Exceptional Circumstances

[rememberme2]

Does anyone know what the process is for applications that are sent to LEA regarding exceptional circumstances and how they should be processed by Surrey County Council

If this is the only school within 1.5 miles you have a case to go back and argue with them. However, if there are other schools less than 1.5 miles away I'm afraid they are right. Assuming there are other schools within 1.5 miles is it possible for your daughter to go to one of them?

If you haven't already appealed this year you could do so and put forward the letter from the specialist.

This is the response I got from them. "You have not shown us that you are unable to get daughter to another school apart from St James'. If you wish us to review the decision, you would need to provide further medical evidence that sets out Zaahirah's condition and why she needs a nearer school than the schools we have offered which are more than 1.5 miles".
I appealed for this school but also another school which is a catholic school which is nearer 603mtrs, did not have additional evidence from the specialist and was refused. There is one more school which is approx 1.5 miles I have a appeal for this on 17th october.
I do not understand what further information they want. I am not driving and it is very stressful for her to walk 0.7 miles but do-able and for me to try and encourage her. Walking her 3 miles will be impossible hence the reason she is being taught from home rather than walking her to a school because it will cause her stress and I will only end up taking her out of the school.

What further evidence do they want?

I spoke to my doctor, she has advised me to ask LA what further information they need as all the information has been provided, if they can be specific in what they need then she can look at it and provide the evidence.

A lot depends on exactly what the specialist has said.

I note that you say "I am not driving". If the specialist simply says your daughter cannot walk more than 1.5 miles to school you cannot force Surrey to give her the school you want by saying "I am not driving therefore you must admit her". It doesn't work like that. If her medical condition means she cannot travel in a car it would be different. You may also have an argument if you don't own a car and haven't passed your driving test. But if the only problem is that you don't want to drive her or it would be inconvenient then I'm afraid Surrey are right.

I note you have an appeal coming up. Send in a copy of the specialist's letter as evidence for the appeal. It may persuade the panel to admit your daughter but there are no guarantees.

The specialist letter states she needs to walk within 1.5 mile and not travel by car.

I don't drive because of the side effects I get with my medication and I walk the children to school. The Gp has already told them this in the letter.

Can you tell us exactly what the specialist says please. The exact words used may be very important here.

Yes, see below.
daughter is being treated with some splint which she has to wear most of the time and it is advisable that she walks using these.
The family have contacted us to say that because her school is quite far awa, she has to be taken by a car which is preventing her from doing her regular walking and excercises. It would be helpful from our point of view if daughter is moved to a nearby school within 1.5miles so she can make this daily journey to school rather than taken by car.

rememeberme2,
The words that are a problem are "the family have contacted me etc......." What that implies to the LA is that the Doctor is not saying that this is a must for the medical condition but a nice to have situation and no LA is going to accept that as enough medical evidence.
The medical letter to have any chance of success must say. I am the child's doctor and confirm this longterm medical condition. This condition means that whilst they must not be walking more than 1.5 miles a day, walking is necessary exercise to help in the treatment of this condition. I believe that X school being approx X distance from the child's home would be ideal for the child in giving appropriate medical exercise whilst not over-exercising the leg.
Even then there is no guarantee of success but I would not expect Surrey to agree to this as the letter currently stands.

Thanks! for that I will see what surrey say about what further evidence they need.

With regards to her appeal on 17th what shall I do about the specialist letters?

Shall I still show these?

I would still submit the letters as evidence. They may sway the appeal panel but be prepared for them to take the same view as the council. You certainly won't damage your case by including these letters.

I have just checked the walking distance for the schools offered one of them is 3.6 miles the other 3.7 miles but the council say it is approx 2.9 miles safe walking route. How do I get information regarding the safe walking route and how do they calculate it. I used google map. The crow file which is the straight line distance when I checked that was 2.95 miles approx for the schools they offered. It would take my daughter 2hrs to walk to any of those schools.

Ask the council what route they used. They should be able to tell you.

The problem I can see with the specialist's letter is that while it specifies that your dd needs to put in a certain amount of walking it does not specify that this walking needs to be done on the way to school. The LEA will no doubt be wondering why she can't do the walking after school like other children do physio after school. As far as I can see the letter doesn't really cover that bit (e.g. she would get too tired).

But I'd still include it- just in case.

Dear prh47bridge see below the walking distance response from the council.

(In terms of the shortest safe walking routes to the schools we have offered, officers in the Admissions & Transport Team at Surrey County Council measure distances using our Geographical Information System from the address point of the pupil's house, as set by Ordnance Survey, to the nearest school gate available for pupils to use. This process is set out in our Guide to Home School Transport for 4-16 Year Olds which is available from www.surreycc.gov.uk by clicking on Learning/Schools/School Transport. You can also obtain a paper copy of this Guide by ringing the Schools & Childcare Service on (0300) 200 1004.)

