Twins allocated different schools!!!

[gem2809]

Hi all,

Does anybody have any advice for our situation?? Our twin boys have been allocated different primary schools. One of our boys has a statement for special needs and was allocated a place at our catchment school back in February, whereas his brother has been allocated our 3rd choice school, which is approx. 3.25 miles across town!! We believe we have a strong case to appeal this but any advice would be handy!!

Thanks

My understanding is that a child with special needs will have priority over other children, I am sorry but am unable to offer other advice. How do they expect you to get two children into school at probably the same time, 3.25 miles apart, I think in this alone you will have a case for appeal. How does your sen child feel about going to a different school than his brother, and I thought siblings got priority. When I went to school twins were never separated, but almost treated as one person, this was along time ago. although at my daughters school they go to a lot of effort to split twins up.
I hope that you manage to get both boys into the school of your choice. Goodluck

Perhaps it was just a mistake and they didn't realise the applications came from twins?

In the School Admissions Code it says that "The admission authorities for primary schools should ensure in their oversubscription criteria that siblings (including twins, triplets or children from other multiple births) can attend the same primary school, as long as they comply with the Education (Infant Class Sizes) (England) Regulations 1998"

Because the word "should" instead of "must" is used in the above statement, this is not a statutory requirement - it isn't legally binding on the LA - but it is good practice. You might start off by ringing and asking the LA to explain their policy for allocating primary places to twins, and see whether this has been correctly applied in your sons' case.

Presumably your DS who has been allocated the school miles away has now moved up the criteria list into the 'siblings' category and has also moved up the waiting list accordingly.

I'd phone to check that the LEA has updated their info correctly so that your DS moves up the waiting list as fast as possible.

I'd also start planning an appeal just in case.

You need to double-check everything. What does the school's oversubscription criteria say about siblings? Would a sibling who had been allocated a place at the school but did not yet attend count as a sibling (for example)? Did they spot that your second twin was a sibling?

It is not absolutely clear that a mistake has been made - they do not have to admit the second twin/third triplet etc if that would take an infant class above the legal class size limit of 30 - but it seems quite likely. If there has been an error in not treating the second twin as a sibling, then the LEA ought to give you the place without an appeal, although many LEAs do still insist that you take the matter before an appeal panel.

Make sure that your other child is now on the waiting list as a sibling.

The same thing happened locally. It took going to the press and MP to get it sorted. There is no set priority for twin (there should be). Shout it out loud..get the press involved..you'll soon be offered a place!

MPs have no input to the school admissions process. Going to the press can be a mixed blessing, depending on how comfortable you are with putting information about your family in the public domain. I suspect in the case madbunnies mentions, it was other things (such as another child declining their school place) that led to the second twin getting the place.

The schools admission process is about applying oversubscription criteria which are intended to be as fair as possible. It sounds to me as if an error has probably been made in this instance, but I know that many LEAs haven't quite worked out what to do if (say) the 30th and 31st children on the admissions priorities for a one-form entry school are twins. They cannot admit 31 children because that would break the legal limit on infant class size, they can't 'bounce' the 29th child to create a space for the second twin (as parents of 29th child would have strong grounds to appeal that they had unfairly been deprived of a place) and yet it isn't ideal for twins to be at separate schools. There is no easy answer.

You are right panel that MP's have no say..BUT they do have visibility, something a normal person lacks! The MP for Colchester, Bob Russell, tabled for a change to be made that twins should ALWAYS be offered the choice of the same school or not. Siblings is one issue, twins are not!

Bloody hell, that's so fucking stupid. I mean, I have twins in the family and they were put in different classes, which makes sense - but two different schools? Maximum stupidity from the bureaucrats there.

Yes, they have visibility, but the problem remains. If twins are the 30th and 31st children on the list for admission, what's going to give? Is the infant class size limit (set in law) going to be disregarded? Or is a child who was a higher priority than either of the twins going to be 'bounced' (as in airline overbooking) to make a space? I do appreciate that the issue with twins is a more acute version of the issue with siblings - and of course I'll work within whatever the law and the admissions code says - but baldly stating that twins must always be allocated the same school (if they want it) ignores some difficult issues.

Oh I do see the problem panel it's just even more complicated with multiples! The admission system is creaky anyway, they keep changing the priorities. More clarity would help!

There's a consultation at the moment about the admissions code, I think. Have TAMBA made representations? I know they've been pushing this for years. As I said, I can't see a way of reconciling the (understandable) wish to keep multiples together with the statutory limit on class sizes and the expectation of parents of singletons that their children won't be dropped from the class to make way for multiples to be kept together, but perhaps TAMBA (or anyone else) can present a workable option.

That is daft! Whether you appeal or write to complain, I hope they sort it out so that both your twins are in the same school. I have heard of lots of bureaucratic madness in school allocations, but this is crazy.

for siblings born in the same cohort, the PAN can be exceeded by one.

i don't think admissions realised they were twins, so just let them know this is the case and they should go up to 31 in the class that your ds with sn has been allocated.

it's just an error. admissions will sort it.

