Please explain appeals based on infant class size to me

[SmileAndNod]

As I've been up all night worrying and my brain is muddled.

If a school had a PAN of 45 over two classes would an appeal for this school be based on class size? Or can they not go over 23 per class?

It depends on whether there are mixed classes anywhere in years R-2, because they must stay at 30 per teacher until the end of KS1.

So if they have 3 smaller Reception classes, that then become 3 mixed year1-2 classes, it remains ICS because they cannot admit more pupils if it takes them over numbers on their existing class arrangement at any post before year 3.

Sorry, that should have been 2 smaller reception classes and "... at any point before year3"

PAN of 45 round here there is one reception class and a mixed year 1 and reception class, so both classes are 30. So it really depends on how the school is structured.

As others have said, it depends how the classes are arranged, but the usual arrangement with a PAN of 45 does seem to be two small Reception classes and then mixed year groups of 30 pupils in Y1 and Y2. If that is the case in this school then any appeal would be heard under infant class size rules, which essentially means that the appeal could be won only if there was an error in the admission arrangements which had cost the child their place.

The number of places available in reception depends on the square footage of space in the foundation stage reception classroom(s).

We have enough staff and equipment to hold a class of 30 but because we're in an old building the reception classroom is too small and can't be extended. Therefore our available size is 25. Once they get to year 1 we automatically have 5 free spaces.

The school (at present at least) has 2 x R, 2 x Y1 and 2 x Y2 classes. Not mixed until year 3/4 though I think that is due to change too.

So if we decide to appeal, we could only do so if there was an error in process?

If each class is 22/23 all the way through the infants then it's a normal prejudice appeal. You have to that the prejudice (harm) to your child of being denied a place is greater than the prejudice to the school.

No, appeals based on error (including illegality) are for infant class size appeals, ie where the school has classes of 30 in reception and/or years 1 and 2. If you are saying that this school has 25 in a class all the way through Foundation and Key Stage 1, that helps you enormously because it will not be an ICS appeal. In a non-ICS appeal, you would be arguing on the balance of 'prejudice' (ie disadvantage) to your child in not being admitted, against the prejudice to the school and the pupils already in it of admitting another pupil. You could bring in arguments about your child's educational, social, medical or pastoral needs (as relevant) and demonstrate why the appeal school is the one best placed to meet those needs.

Thank you so much. Numbers are similar for the key stage 1 classes. So we could appeal on the basis of the child's needs - eg having the SALT attached to the school, that sort of thing?

May be back with more specific questions later, once we have received decisions. Thank you for your brilliant advice.

Yes, something like a child needing SALT input and this being the only school with on site SALT services is just the sort of thing that can be raised at a 'prejudice' appeal. That's not a guarantee that you would win - much depends on the relative strength of the school's case not to admit - but it is certainly a relevant argument.

Yes, if the school intends to change its classroom arrangements so that there are classes of 30 in Foundation and Key Stage 1, that is potentially a fly in the ointment. Are these changes definitely going to happen? Is there an agreed timescale for them to be introduced? If this is just an idea that is bandied about, it shouldn't make any difference to the appeal, but if it is a firm plan and would come into effect while the child was in YR/Y1/Y2 it could transform this (unhelpfully, from OP's point of view) into an ICS appeal.

As PanelChair says, whether or not these changes are definitely going to happen is key if it affects YR/Y1/Y2. The admission authority cannot argue ICS on the basis of a decision that has not yet been taken. ICS is about what will happen if the child is admitted, not what might happen in some circumstances.