Have I got this right about appeals?

[Galena]

A few of my friends have been disappointed with the school they have been allocated and other friends have told them to appeal. I have told them that, unless there has been a mistake in applying the admissions criteria, there is absolutely no point appealing and they just need to put the child's name on the waiting list and hope children turn down their places/move away.

Am I right in this advice? As far as I can see it, appealing is pointless if it's just that they aren't happy with the choice. It's not terribly popular advice though!

In our area twins seem to count as one for waiting lists too. So if a place comes up and twins are waiting, they both get in. But then two more places have to come up before anyone else gets in. If that makes sense. I think I read that section correctly.

I find it an odd exception tbh.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES MUST THE RATIO EXCEED THIRTY CHILDREN PER QUALIFIED TEACHER ... oh unless you shared a womb. That's ok then.

I don't think DS's class is overcrowded, nor do I think thirty isn't a good cutoff. It just isn't a well known rule.

Back on topic, I think people sometimes forget that even if your grounds for appeal are valid, that doesn't mean you will necessarily get in - the class can't get any bigger and the council can't withdraw places from people who applied properly (ie didn't falsify the application) after 48h is it? of the places' being announced. To get a place you are usually displacing someone else

It is odd isn't it. I mean, I see it would be hard to get twins to different schools. But really that much harder than getting a reception and year one child to two schools, and there's no exception for that. And the 'special bond' of twins - well I was at school with two sets who hated each other!

Well quite. Or a child into R with a sibling in Y6.

On the other hand one does feel reassured that having got one in, the others should be easier.

As was pointed out on another thread, that's little comfort when seeking a school place for a first or only child, though. In London secondary schools, the sibling priority had become a bit rackety, IMO.

Anyway, I joined the thread to say, pace future prejudice, that another no-no at appeal is arguing that if the school arranged its classes differently it could admit another child. The appeal panel had to work with the layout/set-up/management structure the school currently has and cannot dictate changes.

The class can get bigger - if children are admitted on appeal the class can have more than 30 children per teacher. Until recently this only applied to the current year and if it was still the situation the following academic year another teacher had to be employed. The law has now been changed to allow this to continue. However, no child will be admitted from the waiting list until the class falls to 29.

Yes, Raspberry, but that's not the same ad saying that (say) Y1 should have only 29 pupils in order to accommodate 31 in Reception ( not that could be done anyway, as it would infringe the ICS rules).

Sorry ComeIntoThe GardenMaud, the bigger comment was aimed upthread at Horryisupduffed saying a class couldn't get bigger even if appeal reasons were valid.

What appeal basis would that be? Presumably this is eg where the rules have been wrongly applied and is instead of booting out child #30?