Thanks for all your messages. We will be contacting our LEA today to find out the situation but we hae already begun our appeal process as we speak!!
Will keep you posted.

I'm afraid madwomanintheattic is wrong. The LA may NOT exceed the PAN to admit siblings born in the same cohort.

As Panelmember says, a lot will depend on the exact wording of the admission criteria and under what circumstances they give priority to siblings. It may be that children who have not yet been started at the school don't count. Another possibility is that they don't give priority to siblings of children admitted through statements of SEN - we recently came across a school that operated a similar policy. However, that would seem to be a breach of the Admissions Code.

I look forward to hearing what the LA says.

It might be worth contacting TAMBA for advice. I'm pretty sure they have a campaign to try and sort out a decent policy with LEAs, and they certainly covered this in their members magazine a few issues back ...

TAMBA do actually have an appeals pack for separated twins, you have to take out membership, which enables you to download the pack. Definitely contact the LEA, to ensure that your second twin is alloted the correct slot in the waiting list due to sibling status, but I'm sure that TAMBA have helped with some successful appeals.

oh, ok. prepared to be wrong. have been in 5 leas now who apply this criteria, though. hopefully, op is in one of those. hadn't realised it wasn't a general position.

The problem is that the 30 in a class maximum trumps all other issues, including the best one of common sense, unless an admission panel is prepared to admit.
I might be prepared to argue a case that the admission code does say that siblings inlcuding twins should be in the same school (allbeit complying with the ICS regs) and that it especially applies in this situation where we are talking about a twin with a statement of special needs, who has already been given a place at the school. This could just be a case where a "nice" panel may just feel the LA have not been reasonable.
Where madwomanintheattic is coming from is that a child with a special needs statement can be admitted to a full school which is named on the statement but when it comes to reception year intake any pupil with a statement counts as part of the admission number. A bit of a straight one there but that is the rules!

My understanding is that Reception classes CAN exceed 30 as it is Foundation stage not KS1. We had a reception class of 31 a few years ago as a parent successfully appealed on health grounds and so the school had to admit the extra pupil.
Luckily for the school a pupil left during that year so the cohort started Y1 with 30 pupils. I was a governor at the time and as far as I was aware that was the legal situation. Worth looking in to it to see if that is still the case.

Multiple births
If the last pupil to be offered a place within the school?s published admission number (PAN) is
a multiple birth or same cohort sibling, any further same cohort sibling will be admitted, if the
parents so wish, even though this may raise the intake number above the school?s PAN.

that is cut and pasted from the admissions criteria from hampshire lea for 2011 yr r admissions...

the same rule has existed in every lea that my dcs have attended (as i said, i don't pay particular attention, as our case is statemented child plus different cohort siblings. but i have seen it a lot!)

so you do need to check your specific lea. hampshire is just the last place we needed a place, so the one i went to as i knew i'd seen it.

obviously can't comment on whether this rule exists in your specific lea, (and obviously it's not across the board if tamba have gone to the trouble of getting a policy on it) but it has been quite common where we have lived...

Our LA admissions state that multiples get first dibs after the 'sibling' rule and before the 'living nearest to the school' rule, so it's unlikely ever to come up here.

Your situation is unusual in that your twins have been checked against different admission rules so possibly an oversight? Good luck anyway.

Sorry, just checked out the DFES website - they have been changes made in April of this year restricting class sizez to 30 for all infant classes : www.education.gov.uk/schools/leadership/governance/guidetothelaw/b0065507/gttl/12-admissions/infant-class-sizes

However, there is a case for entry as an 'excepted' child. This status is applied to a child who has successfully appealled and allows the class size to exceed 30. However, the school must have the number back to 30 for Y1 or have employed another teacher for that year group. If you were clear on your submission that you had twins then I would imagine there are good grounds for appeal but I think TAMBA would definitely be the best place to start with.

innertiger reception classes fall under infant class size rules - 1 teacher to 30 pupils under EYFS
The EYFS does not place ratio and qualification requirements on reception classes in maintained schools provided they fall within the legal definition of an infant class (i.e. a class containing pupils, the majority of whom will reach the age of five, six, or seven during the course of the school year). Such classes are already subject to infant class size legislation which requires that an infant class must not contain more than 30 pupils while an ordinary teaching session is conducted by a single 'school teacher' (as defined by section 122 of the Education Act 2002 and the Education (School Teachers' Prescribed Qualifications, etc) Order 2003). However, children attending reception classes are still part of the EYFS and schools should take account of the particular needs and vulnerabilities of these children when making their staffing arrangements. Many schools already employ full time support staff to work alongside teachers in reception classes.
it could be argued that a second teacher is needed if the class size rises above 26 (which is the case for nursery classes).
The EYFS recommends that, where the size of a group or class exceeds 26 children, it would be good practice to assign an additional teacher to it and that an additional teacher should always be assigned when the size of a class exceeds 30.