a panic attack just writing this, let alone trying to appeal it...HELP PLEASE???? WHAT THE HELL CAN WE DO???? At this rate im going to need i doctors note for work, i cant function properly, at the fear of my daughter being besides herself when i tell her shes not going to the school that shes been walking to every day for the last 2 years!! Need some hope. Thanks x

Thanks for getting back so quickly. I'm pretty sure it mentions the primary care area!! And that's not us. So frustrating when we actually live closer. I am in despair. Can I not appeal on the grounds on my daughters well being, and how all the children's will be late at certain points of the week??

You can appeal on any grounds you want but if it is an ICS appeal, which is likely with an admission number of 45, you are only likely to win if you can show that a mistake has been made. If I understand you correctly there is a priority area for admissions, you live outside that area and no-one living outside the priority area was admitted. If that is correct then a successful appeal is unlikely. You can still try as you never know what will emerge during the hearing and whatever happens you will be no worse off. But you need to be realistic about your chances.

Your chances would be much better if there was no priority admissions area as, on the information posted, that would suggest a mistake has been made. If you would like me to check for you please PM me the name of the school and LA involved.

Logistics aside, which are going to prove a real problem for you (but carry no weight at appeal, as others have said) I do think you should try not to pre-empt a bad reaction from your daughter. If she is going to have any chance of making a happy transition to school (whichever school that is), it is vital that you sell the idea to her in the best possible way. If you present it as a tragedy, then that's how she'll view it, and it really is important that she looks on her school as a positive place to be.

Unfortunately, your childcare arrangements are irrelevant to an appeal. Similarly, many thousands of children move settings when they attend school, this is very rarely an applicable appeal basis (only if there were documented medical or social reasons it was imperative that a child remained in situ)

On the face of the information you have given here, assuming the admission criteria have been adhered to (do check!!), you don't have the basis for a successful ICS appeal. Make sure you are on waiting lists, you never know, there is often movement in the next few months. Try not to panic; your daughter will adjust just fine, and there are strategies around the childcare (childminder, sharing with other parents) if necessary. Don't let your DD be aware of how upset you are - she will take her cue from you, and left to her own devices is likely to settle fine.

Thank you to you all. Yet again another sleepless night :-(( I can't help myself crying. It's like someone is tearing up my heart!! I had to walk in the playground of our 1st choice school, to pick up my nephew, wearing dark glasses to hide my tears, the thought of not taken my daughter there is just heart wrenching. She's seen me upset all week, I just smile and say mummies ok!! I haven't mentioned anything to her yet. But will defo try to be extremely positive when I do, and upbeat. Not one single friend is in our offered place!! There is another school where there will be 4 friends attending. Can I ask her to be put on the waiting list?? Aswell as our 1st choice. Thanks once again. Xxx

Hi there. Thanks so much for your time. It's Barrs court primary school, Bristol. LA-south gloucestershire. Is there any priorities to the waiting list to?? Thanks xxx

Opps. My last message I thought was an private one. Oh well!!

And.... Is it worth paying someone to help represent us?? Xxx

Besides, you can report that post and MNHQ will delete if you want.

Yes, you can go on more than one waiting list.

Hi just had a quick look at your criteria besides and it seems they do use priority area. Looking at the last 2 years, 64 children approx have had it as first choice so I expect lots of families are disappointed too. It also mentions that no appeals have been upheld for this school either.

I understand how awful it must feel :) but you do need to be more positive for your child. Relying on an appeal would not be a good idea. 4 of my friends didnt get their siblings in an out of catchment school last year, spent loads on solicitors and all still lost and ics don't even count siblings as a significant reason to win.

Find out were you are on the waiting list (there may be other out of area people who are closer so you need to find out so you know were you are realistically) and in the meantime think about logistics for the new school
Good luck

Sorry that was meant to be a sad face :(. :(

Yes you can go on the waiting list for any school you want, although your LA may limit the number of waiting lists you can be on. The waiting lists are placed in order using the same criteria as admissions, so anyone inside the priority area (Area of Prime Responsibility as they call it) will be ahead of you on the list. I presume you are inn the priority area for another school. If that is not the school you have been allocated you should be close to the head of the waiting list if you apply for that school.

Hello!

Reading this thread has helped me out a lot this morning, it seems I'm one of many trying who's been handed a school they didn't ask for!

I'm looking at appealing, I put down 3 schools as requested and have not got into any of them. I live near Wigan and the schools near here are mostly tied to churches. As my husband I are atheists we selected the only 3 schools in our area which are community schools and therefore are not subject to the influence of a church. We weren't successful with any of those and so have been given a place at the local CofE school.

I'm wondering whether the religious grounds are sufficient for an appeal? I'm fairly sure the procedures were followed correctly, but we have a section of an appeal on the basis that the place given in unreasonable given the circumstances of our family.

Any advice would be welcome, as I'm deeply uneasy at the idea of my son being taught in a school with beliefs that I simply cannot follow. I want to be able to join in with the school community and volunteer there once my youngest goes too, but I also don't want to compromise on my own belief system.

Wow, this is long, sorry!

Have to agree with Tiggytape that your grounds fro appeal are unlikely to be successful. Unreasonable to you is not unreasonable in a strict definition of the law, which is a completely perverse decision, which allocation of a faith school rather than a community school is not.
You do not say what you have done but if possible I would accept the school offered, it is the local school. I would then establish exactly what level of faith commitment there is - in some faith schools it is very very low key and as Tiggytape says you can opt out of the daily religious service which by law all schools have to have.

Sorry to jump on the thread. looking for some advice. My dc didnt get into the faith school I wanted. I met the church criteria but didnt get in on distance. They sent me a letter stating the maximum distance they accepted to and im a few meters above this. However there are a couple of children in his nursery class that live further than this distance. I have spoken about this to them as I am friendly with them. They say they are as confused as I am.

Is this grounds for appeal?

From what I can make out the only grounds I didnt get into was distance. I had all my papers signed by the priest. I know the other children quiet well (we live in a smallish town) they have no siblings or SEN's

Thank you, I had a feeling I was clutching at straws. I don't want to waste my time and the appeal panel's and go through the stress if we're not likely to have a chance.

We've already told our son where he's likely to be going, and the school we've been given does have up sides. It is close, so hopefully his friends will live nearby and our next door neighbour is a TA there in reception.

I'm hoping that school has taken it's Ofsted report seriously (it was pretty ropey!) and that we can give him any extra support he needs at home if the teaching standards haven't improved. I guess I'll just have to get used to the religious element.

Thanks again for your help!