In year admissions primary school appeals

[Pebbles27]

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Pebbles27Mon 28-May-12 20:01:52

Hi new to this forum just after a little advice,recently moved into new area , we applied for our sons to attend the school across the road from us. My youngest son got acepted to start at the school in september, however my oldest son who will be attending year 2, was not given a place at the school or any of our preferred choices, he was given a place in a school about 15 mins away and with a very poor ofsted report. we are looking at getting this appealed, as we cannot physically get them both to , two different schools on time. has anybody has an experiance with appeals particularly on this basis and what was the outcome.

Thanks

I'm afraid you won't win an appeal on that basis. Appeal panels cannot take the poor Ofsted report into account and transport/childcare difficulties do not generally win appeals.

As your son is in Y2 the appeal will not be heard under infant class size rules. That is good as it improves your chances of winning. Your case needs to be about why your son will be disadvantaged if he does not go to your preferred school. Look for anything this school offers that the allocated school does not that would be of particular benefit to your son.

The problem is that it is that it is Year 2 - the places for Years 1 and 2 are capped by law and the school cannot go over the capped number unless they employ further staff and/or acquire further facilities. We had this problem when we moved with our local school. We were advised that we would likely be successful if we appealed, but only on the basis that we were a service family (my husband is in the RN). You are not a service family too are you? If so, then you have an approximate 90% chance of success on appeal.

Beyond that, I am a bit clueless for you really given the cap. The only thing would be for you to start your oldest son at the other school and speak to the Head such that you are immediately alerted to a place coming up at the school you prefer. You can then apply for another in-year transfer?

I obviously wasn't fully awake when I posted! For Y2 it may be heard under infant class size rules depending on the way classes are organised. If it is heard under ICS rules you would need to show that the LA has made a mistake, which is very unlikely for an in year admission. However, if you want a place in September it won't be.

Pressed post to soon! If you want a place in September it won't be heard under ICS rules and you will have a better chance of winning.

pebbles to resolve any miss-communication, which year group is your elder son in now, is he in year 2 or is he in year 1 going to be year 2 in september?

Also you need to look at the school admission criteria and see what it says about siblings, especially any separate comments. You need to know whether sibling priority is only when there is an older sibling in the school or whether any sibling gives priority.

Thankyou all for your replies.He is in year 1 currently.We are going to base our appeal on the fact that he is on the gifted and talented list for his french which is not part of the curriculum for the school they have allocated.Don`t hold much hope but keep fingers crossed. x
Thanks again.

Being on the G&T list for French won't help at an ICS appeal, where the grounds for a successful appeal are very limited (as others have already said). If it isn't an ICS appeal, you could mention it. Be careful how you do it, though. Academic ability or being gifted aren't part of any primary school's admissions criteria, so you can't argue that your child is too smart to go to the allocated school, but you could mention the provision of French as one reason why the preferred school is the best one for your child.

We have done an in year appeal (unsuccessfully).

I knew we may not win and thought we'd just go through the motions in the hope that common sense prevailed. Our reasons were largely the same as you, logistics plus I have a medical condition that makes tramping around 3 schools with 3 kids impossible (youngest in nursery, eldest yr3 in closest school and appeal was for 5yr old with very distant school place).

We lost, and to be honest, I wouldn't recommend doing it without a much better case than your outlining here - it is very stressful, and extremely upsetting when you lose - you feel like you've been made out to be a whinger and pain in the backside. We thought we had a reasonable case, and felt sooooo let down by the refusal.

So if you do appeal, be prepared to be robust if you get refusal.

You might find some of these links helpful
www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/...ool/DG_4016309

www.ace-ed.org.uk/advice-abou..._+School_Place

www.schoolappeals.org.uk/downloads/digest.pdf

www.learningtrust.co.uk/schoo...s_appeals.aspx

basically you have to try to prove it is more detrimental to your child, his sibling, your family (and therefore again him) for them not to take your older child than it is detrimental to the school to take him. So particular subjects taught at this school, not the fact one is 'better' than the other' you have to focus on the specific needs of your child and why they are better served at this school. Would he be able to walk to this school and not the other in line with healthy living policies etc?
The Infant Class Size regulkations do make it more difficult, but not impossible. See if you can find out if the school have previously had more than their Planned Admission Number in Y2 before (orReception/)Y1)- you can then use this as a precedent that they;ve done it before so could do it again without predjudicing the education of all the other children in the class.

best of luck

oh, and this one
www.education.gov.uk/schools/adminandfinance/schooladmissions/a00195/current-codes-and-regulations

Tiggytape is quite right. It is misleading to suggest that (in so many words) you can win an ICS appeal if you really go for it. The reality is, as Tiggytape points out, that there are only 3 grounds on which an ICS appeal can be won and appeal panels have no discretion to interpret the law any more widely than that.

Whilst you are very unlikely to win, it is also worth pointing out that it is your legal right to appeal and to "go for it" if that is what you want to do. Appeal panels will hear the appeal and no doubt be sympathetic within the very small latitude that they have.
The potential gain from "going for it" is that sometimes things do come up that do bring into question whether a mistake has been made. Not often but if you do not ask the questions you will never know the answer.

All that is true, Admission, but my point was that it isn't the "going for it" that wins an ICS appeal, it's the pinpointing of evidence that one of the three grounds for allowing an ICS appeal is present. Tiggytape was quite right to point out that the school having gone over PAN in past years (for example) has no bearing.

Of course it is anyone's right to appeal.