School Appeal?

[Gilbo1972]

Can anyone give me advice. My son will be leaving an infant school this july to go on to a junior school. he has received our 3rd choice C of E primary school which is technically our nearest church school.

the thing is this. We recently moved to the country where we are now, August last year, previous to this we were living abroad for a year and my son was in the local greek village school and previous to this he was in reception in a primary school in outer london, who could not offer him a place until he was 51/2 as the were building the class room. As you can see due to unforeseen circumstance he has had a very disruptive and unsettling start to his education.

He joined his present C of E infant school for year 2 as a late applicant. He was extremely lucky to get a place as it is oversubscribed and a lovely small village school. Sadly it only goes up to year 2 and everyone then tends to join the two local junior schools one is a church school and the other isn't. The school are so pleased with him as he come leaps and bounds and has become settled and happy and is storming ahead academically. We as a family feel we have more connection and are very much part of the school, church and village community of the infant school even though we are living in the neighboring village. Our place in the neighboring village is rented and in our heads temporary accommodation until we were settled from coming back from greece. We are in the process of selling a property abroad so we can buy here. We do not intend to stay here as the house is tiny and my son shares with his 5 year old sister. If we could we would move into the village where the infant school is, and nearly did but our buyer pulled out last december.

Unfortunately, because we are in the neighboring village, we do not live in the published criteria parish of the C of E junior school which was our first choice. But we are active members of the parish church affiliated to the present infant school and our first choice junior school.

My son has had some issues originally with settling and making friendships for the 3rd year running but now is really beginning to settle.

We have no connection with the school we have been offered which is in yet another area. We don't go to have no need to go to that area, we don't know anyone there, no one else from the infant school goes there. We don't know the local church. Fine if our son had had a good steady foundation, but with his history we don't really want him to have to start all over again. Our infant school is very supportive of our worries.

We are on the waiting lists for the other 2 local junior schools. But what really gets me is that on the council application for the schools, I put under over comments you think may be suitable, I put that we are in the process of selling (which we were at that time) and very likely to move into the parish in the foreseeable future. I then filled in the supplementary church form in good faith, only to learn they didn't even bother processing it as we were out of catchment area. So now we have no religious grounds even on the waiting list. (and if we had moved, I would not have known that we would not have any religious ground even on the waiting list in the right area, that would have taken us up a criteria). I know its irrelevant as we didn't move, but I find it quite arrogant that they didn't bother to find out if we really are church goers and take into account that at a later stage of application we may have been in their catchment area.

Anyway would we have any basis for appeal on our close ties with the schools and churches, and our son's history and progress for an appeal? Our infant school thinks we should and will do what they can?

I'm afraid they are quite right to ignore your comments that you were expecting to move into the parish. What matters is your address at the time you applied. If you had moved before allocations were made you would probably have been treated as a late applicant so you still wouldn't have got a place at this school.

Do you think they have made a mistake and placed you in the wrong admissions category? If they have a category for children from outside the parish who attend church they should have placed your son in that category. However, if all out of catchment children are treated equally they have got it right. They cannot give your son priority because you are church goers who may be moving into the parish at some unknown date in the future. You describe this as arrogant but all they have done is follow the rules.

If you move into the parish now it will move your son up the waiting list.

To win your appeal you will need to show that the damage to your son through not attending this school outweighs the problems the school will have if they are forced to admit another pupil. I don't think that your close ties with the schools and churches are the basis for a successful appeal. Your son's difficulties with settling are also unlikely to lead to a successful appeal unless you have expert evidence to back you up and say that your son really needs to attend your preferred school. Having said that, you may still win an appeal if the school's case for refusing admission is weak so it is certainly worth a try.

Thanks for the response.

