Primary school appeal help, please!

[JellyBellies]

Hi, We recently bought a house and have moved with 2 children, DS1 year 3 and DS2, year 1.

We did an in year application for primary school places near the new house. Both children got a mandatory offer to a school 1.5 miles from the house. Both also went on the waiting list at the school 0.2 miles from the house (catchment school for the area).

Before we could move them from their current school (5 miles from the new house) DS2 got a place at the catchment school. Very pleased as this is the school we want. DS1 is number one on the waiting world his year group.

Now the question is can we appeal for DS1 to get a place?

DS1 is quite a sensitive child, and get extremely anxious about things. I was hoping to appeal on the grounds that

1. As DS is so sensitive 2 school moves would not be a good option for him
2. Difficulty in dropping and picking up from both schools
3. Both go to after school club till 6 pm and are very close to each other, play together etc

Also the school currently had 60 children in a year group. But the current year 5 and 6 have 90 each due to a bulge class. Can I use this in my appeal?

Also, what evidence can I provide for my points? The after school club manager has agreed to write me a letter stating that the boys are there till 6 pm daily and depend on each other.

I was hoping to get a letter form the current class teacher stating DS1's anxiety and difficulty in new situations. She verbally agrees with me, in fact has gone so far as to say that she believes DS1's to be slightly on the autistic spectrum. But she has said that she is not allowed to write a letter as she would then be going against the council. Is this correct?

Sorry for the epic post, thank you for reading!

Thanks both. The school is already over crowded as they created some bulge classes a few years ago. These classes are currently the years 5 and 6 at the school. For the rest of the years the pan is 60. Except year 2, they have 61. Schools argument is they are already overcrowded. That's why I am wondering how the year 2 increase happened.

I will call and ask.

Update:
Had the appeal hearing today. The panel and the admissions office were lovely and very helpful.

No idea about the results, we will wait and find out!

Thank you so much to everyone who helped. And a massive thank you to prh47 for all your help.

You are very welcome. Hope you get the result you want!

We won the appeal!!!

A big thank you again to everyone. It was a fascinating experience.

Well done! I am pleased for you.

Thank you! The admissions officer was lovely and rang me today to tell me the result. Still waiting for it to sink in

Hi, just need expert opinion regarding my daughter 's admission in year 5. Her admission is refused by school. Class strength is 30 kids. My son has got admission in same school last week. We have got mid of Feb date for appeal. Can someone guide about strong points to quote in appeal process. How much would it matter if one brother or sister is already enrolled in school and Wats chances of outcome of appeal in our favour? We are moving in school area in couple of weeks time and its nearest good category school in this locality.

JellyBellies pl share ur experience with ref to my case. Thanks

Whilst having a sibling in the school is a factor at an appeal, it is probably not going to get you a place in its own right. You need to be thinking about what the new school can offer that present school cannot and be talking about forming new friendship groups. Have the LA offered an alternate school or not - they should and where this school is will have some bearing on how the panel will respond. However there is no requirement for both siblings to be offered the same school and the schools offered can be quite a distance away and apart from each other. I accept that this creates logistically issues but that is what the regs allow.
Also you need to consider asking the question, where is the nearest school that has places for both siblings because the panel will ask the question at appeal and if it is relatively near by it will not be helpful to your appeal.

We have recently got back from our native country and haven't applied in any other school or council. We came UK first time in end of November 2015 and Our kids were in a private school in last one year. Then my job contract ended and We are now back after two months as I got new job contract. All schools hv same syllabus so nothing particular can be mentioned about desired school.

What might help is if they have previously run classes larger than the current Y3 classes in Y3 or above as it suggests they can cope with an additional pupil.

I keep reading this argument on these appeal threads and I have to say, as a teacher, that it really is not necessarily the case. We've had additional pupils thrust upon us before, and it has been extremely difficult to manage with our classroom layout and sizes. It is certainly not something that we would in any way be willing to endure again, just because it happened before. It was detrimental to all.

Also, just because a school might be running a certain club one academic year/term, does not mean that that will always be available. Our clubs are quite varied and some only run for specified periods. Using "Short Tennis Club" as an argument for admission, is kind of irrelevant if it only runs for half a term in the summer.

The appeal panel took a lot of things into consideration. They were definitely interested in the logistics of getting 2 children to different schools on time. Despite the advice I got from some here that siblings and transport disfigure not important. They asked me a lot of questions about what support I had available, how many cars we had, did we consider the issue before we bought the house etc. This was combined with the other reasons in my appeal.

My advice would be to go and see both schools. Then see if there are specific reasons why you want your child to attend your chosen school.

Thanks Jelly but see, we haven't seen any other school neither we intend to visit any. Let's see what's in our fate :)

it really is not necessarily the case

I understand what you are saying but this is how an appeal panel will look at it. If you have coped with 31 in a class before and the sky didn't fall in the panel is likely to take the view that you can cope again. The school can, of course, try to make the case that it was difficult and they don't really want to do it again but, unless something really bad happened, it is difficult to persuade an appeal panel.

Also, just because a school might be running a certain club one academic year/term, does not mean that that will always be available

That is indeed true but it is still something parents should use at appeal if the club is relevant for their child. The appeal panel has to look at the situation as it stands at the time of appeal. Unless a positive decision has been made to close a particular club the panel must assume it will continue to be available.

They were definitely interested in the logistics of getting 2 children to different schools on time

Appeal panels are definitely told that siblings and transport should not be part of their decision in general. I always advise parents to mention it but not spend too much time on it. That way if the panel is following the rules you won't waste time on something that will not win your appeal. However, if the panel show an interest, you can expand on it. Some appeal panels do take these things into account even though they shouldn't.

Thanks bridge for ur valuable comments.

Thanks Bridge. My logistics issues were tied up with my other concerns, maybe that's why they looked into it so much