Can anyone give me some advise on whether I have grounds to appeal my childs primary school place?

[keys27]

Hi guys I need some advice if possible. Do I have good grounds to appeal?

My little girl stays with my mum a lot in the nursery week. This is because her younger sister has a number of health issues. To cut a long story short she was born very prem and has had a brain bleed causing her to now have cerebral palsy. She has a vp shunt and chronic lung disease not only are we in and out of A and E on a regular basis we also have to attend Physio, OT, Speech and language appointments on top of vision and doctor check ups.

I applied for 3 schools in proximity of my mums as my mum does not always have access to a car and I rely on her taking and collecting my little girl to and from nursery as it is in walking distance of my parents house if I cant get to pick her up or if my other little girl is very poorly (chest infections) and can not leave the house.

My question is do I have a good appeal case to get my little girl into my mums local school or is it best to stick with what they have given me? I am so worried as I know her school life will be disrupted now as I wont be able to get her into school if her little sister is poorly and she can not stay with my mum as she does not always have a form of transport.

Your info would be really appreciated

Thank you

Those sound like exceptional circumstances. To be honest I don't know the answer, but bumping for someone more knowledgeable

Thank you :) really appreciate it xxx

I heard from a gran that their grandchild won an appeal as they argued that child's dad and grandparents lived in the village of the school they wanted (parents separated and assume mum was main carer).
If the above is correct I think you would definitely have a good chance.

It will depend which address you put on your application forms. The address your daughter lives at (is registered to) is the address they use to determine school places. If you used your address you don't have any grounds for appeal. They might consider your exceptional circumstances but since the child in question is not actually the one with SEN it would be a long shot.

Thank you all for your advise im lucky my health visitor said she will support my case only because her schooling could be seriously disrupted as her sister is always getting chest infections and we end up in hospital. I did put my address. To be fair the school she got is not a bad school im just worried this is going to disrupt her if I can not get her in. I have a number of medical reports backing this. Can only try im so stressed out over it all. Thank you all for taking the time to reply to meis much appreciated

I would to start with accepting the school you have been offered, so that you have a back up, accepting that is far from ideal. You should not turn down the place offered because it will put you in an even worse situation of having no school place. Having made you an offer the LA have done what is legally required and many admission appeal panels would see a situation of you having turned down the offer as half way to trying to blackmail the panel into giving you a place at your preferred school by pleading you have no school to go to.
When it comes to the admission appeal, the first priority is to establish whether any appeal will be an infant class size appeal, so is the published admission number (PAN) , 15, 30, 45 or 60. If so it will be an ICS appeal and you will have little chance of success at appeal unless you can prove a mistake was made and you should have been offered a place. If it is another number of pupils entering the school in September then it is more likely that it not an infant class size case and then your own personal circumstances come into play and you have a better chance of success, especially if you can show good written information about your other daughter's problems.

Thank you so much for that really useful piece of information that's really helped me. As I said before I am pleased with the school she has been given trust me it could have been so much worse, but my main concern is her school life not being disrupted. I was back in A and E last night with the baby as she was having breathing difficulties so if this was a nursery day my mum would have my oldest and look after her until baby was better so she could walk her to nursery. However if she was at school today she would of had to have missed it as my mum would not of been able to get her to school as she has no form of transport and would take ages on public transport therefore getting up extra early and missing breakfast. My youngest is very poorly as she is still a baby and maturing but with a VP shunt placed as well as chronic lung disease as you can imagine its not a day to day routine for us.
I have all medical reports and my health visitor said she will help me as well because obviously they know how much I rely on mum and how unwell my baby is.
I read up going to appeal would only be excepted if the school had made a mistake on my case they haven't made any mistake as they have given me one of my local schools its just if they take into consideration now the medical reports and background information.
I just needed advise on if I had a good case to go to appeal and not sound ungrateful to other parents who have not even got a place in their local school. Obviously we put our children first and their education is really important I dont want her missing school unless she is poorly herself. I have been so stressed out over it all :(.

Thank you all again for taking the time to reply to means a great deal to me.

Admission - gives the best advice.
But Don't Panic!
First accept the school place you have been given (it is better than no school - yes?).
Now contact the LA and make sure you are on the waiting list for the schools you didn't get. Then ask to speak to someone who normally works in admissions, if they can't speak to you now - get them to call back, maybe just after Easter. Talk to them about your circumstances and take their advice. In your circumstances I might well appeal even though there is little hope. You want to highlight the "special social and medical" grounds that you want your DD to attend this school.
If you get letter's written they need to say "In my opinion DD needs to attend X because.." not "Mrs Keys has told me that her DD needs to attend X because...".
Are there any other schools your DM could get her to regularly? If so could you put your DD on the waiting list there too?

However do also remember there is often a fair bit of movement on waiting lists, so don't worry too much. Good luck.

I agree with Admission.

Most appeals for YR places are infant class size appeals, so I am assuming this one is too. Strictly speaking, you should win only if you can pinpoint an error in the admissions arrangements which has cost your daughter a place.

Does the school have a social/medical needs category in its admissions? Did you state on the application form that you wanted to be considered under this category? If so and the LEA overlooked this, you might be able to convince the panel that this was an error and you should have been given a place. Even if there is no social/medical needs category or you did not apply under it, if you can present evidence of your younger child's severe health problems, you might manage to convince the panel that the decision not to give you a place is do unreasonable as to be perverse (another of the grounds on which an ICS appeal can be allowed). This is something of a long shot, especially as cases about health needs are usually confined to the child on whose behalf the appeal is being made, but you have nothing to lose by trying.

Unfortunately, though, if you don't win your appeal or can't get a place via the waiting list, the school and LEA will expect you to make reliable arrangements - such as a lift share with friends or using a childminder - to ensure your child can regularly attend the allocated school.

I notice re-reading the posts that I did not say anything about going on the waiting list for the school you want. Whilst many LAs automatically put you on the waiting list, it is always best to formally ask to be put on the waiting list for the three schools that you want near your mothers. There is likely to be some movement at these schools over the next three months so it is imperative that you get your name down. Having said that the list is kept in admission criteria order so you will have the same problem of being at some distance to the school.
I do think that you should also appeal for the schools that you want. They will be three separate appeals with probably three different sets of panel members. If they are infant class size appeals you should not win the appeal because no mistakes were made and under the strict definition of the LA having made an unreasonable decision you would not win. However different LAs have different thresholds for an "unreasonable decision" as do admission appeal panels. I am sure that the panels will have every sympathy for your particular circumstances but they will only be able to do what legally they believe that they can do.