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?

Hi, I'm after a bit of advice on whether it'd be worth appealing in this situation. DD1 has been given a reception place at a school 1.7 miles away. This school wasn't on my application list at all. Our first and 2nd choice schools are 0.6 and 0.25 miles away respectively. I'm very surprised that she didn't get in to the nearest one, is it worth appealing in case there's been a mistake? Or should I just hope that she's high on the waiting list and places become available?

If you don't know for sure there has been a mistake you need to be realistic about your chances but it is certainly worth a try. You don't lose anything by appealing and you may get a place at one of your preferred schools.

Ask the LA to confirm the distance and admission category for the last child admitted for each of these schools. Also check the distance they have used for you to see if it looks reasonable.

Thanks for replying. I will do those things. I think a mistake is probably unlikely, but no harm in making sure.

I'm wondering if someone can help me with primary appeals advice. Our 4 year old did not get the first choice school. We moved from London to Cambridge in summer 2013 when our older one was starting year 3 and found a place in a school that we love and was the best fit for her culturally, educationally etc but it is not a catchment school. It is an oversubscribed school at reception but has high turnover so that wasn't a problem.
However for reception applications siblings not in catchment are below catchment siblings and no siblings but in catchment in this authority.
I know the PAN is 34 and that last year they admitted 36, which I believe was above their PAN that year but will check that. My younger daughter is 13 on reserve list so although I know in previous years kids have got in at no5/6 or more because of the very fluid population , I don't want to rely on that.
On the initial application I wrote a brief statement outlining why it was especially important for my younger one to be with her sister ( for both of them) but i think they ignored it. Basically they lost my younger ones twin sibling died after a long illness in late 2012, which was a major trauma that has deeply affected both but especially the twin ( the one going to reception this year) and the surviving siblings are very close and there are issues to do with emotional trauma etc. In fact the surviving twin could have been given a SEN because of the bereavement but we chose not to as her problems/ behaviours are manageable within a normal setting. We have already had to move house since the loss and I am not sure she will cope with the added separation and lack of continuity and there will also be repercussions for the older one already at the first choice school. We have been given the local school (2nd pref) which is a lovely place but it is just not the same as being with her sibling plus it is a faith school and we are of another faith.
I am planning to appeal on the same grounds as I put in initial application as I really don't think they gave it so much as a second glance. However this time I plan to give more context and have also asked her previous nursery in London and her current settings here as well as the medical team that looked after our son and the family to provide supporting evidence in writing which they are happy to do.
What do you think? Should I in addition to copying in any documents to the online appeal form, send written/ signed copies in or just bring it on appeals day? I know I need to focus more on why she needs the 1st choice school and less on why the other one is not suitable but what angle/ focus should I take? Should I mention the impact of this on the one already in school or will they only look at the impact on the child being admitted this year?
My kids have been through enough and I really don't want to pull older one out of somewhere she is happy or send younger one to the 2nd choice then force another change on her if and when a place becomes available at the 1st choice school
Thanks and sorry for length of post!!!

That is an odd PAN. It gives 102 in infants. I'm guessing they have 4 classes covering Reception, Y1 and Y2 with around 26 in each. That means this is not an infant class size appeal so you have a decent chance of success provided you can make a good case as to why your daughter needs this school.

It sounds like you have a reasonable case. That doesn't mean you will win - that depends on the strength of the case to refuse admission and possibly also on the strength of the other appeal cases.

The supporting evidence you are putting together is good. It will help if the medical professionals are willing to say that, in their opinion, your daughter needs to attend the same school as her sister.

You need to submit any documentary evidence before the hearing. If you just turn up with documents the panel hasn't seen before the appeal could be adjourned to a later date.

There is nothing wrong with mentioning the impact on your oldest but concentrate on the impact on the daughter being admitted this year. The panel will be primarily interested in how much she will be disadvantaged if she doesn't attend this school.

Thanks , yes this year they have reception, reception/yr1 and then 2 yr1/2 classes though not sure of the number of kids in each.
Thanks for the advice about when to submit the supporting evidence. I'll make sure that the focus of my appeal and the supporting letters is in the direction that you mention.
Does it matter that I am basically appealing ( albeit with more evidence) on the basis of something I already asked to be considered in the original admission?
I'm petrified of going in front of the panel so keeping my fingers crossed she gets bumped up the list. I know the school generally wants to get back to 1class per year but I also know they have been supportive of other siblings who were wait listed so here's hoping.

prh is the expert, but I'll type something in answer to your question to save her fingers - I hope she will agree.

