Appeal on Monday for son with no school place at all for 6 months. Help pls!

[badgermama]

Hello lovely folk, all help appreciated. We moved at the end of March this year to an area where all the primary schools are full. The council have been no help and offered no school place so I have had my 5 year old year R son at home for 6 months trying to educate him whilst taking care of his two year old sister. During this time we have gone from no 2 on the waiting list for our catchment school to number 9. The Head told me it would probably be Juniors before he gets a place.

We have an appeal on Monday and any hints would be appreciated. We spoke to the admissions dept at the council today who gave us lots of information I am sure is wrong eg we think he may fit under fair access protocol as he has been unplaced and the council said FAP doesn't apply to secondary. They also said that he had not been out of school for 6 months as it counts per year so he has only been unplaced for one day (?!).

They also said that the council are setting up a room in a school four miles away till Xmas where all the year R and 1 children who are unplaced in the area can go, with no plans for after Xmas. I can't drive due to a visual problem and would struggle to get him there and feel reluctant to put a nervous 5 year old in a taxi. My son is also very able and was taught on his own for much of the time at his last school as his literacy especially was so far in advance of the other 90 children in the year so the thought of him being in a class with possibly mostly younger children concerns me. He used to come home weeping with boredom from the last school and I can't help feeling that stimulation might not be great in this interim holding classroom. The council official also told me they did not have him on their list as unplaced for some reason so had not got him on the list for this temporary classroom set up, I have no idea why they would not class him as unplaced as we have all the documentation in place to show we applied and are unplaced and an appeal date.

I am sorry to ramble. It had been an exhausting year and I really want to do right by my son and feel pretty hopeless about the appeal at the moment.

thank you to anyone who has stuck with this!

Thank you tight. This is really helpful.

The bulge class is also across a motorway in the middle of an industrial estate. The bus times don't line up for ordinary school start times (though Lord knows what the start times will be as the bulge class has only been considered for 3 weeks) leaving me, son and 2 year old standing there waiting. We then can't get there and back in time so would have to head to nearest town and pass the day. It's not a solution.

The fact that given it isn't even worked out yet, and my son wasn't on the list for it, and we had no offer in writing for it... yet the appeals panel have put it in our decision letter as a solution makes my blood boil.

Sorry, tight not tight...spell checker

Tight the more I read of things like docs you posted the more I feel completely done over by the appeal. The panel asked how far was deemed reasonable for a 5 year old to travel. LA rep said 75 mins and they took that as fine , even though we said it would be take longer than that. If that is secondary guideline the panel are again going on incorrect info.

I feel like the LA have got away with so much here, lies in writing, huge mistakes and misinformation. And at the end of the day...We get a letter from the panel that just pushes all that aside and looks like the LA rep wrote it.

The Local Authority concerned does have, as required, a transport entitlement policy. What it says is that free transport will be provided for an infant school child if the walking distance is more than 2 miles, 3 miles for junior children. Under that criteria you will be eligible for free transport, which would normally be by bus. However also in the transport policy is a statement that they would not normally provide free transport to the point where you would get in the bus. There is then a bit which says

Journey Times
3.2.1 Transport arrangements will allow the child to reach school without undue stress, strain or difficulty. Shorter journey times are desirable in achieving this. As a guide, maximum journey times should be 45 minutes for primary children and 75 minutes for secondary children.
3.2.2 Limited exceptions of more than 75 minutes may apply in some situations, although individual needs will be assessed. These exceptions are likely to occur in transport:
• to church secondary schools
• to special schools
• to EOTAS units
• for pupils attending their next nearest school with an available place because no place available at designated catchment area school or nearest school

In effect the last bullet point in 3.2.2 is the get out clause for what the LA rep said but it is twisting the expectation.
You need to be careful to separate what is a referral to the LGO with regard to the admission appeal hearing and what is an appeal to the LA for free transport for which you have not even applied yet but is assumed will be available, as and when you accept a school place. Part of your case for free transport is that the availability of buses at the right times is non-existent and therefore taxis are the only sensible alternative as you do not drive.
Part of the case going to the LGO could be that you believe that the LA Rep was disingenuous with information to the panel around the time to get to the proposed alternative school, which unduly influenced the panel's decision, that it was a reasonable decision that an alternative school is available.

