Primary school appeal-sibling priority

[Mkhan3081]

Hi there! Really hope someone can help me out with this. We just moved to birmingham in september from overseas and applied to different schools near our home for my year 1 daughter and year 4 son. My son got admission immediately and my daughter is still at home because there are no vacancies in year 1 in ANY school in our catchment area. My daughter is on the waiting list of her brother's school which is obviously my preferred choice but so far its been 2 months and no luck. She is now getting very distressed and really wants to go to school. The council offered her a place in a school thats almost 45 mins away by bus. The trouble is there is no after school care in either my sons school or the one offered to my daughter so how can i pick both of them after school at the same time?! It'll take me almost an hour to reach my daughters school after picking my son up! We are only here for a year so I really want her to start school asap so she can enjoy this unique cultural experience. I have applied for an appeal do you think i'll have any luck? Any suggestions as to how i can make my case stronger?

Mkhan, how far away (in miles) is the offered school for your daughter? It's possible the LA will have to pay for transport.

If the school is full ie all classes in your daughter's year have 30 pupils in, then there isn't much you can do to make your case stronger, because Infant Class Size regulations apply and the appeal panel can't override them unless a mistake has been made in admissions. Do you know if you are top of the waiting list?

Don't restrict yourself to catchment - I'm only in catchment for 2.
Look at EVERY school that would work for your daughter - close to your son's school, or with after school options.
Also, consider if there is anywhere with a vacancy that could also take your son - ie both in the same school, but not the one your son is currently in.
I wouldn't have thought it was an appeal situation - unless a mistake has been made what would you be appealing against? As fas as I know (and I'm not a expert) difficult (impossible) logistics are not a reason to admit additional children to a school.

The first thing to say is that if the LA has offered you a school, no matter where, they have completed their legal duty to find a school place. As you turned down that place it is now for you to find a school place for your daughter, which as she is 5+ is a legal duty on you.

It is now individual schools who have the responsibility for admitting pupils in-year, which is what your situation is. I would firstly go back to the school where your son is and ask again for a place and to check where you are on the waiting list. I would also ask the school for information on after-school facilities in the area - they have a legal duty to have such information available. There must be some after school facilities close by.
If you have applied for an admission appeal then you need to prepare the best case you can as to why you want your daughter to go to the school. However if the admission appeal is one where the infant class size regs apply then you need to understand that your chances of success are low.

On an assumption that you will be told there is no place and that the admission appeal will fail, you then need to start asking all local schools whether they have a place available in year 1. Hopefully you will find one relatively local, which has both a space available and after school facilities. Ask the LA where there they believe there are places for year 1. If nothing else getting a written reply from them saying there are no spaces locally will be useful as a document in you appeal case. Then start phone individual schools up to confirm what the situation is.

Thank you so much! This really helps..the school they offered is about 3 miles away which i know isn't that far but due to traffic and bus changes it takes a long time. My main issue is obviously having children in different schools without any after school care..i checked with my son's school and my daughter is first on the waiting list so whenever a place opens up she should get an offer. So do you think i should just wait it out and home school her during this time? I have applied to other schools as well that are at a more reasonable distance in the hope something opens up.

It's hard to say whether it is worth waiting without knowing how much movement there is in their lists. Schools vary massively in the amount of movement they have. If you ask at the school, they might be able to give you a sense of this. Obviously not giving promises, but giving an indication what has happened in the past.

At 3 miles shouldn't they be providing her with transport free of charge?

Mkhan, it's really very possible that no place will open up in your son's school for the whole year. You are totally reliant on one family moving and, given that there's a shortage of school places in many areas, a lot of families will stay put if happy with their school. Some infant schools never have any leavers!

Have you declined the place that is 3 miles away?

My son is in year 2 and it's only in the last couple of weeks that one of the children in his year has left - that was the first child to leave since they all started over two years ago. I wouldn't wait for a place - it might not happen for a very long time.

Appeal scheduled for next monday..the letter stated it would 'prejudice the provision of efficient education' by admitting an additional child in my dd's year group (yr 1). Not sure exactly what that means :/ can i ask the panel to consider admitting my child in the school as an 'excepted' one as we are in uk for one year only and almost three months have already passed so the strain of having an additional child will not be for a full year? And since she'll leave the school by sept next year the burden will not be carried forward...any thoughts?

Prejudice the provision of efficient education are the words that are used in every appeal. It is essentially saying that the school is full up to the PN of the school year and there are also all sorts of other reasons why we cannot admit.
I am afraid that the reasons for a pupil being excepted are very tightly controlled and certainly for the reason you have specified would not be accepted. What you would be better saying is that the school offered is far too far away for a year 1 pupil, especially given that her elder sibling is in the school and that you would like admission on the basis that there is no school place within reasonable distance - that is one of the reasons that can be considered as an excepted pupil.However I do have to say that under normal circumstances a school 3 miles away would be considered to be perfectly acceptable as an alternative, but you never know what the panel might think

Thank you..using her sibling was definitely the strongest reasons i was going to use..moving to a new country was hard on her already and she gets very homesick plus she gets very anxious in unfamiliar situations and completely withdraws into herself so a different school would definitely stress her out a lot..she needs the support and comfort of knowing her elder brother is in the same school. The school is actually 4 miles away when i checked on google maps (not that one mile makes a huge difference :) )

Is there room for your son at the school 4 miles away?

No they don't have space in year 4..i wouldn't want to move him anyway because he's very happy here and has made lots of friends..changing his school now would be a little unfair on him

Sorry to just pop again but i have so many questions! I received the schools statement from the LA today and their PAN is 60 but the total number of students is 61..does this mean they already have a class of 31 in her yeargroup? And will this help my case in any way? I mean i'm thinking if they're already managing one class of 31 then surely they can have 31 in the other one too right?

Unfortunately that isn't how it works.

If they have a PAN of 60 and already have 61 then they have an 'excepted pupil' currently on the role. There are very, very tightly defined reasons why a school can go over its PAN and those are 'excepted pupils'. It is things like children who are admitted after an appeal, children of service personnel who have to move outside normal admissions round, etc.

I am afraid that all it means is that two children would need to leave before there is a space from the waiting list. It doesn't mean that they have any greater ability to go up to 31 for the other class and sets no precedent for your appeal.

Sorry .