School place refused - can I appeal?

[Huff]

Hi,

I have received a letter today from Schools Planning and Admissions to say that my request for a place for my daughter (year 5) has been refused. It says that the place has been refused because it 'would prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources, which means the disruption and difficulty caused to the school and the quality of education it delivers as a result of admitting the additional pupil'.

Can anyone tell me what that means in plain English, please?

The PAN is 45 and I believe that there are 34 children in the class at the moment. I know that last years, Year 6 had 45 children and I think that this years reception has 34 - two classes of 17.

Can I ask for the other class sizes and pupil numbers and could this be the basis
of my appeal?

As far as I am await the schools new intake is always set at 45 so surely they should have the facility to take this number even if most years are not up to 45??

Many thanks for any advice

Huff

Personally I think this school should have split the Y5 class already. These days classes of 36 are pretty rare at primary school level. I expect some parents will be happy if a successful appeal results in their child being in a smaller class. And with so many schools full to bursting I really cannot see any justification for refusing a child entry to a school which is operating substantially below capacity.

The OP is applying for a transfer to what seems to be an unpopular school. We don't know the reasons but presumably there is a problem with the current school. The alternative to this school is for her to stay put. I am sure the OP is of the view that the implications for her daughter if she stays put are far worse than the implications of joining this school.

The OP has stated her reason: "the reason I would like to move her is because the new school is a 'feeder' for a great secondary and this is where I would like her to go at 11".

I agree if that it does end up being a case where there are 2 classes in Year 5, then it may be a good outcome (depending on who the school manages to recruit at short notice to teach the new class). Even if the other parents may prefer the small class size, a new to the school teacher etc may not be seen as a boon, especially if this is in a grammar school area.

Thinking about this, one question that you need to ask is whether any child has joined the school in any year group since the beginning of the year.

Of course you know that this is so because of the 36th pupil in year 5, but
they may well have admitted in other year groups as well. If they have then their case for no more admissions in year 5 is weakened by the fact that they are admitting to other year groups. They cannot expect to have different policies for different year groups and not expect an appeal panel to question the logic of this.

Yes. You can appeal. My mum works on the appeals board of the local LEA. Which one are you on?

However you should know that they have to refuse a lot of very good candidates. My mum apparently sometimes cries as they are really worthy candidates for appeal but she has to say no.

And I agree they should already have split the class. 36 is far too many at that, or any, age

I"ve just checked the info that I received from Admissions - In Sept 2011, Year 1 went up by 1 to 33, Year 3 by 1 to 41 and, of course Year 5 by 1 to 36. So they have been admitting to other year groups but because the year groups are spilt the classes sizes are smaller.

I do agree that a class of 36 is too large but again looking back at the numbers from last year all the classes were mixed KS1 and KS2. For 2011 they are mixed up until Year 4 which has 1 class of 27, Y5 with 36 and Y6 with 31. So they have obviously made a decision this year to spread 94 (Y4,5,& 6) children across 3 classes and the other 165 across 7 classes. Last year they had 114 (Y4,5 & 6) spread across 5 classes. I wonder why the school decided to do that? It dosen't make sense??

I have no idea why they have a PAN of 45, the birth rates where I live are supposed to be falling and I know of a number of schools that have had their PAN reduced.

For the last few years parents from my area have been transferring their children over to this school because of the good academic results and because its a feeder for the high school. And I wouldn't mind betting the reason they have got 46 in Reception this year is because a lot of them are out of catchment.

I asked for the roll numbers today for 2008 and 2009 to see how many they had on the roll and how the classes were spilt.

Can anyone help me with a school appeal?

My daughter is 4 and in pre-school. She didn't get accepted to the main school for September.

I had appealed and hadn't heard anything, I just got told my daughter was first on the waiting list. I knew of a place that had become available so emailed again and my daughter hadn't got the place.

I got told that the list was fluid and subject to change, which they hadn't told me previously, they also said they hadn't had my appeal. Another child had the place because they live closer. I'm not in the catchment area but her dad and family are and they have my daughter alot because I work 12 hours shifts including nights.

I have sent another appeal and made sure they have it this time. I have a hearing next week, could anyone help me with Any information I could use to win the appeal?x

You won't get priority on the basis of relatives living in catchment, it has to be the child's residential address. If it an Infant Class Size appeal you need to demonstrate a mistake has deprived your dc of a place, which might be the case if the child who was offered the wl place ahead of you only joined it after the place was available. You should start a new thread though as this one is very old.

What grounds are you appealing on?
Logistics isn’t a valid one and it sounds like the child’s primary address is out of catchment so it’s not surprising someone moving into catchment would push your child down the list.
Also, for R there is a strict limit on class size so it’s going to be difficult

Yes another child has jumped ahead. Also if her dad has 50 percent childcare could that go towards it? How do I start a new thread??xx

I'm appealing on the fact that she already has a place in the nursery school there and her dad lives around the corner. It will be difficult but i want to try xx

But neither of those things are relevant. She lives outside the catchment with you. I doubt the admissions criteria links nursery attendance to priority acceptance into Reception. Has she got a place elsewhere?

You can't use the reasons stated. Have a nursery place gives you no right to a reception place - many children don't attend school nursery at all due to parental work commitments. The fact that her dad is local is not relevant unless he has 50% shared residency and the child benefit is paid to him.

Sorry, but in the limited reasons you have provided you should prepare yourself for the appeal to fail.

Not grounds for appeal

no grounds for appeal
dads/relatives house is not her main residence your house is