in-year appeal

[dandy05]

we have moved to a new area and applied to the LA for a in-year school place in year 6 for my son. we had asked for a place in the school which is just outside our house. but LA have replied that there is no available place in that school for year 6. they have allocated another school which is far away.
we are new to the school-system. Should we accept the school being offered and then appeal? if appealing, what should we do? where do we get the forms and whom to approach to present our case? I have a 3 1/2yr and so will difficult to pull her every morning to drop my son at the other school.
Thank you so much

Yes you can appeal, and it is wise to accept the place you have been offered.

However, you will need to think about on what basis you plan to appeal - it being inconvenient for the school run with a 3yo is not a reason.

The LA website will usually have links on how to appeal.

Thank you Magi! Can I check with the school at which we were not offered for 'the student count' to be used for the appeal? what reasons can i cite for the appeal?
as said earlier, i have never done this earlier. when my son first joined a school several years back, it was also in-year (becoz of our visa) and we spoke to the school directly.

The LA website should give you info on how to appeal. They, IIRC, have to give you any information you ask for that you need for the appeal. Some of the info is probably there on the website for you eg the numbers of pupils etc.

Fort year 6 they don't have to stick to the 30 children limit for infants classes so it may be easier to win an appeal.

prh and admissions know much more about this than me

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/education/1047995-mid-year-appeal-grateful-for-advice/AllOnOnePage
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/a1424919-In-year-Primary-admission-appeals
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/primary/a1499865-In-Year-Admission-Appeal-KS2-Returning-from-Abroad

some previous threads that may have useful info on them to help you

You should accept the place offered. If you don't and your appeal fails you will be left without a place at all. Accepting the place will not damage your appeal.

The letter you received telling you that there is no place available at your local school should have included information about how to appeal. If it did not ring your LA and remind them that they need to send you that information.

As this appeal is for Y6 it is not infant class size. That means you can win by showing that the prejudice to your son (i.e. the disadvantages he will face through not being admitted to this school) outweighs the prejudice to the school through having an additional pupil. This has to be about things that affect your son directly, so transport and childcare difficulties rarely win appeals.

You need to make the case that the local school is the right school for your son. Look at any facilities it has (including extra curricular activities) that would be of particular benefit to your son and are missing from the allocated school.

Before the hearing you will receive the case to refuse admission. You should look for weaknesses that you can highlight in the hearing. You will get help here with that if you want. Right now I would be checking how many pupils are in Y6 currently, whether any other years have more than that and whether any recent Y6 has been bigger than the current one. If they have had years with more pupils it suggests that the school can cope with an additional pupil.

You say the offered school is far away. How far away is it?

we live just opp west bridgford jr school and have been offered abbey road school. i really dont know how far away it is. when applying with regard to postcode , the offered school was further away and my husband is more worried that both school are feeder schools for diff secondary schools. so abbey school was the 3rd option and that was what was offered. so my husband says that we will loose the appeal as they have given one of the 3 places listed(even though it was not our 1st option).
we moved just a week back and so i dont know anywhere around. sorry for the vague details with regard to distance.

What you were offered and what you accept have absolutely no bearing on any appeal. What you are doing is appealing for a place at the junior school and as PRH says it is about what is good/ unique about this school that are reasons to allow an appeal that matter.
Sorry to pile another potential problem on your shoulders but if your son is year 6 then you urgently need to decide what schools you are considering for next year for him when he goes to secondary school. In theory you are already past the deadline for applications but if you have just moved into the area, if you are quick, like tomorrow, then the LA will probably accept the application as being on time.
To be brutal about it, sorting the secondary school application is probably more of the immediate issue than which school to choose for the next 9 months.

Thank you very much. We managed to send in the secondary school online form on 31st just before it closed. we were advised by the previous council to do so. and so we gathered details through internet. The problem being that we want our son to be in West bridgford secondary school and the junior school is a feeder school. the school my son is currently attending is a feeder school for another secondary school. that was our main concern and the reason for the appeal.

This is one reason why so few LEAs have a feeder school policy. Suspect there may be a qualifying period i.e. attending the Junior school for a certain no. of years for this to apply. This was the case for infant to junior school transfer.