Another Appeal Question, Catholic School

[ungratefulbiped]

My son was not given our first choice Catholic school as there were too many siblings and nearer children to the school. We were given a secular infant school. We meet all of the criteria, baptized Catholics, attending mass at the parish church about .2 of a mile away and are .5 from the school. The priest told us back when we applied there would be no problem getting a place. My son was the 1st child not accepted, with the last accepted child living only 15 feet closer!! I am American and have lived here a while, but don't quite understand this school placement thing. I am inclined to appeal based on the fact a few different factors and I'm asking for opinions on them as people who have seen these kinds of appeals before.

• That my son will be emotionally and spiritually damaged if he is not given access to a Catholic education. This includes everything from being denied the sacraments, mass and prayer during school time to receiving spiritual guidance from his pastor. That this would infact infringe on his religious liberties.
• That the school did not prioritize those children who are members of the parish attached to the school. There are children living closer tot he school that attend other Catholic churches that were given priority. (although not mentioned in the admissions criteria)
• That there was a question about what age children were baptized on the application form, but there was no priority given to those baptized in infancy to those who were baptized in, say, the past 6 months for school admission purposes. (Catholic priests are NOT allowed to deny baptism, btw!)
• That there is NO faith based alternative available to us. The Catholic schools are all oversubscribed and the next closest school told applicants living this far "not to bother". There is not even a C of E school, leaving only a secular education available.

Any other ideas? Just looking to hear what someone who's been through this process thinks or can point me to any resources that would help form the appeal.
Thank you!

The big question with any Reception appeal is whether it is an infant class size case. If the school has classses of 30 children in Reception, Y1 or Y2 it will be infant class size. That means you should only win if a mistake has been made and your son should have been given a place.

You say that the school did not prioritise children who are members of the parish attached to the school but did give priority to children living closer to the school that attend other Catholic churches. I am not clear from your post what the admission criteria say. If they do not mention prioritising children from the parish the school has acted correctly, in which case this argument will not help you at appeal.

There is nothing wrong with the baptism question on the form. The thing I would like to know is exactly what the admission criteria say about baptism. They do not have to give priority to those baptised in the first 6 months but most do. Again, if they have acted in accordance with their admission criteria this argument will not help you.

I would certainly mention that the priest told you that there would be no problem getting a place and say that gave you an expectation that has not been fulfilled.

It is that class size has been reached, yes. The last child accepted lives 15 feet closer than we do, which is unfortunate.

The criteria just asks for mass attendance and does not state that any priority would be given to those from the parish or those baptized in first 6 months.

Are you saying there are no grounds for appeal except that the criteria were not followed? I was under the impression (but could be misunderstanding!) that harm to the child while asking the panel to look at the criteria may make a case?

The priest has been to speak to the head teacher already, as have we, and he is shocked and willing to write a bit of a character statement for us.

Will this be an infant class size appeal (ie one where the school arranges classes in the infants in groups of 30)? If it is, then your grounds of appeal are very narrow - limited to a mistake that has deprived your child of a place, admissions criteria which do not comply with the law or the admissions code, or a decision to refuse a place which is so unreasonable it should be overturned. The fact that you meet all the entrance requirements for the school isn't really the issue. As you have discovered, so too do many other children and the oversubscription criteria have had to be applied.

You need to check that your application was considered correctly - that you were placed in the right admissions category, that the distance between home and school was measured accurately - because having missed out by so little, that could be crucial. Otherwise, nothing you have said so far suggests to me that you would win an ICS appeal.

If this isn't an ICS appeal, you can bring in the arguments you suggest (although I would be wary of arguing that your son will be "spiritually damaged" because that seems to be exaggerating the issues, since your son will be growing up in a Catholic home).

I assume, from your complaint about not giving priority to children from your parish, that the admissions criteria are about being a baptised Catholic and distance to school, but not about living or worshipping in any particular parish. Given that most schools use proximity to school in one way or another as an admissions criterion, I am not sure how far you will get with an argument that this is unreasonable and children from within the parish should go to the front of the queue, but you could try.

Funny thing is, I'm not exaggerating about him being spiritually damaged. I do think it would be quite detrimental to his faith to not have Catholic education and his school subjects through a Catholic lens. (it's not super cool, but it is the way we feel!)

Thanks for your answer, it's difficult to get it all straight and I appreciate the honesty! I would rather someone tell me you've got a shoddy chance as I realize everyone has an opinion on this and try very hard to make you feel better.

It is definitely a ICS appeal, how would you get a different type? This is already decided, yes?

What about getting a solicitor? Has this been known to help or does it just agitate the school and the panel?

Cross-posts with prh47bridge.