Unless the school has a social/medical criterion in their published admissions criteria which bumps you up above other people, then the LEA were right to ignore what you had written on the form (if they do have such a criterion then you probably have an even stronger case in that a mistake may have been made in ignoring it).

For a non-ICS appeal (i.e. where the class sizes are all less than 30 in R/1/2), you have to show that your child's need for this school is greater than the school's need to not have another pupil. That can be for pretty much any reason, not only those covered by the published admissions criteria.

So in answer to your question: no, it doesn't matter that you are resubmitting the same info. This is where it will be looked at.

I agree with Spindelina and Tiggytape.

The only thing I would add is that if the admissions criteria does have a social/medical category you should put forward two arguments:

• that the LA was wrong not to place her in this category

• that, even if the LA was right, her need for this school is so great that she should be admitted anyway

Thanks all, there's no social/ medical criteria on the admission list and she comes under number 4 otherwise "children out of catchment but with a sibling at the school at the time of admission". I assumed that they must use it as a criteria in all schools since they do give you space in the original application to state such a case ( which we did in brief). I suppose even given that , in this context I can still only argue the latter of the 2 options prh47bridge has said I should use?
How detailed should I ask my supporters to be? I've told them to be concise. Some of them are wary of sending too much detail in an open letter/ email but are happy to be contacted for further information but I suppose I should tell them to give full details?
By the way is their any point in getting a lawyer or hiring somebody. I can't imagine so. You guys have been great thanks so much. You have helped me sort out how I should formulate my position, and I know that it will make a difference.

My old local authority had a better system ( siblings first after Sen/ looked after) and no concept of catchment schools, fixd class size of 30 which meant that there were hardly ever any successful appeals whereas here the success rate is fairly high because it's such a weird and complex structure. I know parents abuse sibling priority rules sometimes but it's surely better than sending Young kids to different schools and expecting parents to be in 2 places at once.

Hello, I was wondering if someone could assist in my potential appeal for my daughters Reception place

We lived 50 miles from where we live now and attended a local church every 2 weeks (handed in a completed form with our application)
6 months ago we moved to the current area and started our daughter in a Nursery class with her cousin which is attached to a C of E attached school.

Since living in the area we started attending the church every couple of weeks that is attached to the school, joined in with fund raising etc but we still live outside of the parish

The admissions criteria that we hoped to be considered under is

"Children of Parents/carers who are regular worshipping members of
xxx Churches" but then the small print states for 2 years. It does give the option though to include previous church attendance to be considered which is what we did.

We didnt get a place and are way down the waiting list. When I enquired, we were considered under the next criteria down from the above which was "Children of Parents/carers who are resident in the ecclesiastical parish of xxx and are regular worshipping members of a Church or faith for
which no denominational education is available within the ecclesiastical
parish of xxx"

We failed the above as we live outside the Parish so were considered on distance.

Does that seem correct to be considered under that option and failed, rather than the first option I posted above (we just presumed the two years could be from different parishes....)

Any hope / grounds for an appeal ?

Thanks for any help on this

jellybean2 - Yes, you should argue that your daughter needs this school. Your supporters need to give full details. Simply giving a brief outline and saying "contact me for more information" won't help. The appeal panel hasn't got the time to contact everyone so they will go off the written evidence.

And no, I wouldn't involve a lawyer. They rarely help and can make things worse.

KipperRSA - On the surface it sounds like a mistake has been made which would be grounds for an appeal but I would need to read the admission criteria to offer a definite opinion. Can you let me know the name of the school and the LA involved please. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post that information publicly.

PM sent prh47bridge

Hi this message is for anyone who can give me some advice and in particularly could prh47bridge spare me a few minutes?

My son didn't get his first choice and we are 3rd on the waiting list so I will appeal and after reading all the comments on here I don't think I have a chance I but would love some advice.

