Good enough reason for appeal?

[SnowWhiteWinter]

Hi all. My eldest step daughter is in year 1 at primary school. We have applied for the same primary school for her younger sister who will be going into reception next September.

Their dad (my partner) and mum separated a few years ago and have both moved away (but not that far) from my eldest step daughter's primary school. Sibling priority doesn't count for this school outside if you move outside of the borough.

Would we be likely to win or have any chance of winning an appeal by saying that otherwise the two sisters will be at schools in different places? Or is this snot considered a good enough reason for appeal as both parents moved out of choice.

Thank you!

Highly unlikely, I'm afraid. If it's an Infant class Size issue, pretty much your only chance of appeal is if the LEA have made an error in allocation. If they considered siblings to be an important enough reason (which it jolly well should be at primary school in my opinion) they would have put it in the original rules, regardless of proximity to the school.
You might have a better chance on the waiting list.

Thank you. Unfortunately we have not only moved out of catchment, but out of borough and out of the county too, so a different LEA entirely. We have been told sibling priority from out of borough is low priority and it's very unlikely we will get a place. It will be infant class sixe as the school is very heavily oversubscribed, the catchment area is only about 0.4 miles - we live nearer 20 miles now!

You actually do not need a reason to appeal other than you want to go to the school. But realistically that would not get you a place, so you need better reasons.
I think you need to look very carefully at the admission criteria for the school, because sibling priority from out of borough would be illegal in my opinion. You are allowed to give priority to those within a catchment area for a school, but not to stop pupils from out of the LA from being give a place or disadvantaged - this is called the Greenwich judgement of 1989.
Infant Class Size Regs apply to schools where infant classes reach 30, it is nothing to do with the level of over subscription, so you need to check the PAN (published admission number) for the school. If it is a multiple of 15 or 30 then it will be an infant class size case in all probability.
Having said that 20 miles is a very long way for a primary school!

Thank you. Yes the class sizes are 30 in each. We have definitely been told that the order of priority is

1. Looked after children etc
2. Siblings in catchment
3. Children for whom the school is nearest their home
4. Other applicants

(Not worded the same as I do not have it to hand, but same meaning basically)

We are well out of catchment, out of borough and in a different county altogether now. So I guess we fall into the last one.

So, not likely to win an appeal on the basis that the children will be in schools 20 miles apart then?

I don't think I have any better reasons, but will try and think of some! Any suggestions of what makes a good reason for appeal?

We have of course put our local primary school down as choice no2 which we are very much in catchment for, as a fall back.

Thank tiggytape. To clarify, it is my step daughter, both her and her older sister live with me and my partner and their mum 50/50 but our address is their primary residency (Child benefit registered here etc) , but both us and their mother moved out the area a couple of years ago.

So it's criteria 3 on your list that we would use.

Neither parent or children has any medical need, special needs or anything. It is purely distance and traveling that is the problem. We have included the local catchment school as second choice as a back up!

Would you not be better off sending the younger one to your local school and moving the older one to the local school when a space came up in her year?

Agree with *Runoutofideas". I would check whether your local school would give admissions priority to an older sibling if your younger dd starts there.
Living 20 miles away from a primary school sounds very difficult to me and means that it would be very difficult to be part of the school community, have play dates etc.

I would have a real problem with admitting an extra pupil to a primary school that was 20 miles away at an appeal and I suspect most panel members would unless we are talking about a very rural area.

It has to be something truly exceptional to get the appeal panel to ignore this law and admit an extra child.

I think the OP's DP could have a strong case for exceptional circumstances, given what she has posted elsewhere on MN - I'm not sure why she hasn't outlined them here, as they are definitely relevant to the advice given!

Runoutofideas... Not possible really as the eldest DD is currently haveing some emotional issues which the school are being great about and I thnk it would be crap for her to move.

Which lead me onto tiggytape....

Yes, we could definitely show that it is impossible/very bad for the edlest to move somewhere else - so will definitely be putting that into the appeal (when the time comes).

Admission... Rural ish but not very rural, there are lots of towns around.

Disney... Yeah I know, I was just wondering if an appeal would be won just because two siblings are too far apart. We have lots of other reasons we can lay out in an appeal and hopefully one of them or all of them together will be enough.

Sorry - I didn't know anything about your elder dsd's problems. Hope you find a solution through which everyone can be happy. I think you might be looking at having the children in two different schools though unfortunately.

I moved DS1 to a different school because our local one couldn't meet his (special) needs.
When it came to DS2, I was given a place at our local school, so I went to appeal for the school his brother now attended.
I argued on the grounds of special needs, that DS1 needs careful handover at transition times such as start of the day, and pointed out that I couldn't possibly get them both to school on time since both schools start at the same time and they are ten minutes apart.
I am sorry to say I lost my appeal, and only managed to get DS2 into the school DS1 went to because the administrators of the 2 schools noticed they each had a parent wanting a place at teh other school, and did a swap!

In your case, I dont think you have a chance at appeal, tbh. Appeal is also a very difficult process, and I found it very stressful. The meeting was like being in court!

In your position, I would be talking to the local schools and finding one that could support DS1 well and could take both the girls.

But the twentyile trip is for the school the op is apeali.g to get into, no? the allocated school is local.