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?

Hello, sadly our appeal wasn't successful despite 2 letters from doctors ;(
I have two questions I really need a help with. 1, how can I find out that independent panel was really independent??
Secondly , I have asked council again to take into consideration my sons needs supported by 2 dr reports to put my son as a priority on the waiting list but LA again refused that! Is there anything else I can do to challenge their decision before I have a brake down??? Honestly, I can't take it anymore! Thank u

If you are unhappy with the way the appeal was conducted, e.g. you suspect the panel was not independent, you can refer the matter to the LGO (or the EFA if the school is an academy or free school). They will investigate and may order a fresh hearing.

If the appeal panel think your evidence failed to show that this is the only school that can deal with your son's issues I'm afraid the LA is probably right to refuse priority on the waiting list. There is no way to appeal that decision, I'm afraid.

Thank you. We have a doctors statement saying its crucial for my son to have school walking distance to us . The council offered us a school during my appeal but unfortunately the school will not meet my sons needs as it's 20 min by bus and on extremely busy road ;( our waiting lists r constantly moving due to other priorities or newcomers so no hope there! I think we have no choice just to seek legal opinion in this matter as I don't think council taking my sons needs into consideration..

Also I am wondering ..my appeal was 1st July and letter of refusal was sent same day ... Isn't that too quick?? I have been told that all appeals will be heard and letters will e sent following day so we will receive it day after!

Complete newbie (re appeals) here: My son is on the waiting lists of 6 schools, and the reason I'd like to appeal is because he was offered a place in a school 1 hour away from my house (by public transport, and I have no car).

My point to appeal is that 4 hours commuting everyday is not reasonable (and I have another child, who will be 1 year and 10 months in September. It's not right to keep him 4 hours a day in buses!)

My question is: should I fill 6 appeals, each of them explaining the same thing - why I can't take the place in the school my son was offered?

Thanks!

If you want to appeal for all 6 schools that is what you will have to do. You will be suggesting that the LA's decision to refuse admission was unreasonable given that the offered school is so far away. You may find an appeal panel that agrees with you but many will regard up to an hour each way as reasonable.

Assuming it is over 2 miles by the shortest safe walking route you are entitled to free transport to take your son to and from school. That is only for your son, not for you. Depending on the LA the free transport may take the form of a taxi with a CRB/DBS-checked driver. If that would take less than an hour to get to the school the appeal panel is likely to regard that as reasonable. They are also likely to take the view that you don't need to accompany your child so your arguments about your younger child would be irrelevant.

phr the shortest walking route is precisely 2 miles (according to google maps, I'm not sure how precise they are). However, one of the schools I asked to be put on the waiting list is 1.8 miles away by foot. And is much easier to get to by public transport (half the time)

I've been informed by this second school that they received in April a list of names of all the children offered a reception place and it was 1 name below the limit (for example, 59 children for 2 reception classes).

Do you think I have a case that my son should be offered a place in this school, not the one 1 hour away?

(The second school has a great Ofsted whereas the school I was offered a place has lots of places and a bad Ofsted.)

A second issue is that I asked the LEA to put my son's name on the waiting list of this second school in April, and was confident that there was a good chance of getting a place. However, the Admissions Office never gave me any information about the waiting list or anything).

I'm not sure how precise they are

Not as precise as the software the LA uses to work out the distance.

Do you think I have a case that my son should be offered a place in this school

I would discount my earlier thought that you may be able to persuade the appeal panel that the offered school is so far away that the LA has acted unreasonably in failing to find a place at a nearer school. As the offered school is only 2 miles away I cannot imagine any panel buying that argument (which was a long shot anyway). It may be an hour by public transport but it should be less than that by foot.

Lack of information about the waiting list also won't win your appeal. Assuming it is an infant class size case you need to show that a mistake has been made that has cost you a place. So you have to show that you should have been at the head of the waiting list when there was a vacancy, so the place should have been offered to you but it was offered to someone else.

Right now I'm afraid you don't have any evidence that this has happened. There could be a number of reasons why the list of names sent by the LA to the school was 1 short. It doesn't necessarily mean there was a place available. Even if there was a place, you may not have been first in line to take it.

It is possible that evidence of a mistake will emerge during the hearing. Unless it does I'm afraid you are unlikely to win your appeal.

prh

Right now I'm afraid you don't have any evidence that this has happened.

• I don't have evidence of anything, as the LEA doesn't give me any information! I've been asking since April.

There could be a number of reasons why the list of names sent by the LA to the school was 1 short.

• What kind of reasons? Could you give me an example?

