Appeal - primary school

[Corblimy]

Hi,

I'm appealing for a Year 3 place in primary school, but we are living in rented accommodation, does anyone know if this will have an impact? We did try and buy a house there but the chain was broken due to Brexit...

Any primary appeal tips would be really useful to know too!

Thanks!

Rental accommodation won't have any bearing unless it's not your only home. Some addresses are highlighted by the LA as frequently rented and vacated by people with children who make school applications, but genuine applicants have no need to worry.

Lougle - thanks, it's our only home...I know of two other people who appealed and they both had to provide proof of their home ownership, so I was going to explain and provide proof of how we had an offer accepted in the area and proof about our breakdown in chain as I know there can be a weariness about people renting to get into the school and wanted to show we weren't doing that...but perhaps I should steer clear of this?

As Lougle says, it's irrelevant if it's your only home and your child's permanent place of residence.

For a primary Year 3 appeal, you are trying to show that the detriment to the school of another child is smaller than the detriment to your child of not attending that specific school.So you need to show why this school in particular is necessary, with as much evidence as possible. For example, does this school offer subjects/specialisms/special needs provision that your child is especially interested in/talented in/requires? Are there specific family/religious circumstances that mean you require the school?

Thanks, there are more activities at the school we're appealing for that my son would do, and there's been quite a few issues at his current school...thanks for the information..it suddenly all feels quite intimidating

I'm not sure its irrelevant in all places - when we were applying for primary school places, we had to have at least a 12 month tenancy (regardless of whether it was our only home or not) or our previous address would have been taken by the LA as our permanent address. I think its to stop people renting for a short period, saying its a permanent address, then moving away. I suspect you need to check the criteria your LA uses.

Corblimy try to remember, in all that you present, that you aren't appealing against his current school, but for the new school. So a general statement, for example, of 'he doesn't like the school he's in because he doesn't have many friends' won't help your appeal, but rephrased as 'his current school only has a PAN of 16 and Tom has struggled to gel with the handful of boys his age there. The appeal school has a PAN of 90 and we feel that Tom will thrive in a larger school environment'... puts the same information as a positive argument for the new school.

Similarly 'Tom is bored because there's no school clubs he likes' doesn't help, but 'at school X there are after school clubs in x, y and z. Tom is particularly interested in x, has shown real talent for y in PE lessons and would really like to join club z. This will help him settle with his new peer group.'

Providing evidence of failed house purchases is irrelevant - rented housing is absolutely valid.

Thanks, that's really useful to know! What a minefield!