No, they have followed their admissions criteria regarding the church thing. It just makes me cross that they didn't send the supplementary forms to the churches listed with all the other forms they sent to the same church. I do find that a bit arrogant. Regardless whether we are in their catchment area, we are applying on religious grounds and that should have been processed regardless. I handed in those forms before the application date, and realistically we could have moved in that time, then we would have been higher on their criteria for admission. And if we were treated as a late applicant we would then be higher on the waiting list. There is still a good chance that we could move to that village over the next month or so, but we will then be at the bottom of the waiting list as they don't have the religious aspect processed.

All of the above is hypothetical and therefore, totally irrelevant i know. But like I said the appeal would be on the effect on my son and not sure how to present this. Our head is more than keen to write as she thinks it will effect him, but would this be enough?, what other evidence would we need to supply?. I am sure the church would also be happy to back our case too.

many thanks

We successfully appealed for a year 3 place in a school which had no spaces and already had 30 in a class.
The limit of 30 children per class only applies to Infant years and can easily be challenged in an appeal for a place in year 3. Questions like "Have you ever had more than 30 in a class before etc" tend to be very revealing. We were also pleasantly surprised that the appeal panel shot down a lot of the objections raised by the school govenors. They apreciate that there are not enough school places and wishy washy excuses about lack of space don't cut the mustard, particularly as many of them have seen very overcrowded inner city schools.
Give an appeal at your first choice school a shot, they can only say no and it can't change your position on the waiting list.

Sorry to barge in on your thread Gilbo, annelongditton what did you use as your grounds for appeal for the y3 place if you don't mind me asking? We are about to appeal a y3 place at our local primary after moving away from DD's infant/jr school, she has a place at the jr but we want her at a closer school if poss.

Hi Many thanks for your responses. Having looked into it all a little more, I am beginning to understand the process a bit more and realise it will be very very stressful and difficult and a long shot, however...

We still think the positive emotional and social impact (ie no impact for him) for our son going to the appeal school far outweighs the negative emotional well-being and self esteem impact he will feel if he goes to the allocated school. In our words, the appeal school is the only school that can give him the stability and familiarity he has had missing from his education for the last 3/4 years of his life. As a family our social circles are only beginning to form around the church and the infant school, we have no friends/family or community connections in the village we live and even less with the area the allocated school is in. I am hoping to speak to our infant school after the hols and see if they can talk to an educational psychologist about his history and wherever the continuation to the junior school with his class mates and church mates and same vicars and church input will be really beneficial for him, or if it is just a worried mum (our infant school seems to think it is a good reason).

I can't get the fact out of my head that the appeal school didn't even send our supplementary form to the church though, just because we don't live in their catchment area. Surely regardless of the outcome that is discriminatory as they did not process the application completely? I have since learnt that another little boy who is in our sons class and church, who also does not live in the catchment area also had their supplementary form not processed. In their case the appeal school IS their nearest church school, and therefore they should have been in the admissions criteria and therefore are appealing. A strong reason for appeal, unlike us. ;-(

Anyway any advice on wherever we would be wasting our time would be gratefully received!!

From what you have said about their admission criteria for this school sending the supplementary form to the church would have made no difference to the outcome. It is therefore not in any way discriminatory for them not to process the form. Why should they have to waste the effort processing information that will not affect the outcome of your application?

Hi prh47bridge,

Ok, ok.... forget about that! A bugbear I have to bear! I will stop going on about it! promise! ;-)

Thanks for your responses but what about the rest of it? I have to ask as I am getting really stressed out about his and need some advice and it has been so hard getting any concrete advice with all these holidays and bank holidays. All I want to do is give my son some stability that he has been missing since he entered the educational system! Maybe I should PM you separately! rather than rambling on a forum as there is an awful lot I would like to explain about the situation, but feel this really isn't the place to go into in huge detail! Would that be ok?

sorry if I sound neurotic and spoilt it is not the way I intend!

If and when you move you should move up the waiting list. I would also appeal, as at my DCs school you would have a good chance of getting in, as the class sizes are usually over 30 for years 3 up.
Just get your arguments clear, about the movement away from his friends affecting your son's education. You need to get your arguments clear for why this particular school is the best for your son.