No-one walks to school in a straight line it is unrealistic and unsafe, also a journey for an 8 year old walking should take no more that 45mins. It will take my daughter alot longer than this, put here under alot of stress and strain and would be very tiring for her as it would be an uphill journey all the way. Correct mileage is 3.6 and 3.7miles for the schools offered.

There are two separate issues being confused here.

For school admissions they use straight line distance. A lot of councils do because it is easy to calculate and unlikely to be challenged by parents who think they have found a shorter route. However, for the purposes of deciding whether or not you are entitled to free transport they use the shortest walking route that a child, accompanied as necessary, can walk with reasonable safety to the school. That is clearly going to be longer than the straight line distance. From the sounds of it your daughter is likely to qualify for free transport.

For admissions purposes they are correct to use the straight line distance. That is what their admissions booklet says they will do so that is what they have to do. If they are saying it is 2.9 miles from your home to the school they mean that is the straight line distance, not the shortest walking route. The fact that no child can walk to school in a straight line is irrelevant. It is how Surrey has chosen to measure distance so you can't argue with that.

I dont understand why your daughter cant be taken to school by car (your medical reasons apart). I am a little that she medically needs to walk to and from school. She will be walking around school in the day and then again at home.

She needs to be supervised when she is doing her regular walking, because she get pains and pins and needles on the lower part of her body, the splint she wears are very uncomfortable for her, she will be in them at school all day but sitting down most of the time in her lessons, the exercise she will get walking is not enough at when she is at school. Therefore she needs to be walking regularly to school to get her exercise but at the same time if she gets injured she is close to the GP and the walk in centre. I already walk my son to school which is 100m from the school my daughter can walk to comfortably and supervised. A car is not an option because it will stop her from doing her regular exercises.

But rememberme, wouldn't a reasonable argument be that you could drive part of the way, then walk for the remaining distance that your daughter needs to walk?

So if the school she is allocated is 2.5 miles away but she needs to walk 1.5 miles, then drive the first mile, park and then walk the remaining distance?

My children go to a childminder before school, who happens to live quite a distance away from the school. She drives part of the way, then the children walk the remaining distance.

That is easy to say but causes inconvenience and stress and I have 4 kids to think about.

I shoudl imagine everyone with 5 kids would find the school run difficult, inconvenient and stressful. I cant see how this would trump you over other families?? After all you chose to have 5 kids and must have known school runs would be a job.
I still cant see how she needs to be driven to school rather than getting her exercise from the normal school day where she'd always be in reach of adults anyway. She'd have to be driven to a gp or walk in centre anway and then wait to be seen so not sure how the distance thing could come in here.

I am not clear why she can't do the walking exercises after school?
I have 4 children and not sure admissions will take that into account as a reason to admit her. good luck anyway

Remember, as far as I remember from all I have read on here, your convenience or inconvenience or stress is not actually a factor that can be used in an appeal (it's the same for children who get allocated a separate school from siblings - the fact that is hugely inconvenient for a parent to get children to separate schools has no weight at an appeal).

As far as I understand it:

• Your child needs to walk c. 1.5 miles per day (or is that 3? 1.5 miles each way?) for medical reasons.
• She has currently been allocated a school further than that away from your house.
• You have some issues with driving (you have given different ones in different posts e.g. having lots of other children, having side effects of medication)

You are hoping that these issues might give you a reason to be considered under exceptional arrangements in school admissions.

I suppose what I am saying is that you would have to be very clear that there are no reasonable adjustments that you could make that would satisfy these needs without admission to this particular school.

• Are there any other schools within this distance?
• Could the need for walking not be met outside school hours through e.g. walking before or after school (remember that the fact it is slightly more inconvenient for you is not a valid reason to force the school to admit)?
• Could a mixture of driving and walking, or public transport and walking, meet the walking requirement but allow your child to attend a school further away?
• If the school offered is as far away as you say, then your child would have transport to school provided anyway, so whether you drive or not becomes irrelevant.

So the school / LA could argue that e.g. another school could meet the same requirements, that transport provided + walking out of school could meet the requirements, that public transport or you driving a short distance + walking could meet the requirements, or even that that taking her to before school care who then walk her to school could meet the requirements and therefore there is no over-riding reason why your duaghter has to be admitted to that particular school.

there are deeper issues which i would not like to go into, i have no family here the schools offered my daughter,she does not know anyone.

I'm sorry, but having no family nearby or not knowing anyone are also not sufficient to enable a succesful appeal. I moved 250 miles away from my family and both sons had to join schools where they knew no-one ( and my youngest subsequently moved onto a secondary school where he also knew no one either!) This is a frequent occurrence and not exceptional by any means.
You seem to consider you have lots of reasons for the request you are making but none of them seem to be sufficient for a succesful appeal.

Like snowball, I cannot see that this makes your dd exceptional.

DS (who at that point had been home educated for several months following in-school bullying that left him a selective mute who never talked to adults outside the family) joined a school where he knew not a soul, in a new town where we had no friends and no family within 200 miles. That is normal, not exceptional.