Thank you, that is really helpful.

It saddens me that the reality of what this is like for a child is so far down the list of concerns. I thought LAs were about looking after children and their needs.

Agree with Admission. Also if I haven't said it before you need to make clear to the LGO that alternative school mentioned by the panel in the decision letter is one that had not been offered at the time of the appeal and that even now, over a week later, the LA has still not offered a place at this school. The panel has therefore potentially used a comparison with a school place that simply does not exist.

And that is quite apart from the fact that even if this place does exist it appears that it may only be a temporary solution.

Thank you.

How on earth did we lose?

Is there any use is trying to pursue legal action?

We mailed to get back the report from the home ed that the panel chair didn't return but they have sent back a poor photocopy not the original. We have mailed to ask for the original back.

Thank you.

I suppose we feel more hopeless than daunted. I felt worried but confident (especially as we had things in writing) for the appeal but have lost so much faith and the thought that the LGO, even if they find fault, would send it back for another appeal seems utterly hopeless as an appeal isn't going to want to find fault with an appeal I would think.

I know we can ask for them to over ride the need for appeal though and I would hope they would consider that given that every day is another day that my son isn't in school so all delays are fundamentally about him and his wellbeing.

It has been hard this week after trying to gently raise the idea of school with him in case the appeal was successful only to now be back to saying that we don't know but are still trying to sort it out. Children need to feel their parents have things relatively under control and I can't really give him that message at the moment.

an appeal isn't going to want to find fault with an appeal

You are overthinking this.

A fresh appeal is exactly that. The appeal panel will not be told anything about the first appeal by either the clerk or the LA. They may figure it out for themselves in which case they will know that the LGO wasn't happy with the way the first appeal was conducted, but they will also know that they must treat this as a standalone appeal. They are not there to review the findings of the first panel. They are there to hear the case from scratch and make their own decision. The clerk will know there has been a previous hearing and what went wrong. The clerk will want to ensure the second panel does not repeat the mistakes of the first.

Second appeal panels regularly come up with different verdicts to the initial panel. If the LGO does decide to offer a second appeal you will have a good chance of success. And if the second appeal panel gets things wrong you are entitled to go back to the LGO.

Ok, that's good to know.

Just read this thread and am delurking to lend my support. I don't have any particularly helpful advice, but am astonished that you are where you are. I hope the authorities see sense soon. -you bang their heads together-

They are not there to review the findings of the first panel.

Just thought I should add that they won't even have the findings of the first panel, nor do they get to see the LGO report. All they will have is the evidence from the LA and yourself.

This is a mad situation to be in. Have you considered contacting the newspapers (daily mail?). There are so many stories of fines for parents taking kids out of school. And here you are being denied a place when your son wants to go. It just makes no sense.

Also delurking to offer support. I agree with another poster that local newspapers or even the dm may help you here.

It is so kind of people to keep showing support.

With the help of the kind people on here our complaint to the LGO is looking good.

A positive thing is that the LGO recently published a document about things that have gone wrong for people in the past that can't be allowed to happen again and the case study they show of a little girl is pretty much our experience. I am taking that as a positive sign about our complaint and will obviously be quoting that back to them.

Yesterday my son wrote a gorgeous poem unaided about the passing of time, wrote a funny short story unaided, built a house from wood in the garden and completed some maths for 8 year olds whilst saying he was 'having great fun'. I am so proud of his resilience and spirit.

Aww!

You're clearly non too shabby as a home educator!

It's a totally awful and ridiculous situation OP, you're doing brilliantly to keep going.

Thank you folks, that is sweet.

More importantly he has play time with friends this afternoon :)

Just had a mail from our MP with a mail attached to him from the head of children's services at the council about us. The mail from the head of children's services says:

-that we are electively home educating (not true)
-that we have been offered and turned down schools (not true) and transport (not true)
-that we need to start considering other schools in the area not just our preferred school (as if we are being choosy) but states that all schools in the area area are full
-that we are wrong about FAP being possible as it only applies to such as statemented pupils and not to full schools.

This letter was written after our appeal and they are still saying that we are home educating and using this as an excuse for having not placed us. We made it damn clear in the appeal and have written to the inclusion service to confirm this.