Primary school appeals

[Sexybexy]

Hi, would be really grateful for any advice on appeals as although the results for this year are not out yet, we know we won't get 1st choice as all places are taken up with siblings. We feel this is totally unfair as we live 0.4miles from the school and it is being totally monopolised by the sibling link, most of which do not live in the village, and therefore no other admission criteria allowed to be met. Furthermore, we do have an older sibling(age 8) but due to her severe disabilities, attends a special needs school so we could not tick the sibling box. We feel our youngest daughter is being prejudiced against for having a disabled sister, as otherwise we could have ticked the sibling box and had no problems.

Also, I ticked the health and social reason box as our disabled child is transported by taxi to school. I need to do everything for her before she leaves as she cannot get herself ready and this will leave no time to get my 4year old ready for school. We have a significant need for the 4year old to attend our local school in order to get her there in time. I know transport issues are not normally considered but our circumstances are exceptional in that I have to get a disabled child ready for a taxi that is supplied by social services and then will have to get my other child to school - it would make a vast difference to our family life if we could send our youngest to our nearest school.
Would be grateful for any advice out there - I don't believe that the infant class size will be over 30.

I'm not sure, it sounds like a pretty unusual circumstance that the LEA has may not have encountered before. How much further away is the school they have offered you?

I would say it is a chance to have a successful appeal, particularly as the infant class size will be under 30 (which is astounding if the demand is so high they can't offer any places to the local children that aren't a sibling). If the class size was 30 and you'd be looking to increase that, I'd say hard as it is, they wouldn't break the infant class size.

I guess all you can do is try, is there any other characteristic of the local school that makes it more suitable for your child? Any friends, connections or clubs it provides that others don't?

Logistics in themselves is not usually grounds for appeal, but the extenuating circumstances of your older child's needs and the proximity of the school might be sufficient to sway them. Also if you know others close that do attend the school, they are "resources" to use to help with logistics if your older child has extra needs/illness/appointments - whereas the furtherer school might not have such local support available for you...

Thanks tiggytape for quick response. I will find out from school about infant class sizes as this seems to be crucial to your possible appeal success.
I take note of your points on the sibling link issue we have but we feel this is not only unfair in our case but also discrimatory as our youngest would certainly get in if her sibling was not disabled and therefore have been able to attend the school herself.

I can completely see your point and can appreciate how frustrating this must be in so many different ways.

However, your appeal if it is necessary needs to be based on what is rather than how things should/could have been iyswim ie the current issues that will make it impossible/difficult for your younger dd to attend a school further away rather than that if circumstances were different, your older child would already be at the school.

Am I right in assuming that the local school has become more popular in recent years and that your older dd would have definitely been allocated a place there 4 years ago?

Best of luck - hope that you get a positive outcome.

Thanks for the feedback, most helpful. I have now found out how the infant classes are arranged. Class 1 with Year R and some Year 1(currently holding 21 pupils) and Class 2 with Year 1 and Year 2(currently holding 23 pupils) so it is way under 30. Classes are small however but in theory are allowed to take a lot more.
Also, have heard from a couple of mums who already have children at the school, that the head intends to move all Year 1s out of Class 1 to make way for what he expects to be a bumper year so only Reception children in this class. Intake is usually 15, all these places will be taken up with siblings and there could even be a couple more siblings due to go this year giving the sibling intake alone of 17. I feel more hopeful knowing the head is trying to accommodate a bigger intake this year and that the infant class sizes are well below 30. Would really appreciate any views and feedback and don't want to count my chickens begore they're hatched!

As long as the school doesn't decide to reorganise so that Y1 and Y2 are together in a class or 30, this will not be an ICS appeal. That means you have a better chance of winning. So, as others have said, you need to concentrate on showing why this is the right school for your child. You need to find out what it offers that the allocated school does not and see if you can find anything that is particularly relevant to your child. Look at extra-curricular activities such as lunchtime clubs and any other features of the school that may be helpful.

You should certainly talk about your older child's needs. How much weight it will carry is up to the appeal panel to decide but it may help your case. It certainly can't do any harm.