Ics appeal help

[julieh1968]

hi can anyone help please. My friend has her appeal on Monday, she has been refused a place on ics despite having a sibling already at the school. The criteria is priority admissions area before siblings.

She has been led to believe that a place has been offered to someone outside priority area but how dies she prove this.
There is a map showing the priority area but how can she find out if a place has been offered outside this area? Are the lea obliged to let her know where places have been allocated by postcode for example. She could then plot them on the map to see if in or outside priority area

She has been given the info from a reliable source (don't you just love a school secretary who is on your side) but they obviously can only go so far.

My feelings are that if she feels a mistake has been made the lea have to give her the info to help her prove it this

Oops pressed complete before I had finished.

Thanks in advance for any advice

Not sure really -if a genuine mistake has been made /can be proved then that will obviously be in your friends favour.
However, there may be a strong reason for this child being allocated a place above your friend, regardless of catchment -if, for example, it has been proved that this particular school is the best/most suitable school for that other child due to SEN for example.

Sorry, posted too soon....
And then this may not be information that is available or readily given.All your friend can do is call her admissions office /appeal team and say she has heard a rumour and needs to make sure that a mistake hasn't been made.
Good luck to her

Not an sen case she has got her pack through and says allocated in priority area. The person who we think is outside area didn't even request the school on her application apparently.

If she has a name she should raise it with the LA. If the information is correct it sounds like they have made a mistake.

I am by far from an expert and I know someone will come along soon however from reading these boards as I have understood it the LEA has to answer any reasonable questions and a question of

For school year beginning Sep 2012
please confirm how many children inside the priority area have been admitted to x school

plus

Please confirm how many children outside priority area have been admitted to x school

I would also add please confirm the furthest distance used both inside and outside priority area

Would all be considered reasonable questions that the LEA would need to reply with answers for.

The child who allegedly have been given the space outside of the priority area may be on a higher priority however (like in care of SN) the above questions should sort that. I would also tell your friend that she should not feel guilty to use this as the child who has been admitted if wrongly wont loose their place.

I am more than happy to be corrected and good luck to your friend.

There is no way someone who did not name a school as one of their preferences should be allocated a place at that school ahead of someone who did during the normal admissions round, regardless of whether or not they are higher priority. I may be missing something but the only way I can think of where this could be correct is if this child has been accepted under the Fair Access Protocol and has been admitted after offers have been made at a time when the school was already full.

Surely it is also possible if the child was admitted for SEN, because they are looked after, or have exceptional social/medical needs? All these criteria are commonly above all others in the criteria.

It is likely the school secretary would not know such confidential information about the child, and so might not know that the apparent address anomaly is not relevant to the criterion under which the child was admitted.

Also, were any siblings admitted (ie they had places left after catchment, but this address is closer to the school than yours)? There is also the possibility that this child is a sibling with a non-matching surname (eg blended family) and again this might not be apparent from an entrants' list.

Those give priority only if the school is named as a preference (or on the statement in the case of SEN). A child with exceptional social/medical needs who does not name the school as a preference comes behind everyone who does name the school.

Yes, there are lots of reasons a child from outside the priority area may be admitted ahead of one who is inside the area. But the OP says this person did not name the school as one of their preferences. In the normal admissions round there is no way someone who did not name the school as a preference should get a place ahead of someone who did.