(Btw, thanks a lot for answering my questions)

tiggytape

that's exactly what I feel: that I will have to appeal just so I will be given ANY information. I much prefer to solve the whole problem without having to wait for an appeal hearing (it would take 30 school days, and I didn't have the heart to calculate how many months would that be...)

prh

I'm sorry as I know it's a very stupid question, but how is a 4 year old child expected to walk 2 miles in under an hour? It takes 40 minutes for an adult. (I hope I'm not expected to push 2 children weighing over 30 kg together all the way).

Can your 4 year old scoot? That would make the 2 miles take less than an hour easily.

Are the LEA not giving you any information when you call re.waiting lists? (they won't write to you spontaneously unless you actually get allocated a place). What do they say when you ask? They really should have a good idea now how lists are shaking out, although there will still be movement until September possibly, depending on whether you live in an area with high mobility/take up of private schools.

I can walk 2 miles in 30 minutes! But seriously, I assumed when you said it took an hour by public transport that we were talking about a school a long way from home. Two miles is nowhere near enough to be regarded as an unreasonable distance unless there are mobility problems (other than simply having two young children).

Patricia the LEA say they are "still processing late preferences" which, after 3 months, is not an acceptable answer. They don't reply emails (they have an automatic reply saying that it can take 12 working days to provide the information). If I call them, I'm answered by the "customer service", who takes my name and say they'll call me in up to 10 days. So, in short, it's impossible to talk to anyone.

prh ok, fair enough. I could argue with that but I understand the panel will probably have a similar point of view to yours :) It's good to know that, so I know what to expect.

Anyway, I have to appeal because I don't see any other way to deal with this situation.

Today is the parents meeting of the school my son was allocated. If I attend it and take the documents requested, does it weaken my appeal case???

tiggytape good to know that. I definitely feel like foot-stamping!!! :)

I'll be there, then.

Hi,

I guess i'm clutching at straws here, but before our appeal next week i just wondered if anyone could offer some advice.

We bought an house in Aug last year that required substantial renovation, the house is only 140 meters from the primary school we'd like our 4yr old to start at in Sept. However despite notifying and having several conversations with the admissions auth they refused to take into account our intention to move to the address asap and judged his application at our old address some 3000+ meters away.

He's now first on the waiting list and if he'd at the new address would have been 4th to get a place.

I know the appeal is more than likely to be a total waste of time but given they want to send him to a school 6 times the distance away, the family logistics, his cousins attending the school and the fact parents park outside my house to drop there kids off at the school. It seems bonkers i can't get him a place.

What i'd like to ask has anyone had a similar appeal and manage to win? if so on what grounds?

The school has it's 30 full allocation and the local authority did follow its procedures no matter how stupid i may feel they are. But i have to try.

Any helpfully suggestions would be very gratefully received, thanks in advance

dave

This is an infant class size appeal so your only chance is to show that a mistake has been made. If I were you I would argue that in your circumstances the LA was unreasonable to refuse to use your new address for admissions purposes. I think it is a long shot since you weren't actually living there but it is worth a try.

The decisions on which school are based on the admission criteria for the school using the address at which child was living on the last date of on-time applications (Jan 16th 2014 probably). As such the LA have done what they should have done and there are no apparent mistakes. Under normal circumstances the appeal panel would not admit. However given the circumstances there is a slight question about whether the LA should have taken the new address into consideration. Did the LA ever accept in writing that the new house was going to be your house and you will have moved in by September or did they just keep saying it was based on the old address. If they did that might be a chink in their case to exploit by saying that they were unreasonable because they did know that you owned the property and were moving in.

You also say they want to send him to school more than 6 times away, is that 6 times the 3000 metres it is now or 6 times the 140 metres. If it is the former and you are talking about 18000 metres then I think you should also argue that the allocated school was completely unreasonable in terms of travelling distance. If however it is 840 metres then forget that idea.

I would go to the appeal and then see what happens. However one thing to consider is looking at the rules around when you can have another appeal. What they normally say is that it is one per academic year unless there has been a material change in your circumstances. You need to find out whether the LA consider a house move a material change. If they do then I would consider deferring entry to the allocated school depending on the age of your child and seeing whether a place becomes available in September. If it does not then there is a new (May 2014) ruling from the LGO around infant class size regs as they pertain to in-year applications and this may give you some extra leverage but it will depend on the exact situation. In principle the LA cannot just say that the school is full and the infant class size regs say you cannot be admitted, they have to consider whether you could have been admitted under the excepted pupils regs, the most obvious one of which is no other school within reasonable distance with a place.