OK recieved LA's case for the Appeal. Anyone mind giving me some pointers?

[JackiePaper]

We are appealing for a yr3 place for our son as he is currently being bullied at his current school. We have accepted a reception place for our daughter at the school we are appealing for.

So, I received the LA's case today and they are saying their reasons to refuse admission are Fair Access Protocols meaning that potentially 4 more children could be admitted to that class (mixed yr3/4 class). Which could potentially mean a class of 34, and for this reason they will not admit above the PAN.

They have however also said that 1 statemented child has been admitted under this protocol for 2 afternoon per week (different class), but the only other child admitted to the school above the PAN was admitted on appeal.

They have also said the usual about prejudicing the provision of efficient education and use of resources. Although they have not specifically said how. They have said that cloakrooms, corridors, toilets, dining and play space will be put under strain by admitting additional children.

Also there are 2 appeals being held -ours for yr 3 and someone else appealing for yr2. The other peoples appeal is an infant class size appeal - will our appeals be held together, as I think that would be a bit confusing as the prejudice arguement doesnt apply to them?

Any advice on how best to respond to the authoritys case would be very welcome. We already have an e-mail from the head saying that the current yr3/4 class has 31 in it and she would be happy to have 31 next year.

Thanks in advance :)

You will be expected to present your case. It is up to you what you say but I certainly wouldn't read out a 15 page statement! Personally I use a list of bullet points to remind myself of the things I want to cover but you should do whatever you feel comfortable with. Remember you will also be asked to sum up your case at the end of the hearing.

Good luck.

Ours was 4 sides of A4 now I'm worrying we didn't put enough in!!!

I really hope you win.

Its not how much, its the quality of the information in the submission that counts. You should be puting in what is relevant.

Bullet points a really good idea, least then I will have a promptso I don't forget anything. I guess I'll just cover the main points as they will all have read our case. I know 15 pages sounds a lot but we had done a lot of research on proving the school can accommodate one more and the had to outline ds's bullying at school, and include evidence, and then go through why this school is the right one for him. We had a lot of evidence - emails letters etc that made up part of it.

Will get writing an outline this evening while ds is at beavers. Thanks for all your help everyone, fingers are definitely crossed for Thursday!

Good luck with your appeal Poppyella, don't stress about your statement I'm sure ours was just unusually long! I really hope you win your appeal too :)

Hi Jackie, do you mind if I ask how you wrote your statement on the actual appeal form? Did you hand write it all, or just a bit on the actual form and then type the rest? I can do basics on a computer but can't seem to work out how to be able to type straight onto the form. [hblush]
Thanks in advance, and good luck for Thursday!

Help!

Just spoke to ACE and they have said the LA are right, and they can use Fair Access Protocol as a reason not to admit. Looked on the Admissions Appeals Code and it is in there :(

"At this first stage where relevant, the panel must also consider the impact of the locally agreed Fair Access Protocol (see paragraph 3.54). Under such locally agreed but mandatory Fair Access Protocols, all maintained schools and Academies are occasionally obliged to admit additional children outside the normal admission round even though they may already have admitted up to their published admission number...The panel must, therefore, take into account the school?s obligation to admit such children throughout the year when deciding whether to allow any appeals."

That's why they've won all their appeals then. Because potentially if they admit my son there could be 35 in a class, and the classrooms are too small for that.

I guess all I can argue now is that 4 Fair Access children are unlikely to turn up? Do you think it is worth asking the LA how many children have been admitted to the school through this protocol in say the last 5 years, and hope the answer is none?

Prh and admission - how should I play this one then? Do you think I should still challenge it or keep quiet?

pleasehelp - we didn't get a form from the LA, just wrote our reasons for appeal and sent it off to them. Good Luck :)

I am unconvinced by ACE's interpretation of paragraphs 3.3 of the Admission Appeals Code. I do not believe it is intended to allow LAs to make the argument your LA has. After all, that would mean that LAs could use their Fair Access Protocol to deny any appeals, simply by saying that each school may have to accept up to 50 pupils per year (say) under the protocol and therefore the school cannot possibly cope if any more are admitted just in case all those FAP places are needed.

The success or failure of your appeal, as with the previous appeals, will depend on what the appeal panel make of all this. I remain of the view that you should refer the matter to the LGO if your appeal fails.

Thankyou prh, your help is invaluable. :)

Sorry to harp on and be a pain, but I really don't get it. What does section 3.3 mean then? Just so I know what the panel should take into account with regard to Fair Access, and what they shouldn't.

sorry for being a bit dim, but this is really confusing me.

I would interpret it as meaning simply that the panel must consider the possibility that the school may have to admit more children when deciding how many, if any, the school can admit. I don't think it should be interpreted as meaning they have to keep space open for all the children the school may have to admit under the protocol as there is no way of knowing how many that is, despite your LA's attempts to define it.

I would be tempted to attack this Fair Access Protocol and show how ridiculous it is. Ask them how many times in the last few years this school has had to admit 2 children in each year through the Fair Access Protocol. And ask them what happens if every school in the area has already admitted 2 additional children to Y3 and another family moves in and applies for a place. By law they have to supply a place but their Fair Access Protocol says they can't.

I have to agree with PRH here. This is not the interpretation that the two main national "trainers" of admission staff put on this or many LAs. It is a statement around the fact that the panel cannot assume that just because somebody has been admitted under a fair access protocol it is the green light to admit more pupils under appeal.

However I have been on Worcs LA site and this is under their admission arrangements for comunity and VC schools

?In Year? criteria for Key Stages 2, 3 and 4
All community or voluntary controlled schools with Key Stage 2,3 and 4 classes can be required to exceed the published admission number by up to 2 places in each year group to admit pupils:
a. who have been or are at high risk of being permanently excluded from school;
b. who are looked after;
c. Schools can be required to admit pupils recognised by the Local Authority as being ?hard to place? within the ?Fair Access Protocol.? This will apply to pupils who have had their case reviewed by the relevant ?Headteacher Fair Access Panel.?

As we are talking about year 3 I would have to assume that this statement applies to your admission appeal. What however it does not say is that the school must take these pupils, it says schools can be required, which is a long long way from you must admit. If the LA was saying these places must be reserved as part of the admission criteria that would be illegal under the admission code and I would say that the same applies here. It is not a legal requirement it is an agreement with the schools that no more than 2 would be admitted, to stop some schools from receiving more than is appropriate of these pupils. My reaction is to fight this statement by saying this is not mandatory and therefore the appeal panel cannot make the assumption that 4 places must be reserved, they must work on the basis of "can a further pupil be admitted to the 30 already in the class". If the panel then make a decision which includes this requirement to hold places then you report it to the LGO as you having been disadvantaged by the decision.
I would also be tempted to take this to the Schools Adjudictor for a ruling as to whether this is legal to be in an admission criteria, because this is actually quite important. If this is allowed to stand any LA can reduce the level of successful appeals by introducing a similar rule which seems manifestly unfair.

We won!!! Thankyou for all your help, your advice has been invaluable.

I have to say the appeal itself was not what I was expecting, everytime we asked a question of the LA they just repeated the prejudice argument without backing it up in any way and the panel almost seemed to assume that prejudice would be caused and anything we said otherwise was dismissed. The chair keep hurrying us along too which was a bit unnerving. But hey ho it's all irrelevant now cos we won! So relieved this whole nightmare is over and we can all move on. Thanks again to everyone on here that helped us :)

Well done!!!

I have been following your thread, I am going to appeal a week today to try and get my dd place number 31 in Year 3.

I so hope we will be posting something similar next Friday!!!

Congratulations again!!

Well done!