I assume my appeal will be infant class size as the reception intake at our preferred school is 60 split into 2 classes of 30 so I understand that unless there has been a mistake with my application I have almost no hope of appeal (I don't think the LA have made a mistake) but I wondered if the following would hold any weight with the panel and their decision under the "my son would be affected psychologically if he doesn't get into the school"

I applied for the place in the reception class because my son is currently in the nursery there and when he first started he had a very

tough time settling in as he is painfully shy. This affected His behaviour which deteriorated and he became withdrawn in himself and he went from dry at night to wetting the bed and having night terrors and it got so serious that I had to contact and get help and be under the care of the health visitor and child services both of whom came out to visit us several times until we were discharged by them. I suffer from depression and have been very ill and at the time this was happening and due to all the stress it caused i had another break and was put under the care of a councillor and CBT therapist.

After a few months my son settled in and made lots of friends and became his confident self again, stopped wetting the bed and the night terrors stopped. He has excelled in the class and is so happy and I feel that if he has to go to another school it will all happen again and I don't want him to suffer.

My other reason is because of my mental health issues when I'm ill I can't do the school runs but I have a strong support network at our preferred school who can take and collect my son from school when I'm ill. At the school we've been offered I have no support network and as a single parent I have nobody else to take and collect Oliver if I have another break.

If you get a panel that follows the rules I'm afraid you will lose as they should only admit if something has gone wrong in the process. It is still worth a try - something may emerge in the hearing and, even if it doesn't, you may strike it lucky and get a sympathetic panel that is prepared to admit even though they shouldn't.

Hi prh47bridge, from reading the threads I didn't think I would win an appeal as it will be infant class size. Thank you replying

jellybean72 the other thing that I have seen said on here a lot is that the evidence has to be about your child (rather than about a generic child in the same situation), and that it must be their opinion ("In my professional opinion jellyjunior needs to attend..." rather than "jellybean tells me that jellyjunior needs to attend...")

Spindle liana, all the people writing know jellyjunior ( I like the name!) well so I think they will not be writing generic stuff but will guide them appropriately!

Hi there, I see there are hundreds of posts on here and some really helpful information.
My twins have been rejected my first preference school. My eldest son goes to the school but leaves in july so it does not count.
they only take 16 due to the small classes, there is a lady who lives just 4 doors down from me and her little girl got refused and DCC said she is 4th on waiting list- I phoned and asked and they said mine were 8 and 9 on waiting list? how can mine be so far down the list when this other little girl only lives 4 doors down? Also there is a lady that has her girl accepted and if going of driving distance, her little girl lives further away? Is this fair? I know that this girl that got in, put in that it was quicker distance for her to walk to this school than the other local school - but the same applies for me ! do you think I have been treated unfairly? I put my application in the first day you were allowed to do so!

Normally distance criteria are either "as the crow flies" or "safe walking route" or similar, not driving distance.

There's no preference for applying early.

If the lady is four doors closer, then there may be three other children in different streets who are in between you in distance - if it's as the crow flies, imagine a circle with the school at the centre, two circles 40m apart will cover quite a number of houses.

Thanks for all the help so far. Given that I am applying because of my child's needs rather than errors by the authority, do I need to say anything about the PAn, previous class sizes or how they exceeded their PANs in previous years or will that get their backs up.

I am hoping someone can help advise? First time poster but
Long time lurker.

We got our 3rd choice, which is our catchmet school. Not happy with this at all.

Our first choice we are 14th on the list- for a 60 intake- so probably no chance there.

But our second choice is a curious one. I am appealing on the grounds I know two other families (no siblings, not sen) who got into the school who live significantt further away from us. When I contacted the school to point out these cases- they were appreciative but since then I've had some weird conversations with the school and lea which seem to suggest they are re-running the allocation for this school. The school says we're 8th on their waiting list- but do not think this list is correct. The lea are now stonewalling me and say that I will get the information I requested for my appeal in writing, but that all parents who applied for this school will get a letter to explain what happens next after te allocations are re-run.

Have I maybe pointed out an error which will have knock on impact to other schools and parents? Can they take away places already offered? Am I right in thinking if this info is correct and we appeal then we would get in as an excepted child? And finally won't all the other parents hate that there is an extra child in the class reducing the time available for other children.

I need a lie down! Any help gratefully received.

My understanding is they can't take away places issued in error (unless they catch the mistake very quickly and withdraw the offer)

If many children now qualify because of the mistake, an appeals panel would usually weigh the merits of each case and the amount of children the school could take (so say 15 qualified but only 6 places could reasonably be created)

However, since the LEA is looking again in advance of any appeal being heard, I don't know what would happen.

Don't worry about parents disliking you. They won't know who won the appeal or if another child is the excepted child for eg SEN reasons.