Reception Class Appeal

[mummy22gorgeousboys]

Hi,

Was just hoping someone could advise me please.
My Son goes to a nursery school and has been refused a place in Reception on the grounds of living too far away and the school was over subscribed.
It is 2.1 miles away and is classed as another LEA. However, the 2 schools I applied for have declined a place for my Son and so he has NO school to go to at the start of September.

I have an appeal hearing on the 9th June. Is the fact that he was offered NO place at all reason enough to maybe get a place at the school?
The appeal paperwork has stated that the LEA is considering the appeal as a 'class size appeal', however, there are 70 reception places. So I feel I can argue that no qualifying measures need to be taken/
Any advise or help would be really appreciated.

Many Thanks

Mummy,
The fact that you have been offered no place is not a enough reason for an appeal panel to give you a place at this moment in time. The LA have a legal duty to offer a school place and they must do this, but it does not actually have to be that close to your home, it can be anywhere within reasonable distance, which can easily be an hours travel time from previous legale case. It is a mute point at which point the LA is failing in their duty to provide a school place but i have to say i do not know the answer to that question other than it obviously has to be before your child should start school legally.

If you still have no place in September then you would presumably have to be offered a place under the Fair Access Protocol.

The only way that 70 admission places can generate an infant class size appeal is if they are running 7 classes of 30 across years reception, 1 and 2.
In other words there would have to be 2 reception classes of 30 and one with 10 reception and 20 year1. There is no other possible combination that would result in the infant class size regs being involved. Is this actually what you have got, as it is a fairly unusual set up of the classes. It is far more usual to have 3 classes across reception and then 5 classes across year1 and2, when it is not an infant class case.

Another possibility is that they have 4 classes of 30 in Y1/2 with the other 20 children being taught in mixed classes with Y3. That would be an unusual arrangement, though.

The appeal papers should tell you how many children are in each class and which years each class covers. That will tell you whether or not the LA is correct in saying ICS rules apply. If you are uncertain, post the information here.

In addition to your appeal you should be chasing your LA to find out what they are doing about coming up with a place for your son.

You need quickly to get to the bottom of how classes are arranged, to establish whether this really is an ICS appeal as the LEA claims.

I know it's too late for you - and I don't want to rub salt in the wound - but for anyone else reading this I would like to say (in fact shout)

1. Don't ever assume that because your child goes to the pre-school, they will get a place in the school. They may not - the admissions criteria for each are separate and different.

1. Don't ever assume that naming only one or two schools on your application form will force the LEA's hand into giving you a place. It won't, unless you meet the admissions criteria - naming just one or two schools won't give you any extra priority. If you don't get a place at one of your preferred schools, you will be offered a place at the nearest school with a vacancy, which could be miles away and could be one you would never have chosen. Make sure at least one of your preferences is a school which you would be willing to accept and where you can be pretty sure of getting a place - by all means include some long shots, but you need one cert.

Hi,
Thanks for the advice. I just wanted to clarify that Alfie is legally supposed to start school in September. It is the September after his 4th birthday. Also, no school place offered, not necessarily one of my chosen ones - none at all. So are the LA allowed to do this? I have put his name down on waiting lists for a few schools.

I have spoken to our preferred schools' reception this morning and there is definitely 70 reception places available, although I don't know how the classes are made up in numbers. I am waiting for the paperwork from the school to come through for my appeal, I'm assuming there will be more info on that.

One of the things I am really unsure of is the fact that the school we're appealing for is classed as another authority from our home address. We are literally just on the border. So as it is classed as another LA from our address, can the LA we applied for decline both applications for a school place? Or is it down to my LA to provide education - by law.

Thanks for the replies so far.

I thought from your original post that you already had the LA's case for the appeal. That should contain a full class arrangement.

It is down to your own LA to make sure they offer a place for your son. Did you apply to these schools through your own LA or through their LA? The LA that covers the schools is perfectly entitled to decline your applications for both schools and, having done so, is under no obligation to come up with an alternative place. If you applied through the schools' LA it may be that you have fallen through the cracks in the system and your own LA isn't aware that it needs to find a place for your son.