3rd attempt at primary school appeal this wednesday, starting to stress!

[metalkitten34]

Briefly, i am heading for my sons appeal to get him in to his sisters school, he is currently Y1, she is Y2.
She started at another school but due to unresolved issues, i moved her to the now preferred school - a move that has paid off, thank fully! But due to the timing, he got sibling link to her old school (i started the process to move her in march, she moved in May)
I live halfway between both schools, due to this, i take my daughter first, then my son, unfortunatly our town is notorious for trying to get through at anytime of day, so school runs are a nightmare to say the least!
The LA statement is due to the school having seperate infant classes, but merging in juniors, so they claim predudice to efficient education, etc.
I feel that ive put in a good case this year but am dreading attending, plus 2 of the panel are the same as last year!
From September, there will be 10 children on our cul-de-sac attending the preferred school, my son is the only one from this side of the town attending his school> This has an obvious impact on social activities, support networks, etc
Any last minute tips would be gratefully received!

Forgot to say, the PAN is 23, the LA push it up to 25/26 so no chance of waiting list kicking in for my son.
Current classroom sizes are at lowest 57.3sqm up to Y5/6 which is 61.9sqm (the Y2 we are appealling for is 57.3)
There will be 25 Y2 children (so currently 2 over PAN)
The LA states the admission number was set with regard to the NET capacity, they anticipate 163 pupils from Sept 2012 (at appeal last year, they disclosed NET was 210 max 189 min - though i dont fully understand this point)
Hope this further helps any reader of my post!

I think ive focused more this year on emotional & social development, as we tend to use after school activities, such as beavers, etc at the preferred school end of town, hence he mixes more out of school with the preferred school children.
Ive split my appeal in to: Choice of school - explaining why we are at the stage we are at!
Friends & family issues
Alternative schools - reasons why preferred school is best option
Logistical issues/travel/childcare
Possible predjudice to preferred school (hope ive played this down!)
Why i beleive the preferred school is the only school suitable for my son (based on personal experiences & taylored to his needs)
Support letters also gone in from their father (dont ask ! Hes a gov at preferred school but only has them 2 days a month!) , school nurse (supporting case & protecting daughters place), Health Visitor from my team (due to conflict of interest at sons current school) & their school hol childminder.

Thank you tiggytape, hoping im on right track, not much time left now!

Admission and prh47bridge - you;ve been recommended for more good advice, any tips to add at this late hour would also be gratefully received!

Is there anything the preferred school offers that the other one doesn't eg. Music lessons, sports etc? Can you argue that your son needs these opportunities?

You say PAN is 23, the LA push it up to 25/26. That rings alarm bells for me. If they are regularly admitting beyond PAN they ought to change PAN. However, if the extra pupils are due to successful appeals there is no problem with that, although it does suggest that the appeal panels think PAN has been set too low.

The figures they have given for net capacity are actually the caculated net capacity. This is based on the number and size of rooms in the school. The lower figure is always 90% of the higher figure. The actual net capacity should be set somewhere between those two figures.

PAN for a primary school is usually the net capacity divided by 7, although they can go for a higher or lower figure. If they have set the net capacity at the bottom of the range (189) that suggest a PAN of 27 whereas at the top of the range PAN would be 30. A PAN of 23 would only give 161 pupils if every year was full, well below the minimum calculated capacity. So there is a clear argument that the PAN is artificially low and the net capacity indicates that they can handle more pupils than have been admitted to date. Definitely worth highlighting this.

I can't comment on the letters beyond saying that the panel should ignore anything from the preferred school. The school is not allowed to support your appeal. It shouldn't do any harm to submit them, though.

As mummytime says, anything the preferred school offers that would be particularly beneficial for your son is worth mentioning.

And I agree with tiggytape that you should remember you are appealing for this school, not against other schools. Criticising the schools you don't want can put the panel's backs up. After all, one of them may have a child or grandchild at one of these schools.

The logistical issues, travel and childcare won't win your appeal. As tiggytape says, the appeal panel cannot consider these factors.

I'm not sure how strong your case is, but the discrepancy between PAN and the calculated capacity, if your figures are correct, suggest that the case to refuse admission is weak. The LA should have included the actual net capacity in their case. If they have not done so, make sure you ask them for that figure during the hearing. You should also point out the figures given for the calculated capacity last year and ask them to confirm that these are correct. Assuming they do confirm these figures and the net capacity is somewhere within the range 189 - 210, state that the capacity points to a PAN of x (where x is the capacity divided by 7) and ask why they have set PAN so far below the indicated figure.

Thank you prh47bridge, i'll look in to that this a.m (what are you doing at 2.30, could do with you there i think!)

Mummytime, theres plenty of differences between the two schools, so i hope ive portraid that enough in my appeal (ive tried to do it all without slating the other school)

Just looked at this years performance tables and the pupil:teacher ratio is 21.9 presume this is good & in my favour to say they can admit one more without prejudice?

Much as I enjoy attending appeals, I have to work today I'm afraid!

It won't do any harm to point out the pupil:teacher ratio, but I would concentrate on the capacity figures as they clearly show that the school is a long way from full. There may be good reasons for this but it is up to the LA to justify the discrepancy.

Please let us know how you get on.

This is a remarkably weak case for not admitting. The class room sizes you quote are completely adequate for 30 pupils. The net capacity figure you quote of 189 to 210, says that the real measured capacity is 210. The agreed net capacity is usually anywhere between the maximum figure and 90% of that, which is 189. To have set the PAN at 23 says the LA have used a net capacity figure of 23 x7 = 161, which is way below that quoted.
I would therefore assume that there are 7 classrooms all capable of taking 30 pupils and would seriously question why they cannot take an extra pupil with only 25 in the year group.
As PRH says you need to get the presenting officer to confirm the net capacity figures of 210/189. I wonder whether there has been an increase in the number of classrooms in the last few years and for some reason the PAN has not been increased in line with the net capacity increase.

Well, my appeal is now out of my hands and with the decision makers! They said they had read all my evidence and i could see lots of bits highlighted, so hope thats positive!
I was certainly more nervous than the previous 2 attempts and ended up crying :0(
The panel seemed confused at the LAs argument and questioned it alot, so again, i hope that goes in my favour, one of the panel members just smiled at me when it was his turn to question me & referred to my statement and said he thought he had enough info there, so again, fingers crossed!
Still feeling very emotional about it & probably will be until i get a decision. Will keep you posted and thank you so much for your support, it really did help. x

Good luck metalkitten. I hope that the panel agree with 'our' experts opinion and you get a place x

Appeal allowed!! Thank you for the last bit of support! X

Well done!

Given the obvious weaknesses in the case for refusing admission I would have been very disappointed if you lost. I'm not surprised the panel were confused!

Congratulations!

Great news

Sometimes the LA do know that they have a very weak case and this does sound like one of those occasions.
However that does not matter, the only thing that matters is that you now have the school place you want. Well done for your perseverance through three appeals and for winning .