The appeal panel cannot rewrite the admissions criteria or substitute others. From what you say, it sounds as if the criteria have been correctly applied but you find the outcome unwelcome. If the criteria had been ignored or misapplied, that would be very different.

The harm to the child argument is what the jargon calls 'prejudice'. In an appeal that isn't an ICS appeal, the appeal panel has to weigh up whether the prejudice (ie harm or disadvantage) to the child in not attending the school is greater than the prejudice to the school and the pupils already in it, in accepting an extra pupil. So, these sorts of arguments only come into play in non-ICS appeals because (as mentioned above) the scope of ICS appeals is far narrower.

Which bring me back to the question of whether yours will be an ICS appeal. You say that the class is full, but how big is the class?

Cross-posts again.

What you say to the panel is, of course, up to you.

It is the class size that determines what sort of appeal it is and nothing can change that.

Solicitors offer a service that may be excellent or may be barely adequate. A good one will present your appeal well. A less good one (or one who is not a specialist in education law) may just get the panel bogged down and be less effective in getting your points across than you would be. Shop with care.

The class size is 30 and they say they are not allowed to take any more students. The head teach said the only appeal would be if we thought the criteria were misapplied. Which honestly, I think they have been applied correctly (even if I disagree with what they are).

How would I be able to check the distance? From the council? It does seem about right and obviously I have no way of knowing if others further away got in, etc.

Does this mean I am unable to appeal on the "prejudice" grounds?

Thank you again for helping.

Yes, 'prejudice; only comes in for appeals which are not governed by the ICS rules.

The LEA should be able to confirm the distances, both for you and for the last place awarded in your admissions category (which will presumably, after what you've been told, be a difference of 15 feet).

sorry I'm not getting this. So I am unable to appeal on any grounds other than admissions criteria because the school has reached capacity?

I believe not offering him a place is unreasonable and I thought I could appeal on these grounds?

Have you checked that he is on the waiting list? Some LEAs will add you automatically, but others don't. Make sure they have. Missing a place so narrowly suggests you ought to be at first on the list (unless there are other children who missed by an ever shorter distance), because if anyone relinquishes their place it should be offered to the child at the top of the list.

We are first on the list, yes. There are 4 siblings who didn't get admitted as they were not baptized, so if they get baptized they will go ahead of us. Then anyone moving into the area closer than us.

Actually, I think you have got it. In a nutshell

The Published Admission Number (class size) is 30.

Infant class size appeals rules therefore apply.

Only grounds on which an ICS appeal can be won are (1) mistake made which has deprived the child of a place (2) admission arrangements are not in accordance with law or admissions code or (3) decision to refuse a place is so unreasonable that it cannot be allowed to stand.

If you are going to base your appeal on (3), the burden of proof is very high. It isn't enough to say that you really, really want your son to attend the school - the school knows that and the panel knows that - you have to demonstrate why the detriment to your son in not attending the school is so great that he should be admitted as the 31st pupil.

If this wasn't an ICS appeal, the threshold for winning would be much lower, ie the prejudice your son faces is greater (even if only marginally) than the prejudice the school faces.

Agree with PanelChair.

It is an ICS appeal because the school is full in Reception AND the admission number is 30. If the admission number was, say, 22 it would not be an ICS appeal.

You can certainly argue that the decision not to admit your son is unreasonable but the standard for that argument to succeed is, as PanelChair says, very high. You essentially have to show that the decision to refuse admission is one that no rational person would have taken.

Personally I would not use a lawyer. I am sure there are some good ones but many specialist education lawyers don't seem to understand school admissions and I have known cases where a lawyer has thoroughly put the panel's backs up. I know of one, for example, where the lawyer concluded his presentation by asking the panel to award costs to his client, clearly unaware that costs are never awarded in admission appeals. The panel were not impressed.

You have great help and advice here from the experts and they know far more about the admissions process then I ever will but I wanted to pick up on your comment that the only school available right now to your son is secular, there is no such thing as a secular eduction in the UK. There is not a separation between church and state in Education. An example of this is that all schools must perform a daily act of collective worship of a broadly christen nature.
A great deal depend on the individual school when it comes to how this is achieved, some community schools offer a stronger Christian base then some CofE schools. It normally comes down to the head teacher. If you haven't all ready I would strongly recommend visiting your allocated school and asking some questions around this as well as getting a feel for the school, you very well may find it much more to your liking then you would think but it won't be as strongly religious as a Catholic school (having been educated in the Catholic system myself and now having my children at a village CofE school)
If you do have to go with plan B of a community school, should your appeal fail (and that looks likely) or you don't get a place from the waiting list (you have a good chance of this at the moment) your son will still be able to receive the sacraments through your church. For example, I know it is nice when they all do their first communion as a class but it isn't be be all and end all, he will be able to do it through the church alone, I was unable to do my first communion with my school class for 2 reasons, first being my family attended mass in a different parish (my Father didn't get along with the priest and would never have allowed me to that my holy communion under him and then in the end I was a very ill child and was too ill to take my first communion at 7 so I took it in church we attended when I was doing better, I felt even more special to be honest then if I were just one of the group as it was my day alone, my Godfather, a priest came to take the Sunday service that contained my first communion and I felt so very special!
I just wanted to say all this as your chances at appeal are slim to non but all is not lost if your son has to attend a different school, he will still very much be a part of the church and Catholic community and he will still have a Christian education.

