Appealing for a place in Y5

[KoJaq]

We are moving from a large town to a small village within county. My DS1 already attends the catchment secondary in Y7 (we were lucky to get him in in September). The village primary is lovely and we would like both DDs to go there. It is 0.5miles from our new house. They have a place for DD2 in YR but no place for DD1 in Y5. The next nearest schools are in the next county, they will involve a 2.4 mile walk along a very busy main road and the need to cross it at some point, I do not think this is suitable for a 9 year old to do on her own.
The next nearest school in our county is 4 miles away. None of these schools feed into the secondary school in our catchment.
I cannot be in 2 places at once to get my girls to school. DD1 has had bullying and friendship issues this year, I am worried that she will really struggle not going to the school where she lives. If she does go to one of the other schools she will make friends for the sumer term and Y6 and then have to make new friends all over again for secondary school. She suffers from migraines and has a medical plan at school as she is on regular medication, stress and tiredness make her migraines worse.
I have looked up the PAN for the school and it is 32 for KS2, but in 2009 they had a ks2 class of 35 and in 2010 a ks2 class of 34, I am hoping this will be of some use in an appeal.

Has anyone been in a similar position and have any advice.
Many thanks

To win the appeal (as KS2 is not bound by "infant class size" rules) you have to show that the prejudice to your DD by not admitting is greater than the prejudice to the school by admitting.

I would appeal. Based on numbers alone (the fact they have coped with classes of 35 & 34) you stand a very good chance and the addition of your DDs migraine problems (she has my sympathy, my migraines started in childhood, it's grim) can only strenghten the case. I would also add in the need to establish local friendships following the move. If there is anything your preferred school has that the others don't that would benefit your DD then add that in too.(eg an art club if she is good at art)

The transport difficulties aren't really relevant for the appeal (and in any case for a school over 3 miles away the LA would have to provide transport)

good luck!

Thank you BetsyBoop. DD1 has a routine drs appointment tomorrow about her migraines, I shall ask if they can write a letter for her. Poor love her migraines started at 7 and she is now on beta blockers 3x a day :(

Does this school accept additional children into KS2? If not I would expect PAN for KS2 to be the same as for KS1 and 32 is an odd number.

Betsy is, of course, right that if they have had larger classes than the current Y5 class in the past it helps your appeal.

The migraines could certainly help. The letter from your GP needs to document not just the fact that she has migraines but also why this means the village school is the right one for your daughter. The letter needs to be clear that your doctor is giving his opinion, not just echoing your views.

If you are going to say anything about the bullying issues you should get whatever evidence you can to support the fact that your daughter has been bullied. Sadly many parents claim their child has been bullied when it isn't true so panels generally ignore claims unless they are backed up.

Thanks prh, yes the PAN for KS2 is 32 as they can accept more children by law.

DD1's teacher has said she will write a letter for us about the bullying and her friendship difficulties for us. The current school has said they will help in anyway they can, it helps that the head was originally head at the village school :)

the PAN for KS2 is 32 as they can accept more children by law

Not quite true. The infant class size limit no longer applies so they can have larger classes. However, the PAN that applied in Reception is supposed to apply to all years unless they take additional children into KS2, usually from local infants-only schools.

prh I am justy going by what the LEA told me.

Interesting. Would you care to identify the school and LA so I can investigate further. Feel free to PM me if you don't want to post that information publicly.