Help - rufused school now panicing about what to do next

[Marvin6418]

Hi I am hoping someone can help me as I am worring about this whole process and can't seem to find an answer to my problem.

We were in the process of moving house when the application process closed and we hadn't looked too much into schools in the area. (our fault I know) We knew of a few schools but as the sale for the house could still have fallen through I was only able to put one school down due to distance etc. My husbands mum would be picking my son from school and she is not able to walk too far so I chose a school near by that we knew was good with this reasoning listed as part of our criteria.

We were refused a place at this school and got offered a place at another school. There is no way I am sending him to this school, it has a bad rep and is a further 20 mins walk for husbands Mum who is late 60s. I have put in to go on the waiting list and appeal for the school that we want. However I am concerend if we do not get accepted at the appeal of what will happen.

Am I able to apply for another school or is it all to late. Any advice would be so welcomed right now. I will (fingers crossed) get my letter on Monday as to why he wasn't accepted and will speak to someone about my options but I am worring right now and would like so advice so I can at least have one day of this weekend to think about something else

You can ask at all the local schools to see if they have places - if they have they will tell you the procedure to follow. Although if you only put one school down and you didn't get into that one I think they automatically put you in the nearest school with availability. You can appeal at the 1st school and may or may not be successful - depends on many things. The school can not admit more than its planned admission number in the 1st instance - this is the number of children it has told the authority it will admit and any over the number are refused and told they can be put on a waiting list or appeal. However depending on circumstances in the school itself it may not defend the appeal if it wants to bump its numbers up. This has happened in my experience.

not completely sure but the medical side of the criteria usually refers the child not the person taking them to school make sure you are on the waiting list for preferred school and as soon as you move contact the lea to inform them but in the mean time take the time to go and look at the other schools in the area, and again as you only put 1 school you will be allocated the next closest school that has places

You can apply for other schools if you want. If the school has a place they must give it to you. If it does not you will go onto the waiting list.

As jbl47 says, medical needs usually refers to the child, not the person taking them to school. You may find that the school doesn't give priority for medical need at all, regardless of whether it is the adult or the child.

You can appeal for your preferred school. Your chances of success depend on whether or not it is infant class size. If infant class size regulations apply you should only win if you can show that a mistake has been made. If it is not infant class size you can win by showing that the disadvantage to your son through not being admitted outweighs the disadvantage to the school through having to cope with an additional pupil.