Advice for Building an Appeal for Primary School Admission

[CherylB27]

I was devastated to find out that we didn't get any of our 4 chosen primary schools.

Our local school is just 0.38 miles away. They have an intake of 45 but this year 26 of those are siblings.

I am waiting to find out where we are on the waiting list and am starting to build a case for appeal. Does anyone have any previous experience of appeals or can advise me on the best arguments to use legally?

The school judges the distance to our house based on a "straight line basis" rather than a walking route. Can I challenge this within the appeal?

A new housing estate has been built close to the school but the council hasn't made any provision for accepting more students can I use this?

I have discovered that someone has been accepted into the school that lives further away. She was accepted because she said she had a sibling but he leaves in the summer. Can I use this in appeal? And if so how can I prove this or gain evidence to show this within the appeal meeting?

Any help with the type of evidence or documentation to be used in the appeal would be appreciated.

With a PAN of 45 this will almost certainly be an infant class size appeal. That means you can only win if the admission arrangements don't comply with the Admissions Code, admissions have not been administered correctly or the decision to refuse admission was unreasonable (the bar for which is very high). You can still appeal even if there is no mistake but your chances of success are limited.

The school judges the distance to our house based on a "straight line basis" rather than a walking route. Can I challenge this within the appeal?

No. The school can measure distances either way. Many use straight line distance. There is nothing wrong with that.

A new housing estate has been built close to the school but the council hasn't made any provision for accepting more students can I use this?

No. The local school does not have to expand just because more houses are built. Unless they add more classrooms there won't be any more places at this school.

She was accepted because she said she had a sibling but he leaves in the summer. Can I use this in appeal?

This would only be the basis of a successful appeal if the admission criteria only give priority to children with a sibling who are still expected to be at the school when the new pupil starts and the school was aware that the older sibling is going to leave. Unless both of those conditions are met this is not going to help you.

If you don't have any evidence of a mistake (e.g. your child being placed in the wrong category or the distance being measured incorrectly) all you can do is make the best argument you can as to why your child will be disadvantaged if they don't go to this school. But you need to be realistic about your chances. In the absence of a mistake it is very unlikely you will win an appeal. Sorry.

Here siblings only count if they will be in school when the child is admitted. You have to put the siblings date of birth and their current year.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I've checked with the criteria and siblings are only accepted If the older child is still at the school, so there is something to look at there. I don't know how I can prove this other than just report this mum who herself has admitted to me that the older sibling is leaving. Other than that, I'm feeling despondent as our case looks weak. Everything crossed for us getting in via the waiting list.

You can report the mum (I'm surprised automatic checking didn't pick it up and put her back in the right category TBH, assuming you mean the sibling is in year 6 at the moment and leaving 'automatically') but, bear in mind, if she gets booted out it simply frees up a place for the first person on the waiting list. Do you know yet if that's you?

Thanks, Yes the older brother is in year 6 and due to leave in July. Is it best to report her now to Admissions or wait for the appeal? Could she have lied on the form? Do they check every case? Yes, I appreciate it just bumps us up the waiting list. We don't find out where we are on the list until Friday, but Admissions have already confirmed to me that the difference in distance between us and the last child admitted is 0.025 miles so I would hope that we are near the top.

Is the criteria that the sibling has to be in school at time of application or at time of entry? Two very different things

Good point, I will double check everything before contacting Admissions. I hate the idea of "ratting" on someone else, but I guess needs must.

Our LA clearly states that in cat 3 the sibling must be in school when the younger one starts. This means that a year 6 sibling doesn't count.
Check what your LA web site states

Our LA clearly states that in cat 3 the sibling must be in school when the younger one starts. This means that a year 6 sibling doesn't count.
Check what your LA web site states