There is a difference between a mistake being made and you thinking that the criteria are unfair because your child did not get a place. I'm sure the Governors would have given great thought to the admissions cirteria. If you really want your child to go there, stay on the waiting list - these tend to thin out once children are settled elsewhere and cross your fingers that someone decides to go elsewhere/moves away.

Thanks for the support. I didn't realize there wasn't a "secular" school. I took my First Holy Communion separately from my class and just felt like an outsider, which is why I feel strongly about him doing this with his class.

It depends what you mean by a "secular" school.

All schools in the UK are required by law to have a daily act of collective worship. For non-faith schools this must be wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian nature. Faith schools can follow their own faith. Non-faith free schools and academies can apply to be relieved of the requirement for the worship to be Christian in nature. Many schools (including faith schools) ignore the requirement for daily worship completely or interpret it in such a way that most people would not recognise as an act of worship.

The RE syllabus in the National Curriculum majors on Christianity due to its significance in the history of the UK but also covers other major religions. Faith schools can follow their own RE syllabus although in most cases this also covers all major religions.

Just to pick up on one of the OP's points I took my First Holy Communion separately from my class and just felt like an outsider, which is why I feel strongly about him doing this with his class. : in our church, the holy communion programme is run by the church not the school. The school does not get involved in the nitty gritty - the catechism classes are run by church volunteers at weekend masses, the teachers do not teach them, and apart from letting the kids wear their outfits to a daytime celebration mass, there is no cross-over. And this is in a large school that is on the same road as the church. The children take it when the parent feels they are ready, so the celebrants are usually a mix of Year 3 and Year 4 from the catholic school and any others who live locally but don't go to that school.

It does seem very unfair that the siblings who have not been baptised will move further up the waiting list so that a child, baptised in infancy, will lose his place.

No child offered a place will lose it because those on the waiting list move up and down depending on any changes to how well they fit the criteria. It's no different to eg someone applying to a community school who moves house closer, say into the priority admissions area and therefore moves into a different admissions category and higher up the list.

The rules on infant class sizes are relaxed in yr 3, so classes may go over 30, depending on the school. As first communion classes start in yr 3 he may well be in the school by then. Our dd attend a community school, and if anything it makes them more fiercely catholic, as it forms part of their identity in the class, rather than being something taken for granted. At the same time it gives them a tollerance for others, that despite religious differences they can still be friends. They also have an extensive RE curriculum, and daily worship.

I realise that it isn't what you ideally want form your son, but that may well come in time when children move, we had 3 leave class of 30 by christmas of yr1. You have nothing to lose by appealing, but he is unlikely to actually experience long term damage as a result.

as said previously, the local parish now runs all the sacrament preparation, NOT the school. My DDs are in a 3 form entry Catholic school. The children come from 4 different parishes. At DDs Holy Communion class there are 60+ children, 1/3 of these do not attend the school (presumably they didn't get in or are at a private school). DD will only be making her HC with only 8 of her classmates, they have split the candidates across 3 weekends due to the numbers and combined with the number of parishes served by the school it certainly isn't a "whole class" thing, so don't be too concerned about that.
Also as no.1 on the waiting list i would be amazed if you don't get offered a place within a year, certainly before year 3 when Holy Communion starts. Based on what you said you don't have any grounds for appeal imo.

I also believe that as you are no1 on the waiting list, you will end up with a place even if you have to wait a year or two for someone to leave the area.

My DS is 10th and 2nd on the waiting list at our two nearest RC schools, I am hoping that next year DS2 will get straight into a RC school, bumping DS1 to 1st on the list and he will get a place at the same time (well I can hope!)

According to my Parish Priest, legally the school admission criteria can only ask for you to attend Mass Weekly & on Holy Days of Obligation, schools should not be able to select using age at Babtism and church involvement as a measure of your Faith, therefore there has to be some "tie-break" criteria which is usually distance from the school. As we share our local RC school with another Parish, that shares the same site as the other Church, they all get in ahead of our Parish's children :(