Hello, I'll try to give all the details, but it will probably be long, so apologies in advance. I don't want to give my location, if that's okay, but we live in England.
My son will be 4 in May. We live in a smallish town, where there are 4 decent primaries. We live just round the corner from one, in fact, we can see it from one of our bedroom windows. We applied for all 4 schools in our area, although our no. 1 choice was the second nearest - still under 1mile away.
I didn't get a letter or email on Thurs. 16th, so I went and checked the offer online. We had been rejected for all 4 choices, and instead, given a place at a school we've never heard of, in another town nearby. When we checked on Google, we discovered that it is an hour's walk away, over 20 mins by car, and is not served by public transport. It is also a new school, in an old building, and the second Google hit for it is a local newspaper article condemning the use of the building because it is crumbling, with exposed asbestos, and so on. There is no OFSTED report yet because it is new. Looking on the map, there are SIX schools nearer to our home than this one. I know they legally have to provide transport, but I've checked, and it would mean my son travelling in a taxi without me, and I simply refuse to allow that.
More facts: I cannot drive, and I have mecfs. I sent a Dr's note in with the original application stating that I cannot walk far or drive, so need my son to go to a school within reasonable walking distance. My partner, his father, cannot do the school run due to work hours. I am a SAHM, and DS does 15 free nursery hours at a lovely local nursery that's not affiliated to a school. He is our only child.
My son is bright (has taught himself the alphabet, how to read and count to 100), but is Summer-born, emotionally immature, very shy, to the point of nursery worrying about elective mutism, very clingy to me, very nervous of other children, wears glasses and has a speech impediment. He is also not very gender-conforming, and likes pink, dolls, etc. (We don't believe in gender-stereotyping children). So we were already worried about him starting school before this development.
We are going to appeal, but what worries me is that we're only allowed on the form to say why we want him to go to his first choice. We're not allowed to give reasons why the admissions offer is unsuitable, or even say that we're happy for him to go to the other choices, so long as it's not the offer school! If they've already rejected us once, despite our existing suitability, what can we say to change their minds?!
Everyone else we know has got their 1st or 2nd choice, we don't know how come we've been so unlucky, especially living in such close proximity to two schools, and what with my mobility issues.
I really need some advice with the appeal, because there is no way we are going to send our son to the offered school. We will not send him to school this year if it's our only option. Please help?