Primary School Appeal with 3 days notice

[lyndseyruby]

Hi
I am wondering if anyone could please advise me on the following.
I posted last month regarding my application and appeal for a Primary school and now I have my appeal date I am wondering if you could please advise me on what has happened since my last post?

I submitted the standard appeal form and asked to appeal for another primary which was not on my original preference form, in addition to the school I was appealing for. I then prepared my statement with all the reasons I wished to appeal and handed it in on the 25th May. I emailed the admissions authority on the 25th May also, requesting information about the route they used and the lay out of the school and a few other points. I presumed they would answer these questions in their statement so I did not get in touch to ask why they had not answered. I received their statement last Wednesday and all that I got was their reasons for refusal which was over-subscription and prejudice. Nothing else came with it apart from the date of appeal which is the 29th. I contacted them to ask why they hadnt answered the email, they apologised and said they will answer the next morning. All I got back through email was a picture of the birds eye view of the so called route and it had a red line across it indicating the points of home and school. There were no street names on it. Is this enough information do you think?
On Friday I phoned them to ask if they had an idea of the appeal date for the additional school and they knew nothing about it. When they looked at the appeal form I submitted they said I had put it in the wrong place on the form so it hadnt been picked up on. They said the appeals for the additional school are taking place on Tue (tomorrow) and said I could go to that at half 1. I had no paperwork about why I would not be allocated a place etc but felt I had to agree to the date because that is the only day they are hearing appeals for that school.

On Friday at quarter past five I phoned them again to ask again for the layout of both the schools and was told they could now offer a place at a different school which I wasn"t appealing for. She said 'shall I cancel the appeals you have listed now'.

Without meaning to sound ungrateful, I feel I have no choice but to accept the school I have been offered as I have nothing prepared for tomorrow and there is no guarantee of winning the appeal on Friday for the original school I applied for, plus I am still waiting for information about that school which I requested on the 25th May.
Any advice on all the above will be very much appreciated. Thank you
lyndseyruby

I don't recall your previous thread, so forgive me if these questions were answered there.

Do you have a school place for your child?

Is your appeal going to be heard under infant class size rules?

You are right in saying that you're never guaranteed to win any appeal - especially if it's an ICS appeal - but nor should the LEA be manoeuvring you into withdrawing appeals that are your democratic right. The LEA's actions here are (to be as polite as I can) shambolic. They are supposed to give you any information (within reason) that you need to prepare your appeal and they are supposed to send you the papers with 5 clear working days to study them before the hearing.

The map, though, is probably acceptable - it is impossible to include street names on maps of that scale but you should be able to identify your home, the school and other landmarks from your own knowledge and so should the panel.

If you prefer the new school you've been offered to your allocated school (or don't have an allocated school) then accept it if you wish, but this doesn't mean that you have to withdraw your appeals and I hope the LEA have not been implying that it does - if they have leant on you to withdraw your appeals they are in the wrong.

As for the appeals, I think you have two options. Go ahead, but make it plain to the panel that you have had insufficient notice and haven't been given the background information you need. If you have a paper trail (copies of emails etc) to how the panel, so much the better. Or, request an adjournment. The problem here is that it is probably in your better interests for your appeals to be held alongside the others for those schools.

If you go ahead with the appeals, you have the further option of complaining to the LGO about the LEA's mismanagement.

Hi
Thank you for your reply. The appeal for tomorrow is the one that they said they had no record of me requesting an appeal for and had to look at the original appeal form. They emailed me a refusal letter on friday for that school and from what I can gather, I think it will be an infant class size appeal, but wouldnt like tro say, because they didnt know themselves when I aaked them over the phone on Friday, I have no information apart from the refusal letter for that appeal and feel totally unprepared. The other appeal is on friday and that is for the school in my original application. The only information I have from the LA is their reasons for refusal. They have said the school is oversubscribed and they have vertically grouped the classes to enable them to keep within the ICS rules. They also state that they do not wish for this to continue as one of the reasons for the high standards in the infant department is the result of children not being taught in mixed year groups. I contacted the school to ask how long have the classes been vertically grouped and they said it had been that way for at least 10 years. The LA did not give any other documents as proof that the school would suffet etc if another child was allocated a place, but I am not sure what else I should have got from them.
I really am worried that if I dont accept or decline the offered school today, then I will lose out completely. I have to be honest, I am not overly excited about sending my daughter there but I know I have to have some kind of back up plan incase I lose both appeals, chances are the one for tomorrow is going to be a waste of time attending given the short notice of it and lack of paperwork etc. Thank you
lyndseyruby

Accept the school place if it is a reasonable school. Go to the appeals too and present your case as best as you are able.

They have to give you a reasonable amount of time to accept the offered place and, as PanelChair says, accepting will not result in your appeal being cancelled nor will it damage your appeal.

If you lose the appeal tomorrow you could try referring the matter to the LGO as you clearly have not had the required 10 school days notice as per the Appeals Code. That may result in a fresh appeal with a different panel.

Looking at the appeal for Friday, the central question is whether admitting your child will take them over the class size limit. If the school has decided to change the class organisation to stop mixed year teaching the decision should be made using the new class organisation. If no decision to change class organisation has been taken the panel must use the existing organisation to decide whether or not ICS rules apply. They may have an aspiration to stop mixed year teaching but the panel is not allowed to decide on that basis.