primary school appeal - paperwork says head teacher doesn't want my child!

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We went to see the school we want our son to go to for year 4 next sept. His sister has just got into reception for next sept so we are appealing on that basis (we also live .49 of a mile away, compared to 4 miles from the school he is actually attending but know we can't appeal purely on that basis).

The teacher who showed us round said twice they were very happy to have him and were raising no objecting themselves. But the paperwork has come through saying the county council thinks it will prejudice the education of the other pupils and this view is shared by the headteacher and governing body.

We are very disappointed and can't understand this. I was open about my son's difficulties - he hasn't got a statement but he has been very stressed by moving house and has a learning mentor at the school he's currently at - I told them that when they were showing us around. Have I fucked it all up for him?

Any advice?

Oops wrong thread sorry!

It could help to talk about that, particularly if there is any evidence to support this but it would be stronger if he had been assessed and there was medical evidence to support his need to go to this school.

I would still see if there is anything this school offers that is missing from his current school and that you can show would be beneficial for him. It all helps.

I'm a governor and get involved in this. In our current year 5 we have only 26dc so theoretically there's space but the high needs in the class mean we have deemed that raising the class size would "prejudice the education of those in the class" - it's not a judgement on the dc trying to get in, it's a judgement on the needs of the class already there.

I should add that we meat at the end of each term and firmly decide whether classes can take dc with the heads advice guiding that. It's not decided individually as we are not allowed to make decisions based on dc applying only on our ability to increase capacity.

I don't think you can do that, though, can you? If the official capacity is, say, 30, you can choose to go higher but you can't choose to refuse children who apply if your numbers are lower because you think it makes teaching the children tricky.

I appealed for my son to enter a year 2 class which had 28 children but with some high needs children, the school had the same argument as motherofdragons-that an additional child would impinge on the education of othersThe appeals panel told the school straight away, without me saying anything, that he had a place as they were under PAN.

Lougle and Spanieleyes are correct. Under the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 S86 a school cannot be prejudiced by the admission of a child if they are under PAN. Sadly I know of a case where an appeal panel got this wrong and refused to admit a child even though the school was below PAN in the relevant year. I'm glad the appeal panel in Spanieleyes case got it right. I would expect most to do so. And I am confident that a judicial review would overrule any appeal panel that got it wrong. I wish I could say I was confident that the EFA and LGO would overrule but recent decisions by those bodies suggest they are a lot less helpful to appellants than the LGO used to be.

prh where can we find info on EFA decisions?

The council are saying the school is full as they can't allow unlimited numbers of children in. This is not personal but just based on their rules for staffing, resources and space. At appeal, you need to prove to the independent panel, that your son would be more disadvantaged by not attending the school than the school and other children would be, should he be accepted. The school will have to convince the panel the children already there would be at a disadvantage should they accept your son. Things that may help is any support that particular school can offer your son than his current one doesn't but without criticising the current school. It is not sufficient to say the school is a better school than the current one. You need to explain how your son will be disadvantaged by travelling to the other school. It may be helpful to say they have accepted more in other classes than 30 and it appears the school copes with this. Having your daughter there will help him be on the continuing interest list. Good luck.

I'm afraid there is no easy answer to that. The LGO only ever published important decisions but the EFA don't seem to even do that. My knowledge of the way they operate in admissions cases comes entirely from cases in which I have been involved.

We're an academy and can so long as we can evidence the reasons and prove it would "prejudice the education of those in the class." There are 2 classes in year 5 and the other is totally maxed out in order to give the 2nd class less pupils.

As an academy you are required by your funding agreement to comply with all relevant admissions law as it applies to foundation and voluntary aided schools (clause 2.25 if you are using the standard model agreement for single academy trusts). You are therefore required to comply with the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 s86 in the same way as VA schools.

It may need someone to take an academy to judicial review to establish the principle but, given the wording in the funding agreement, I would be very confident of the outcome.

M0therof dragons,
I am not sure who the school are getting their advice from but I would 100% back up what PRH is saying, under normal circumstances you have to admit up to your PAN. There are one or two very specific instances when a school might be able to go to appeal with not having reached PAN but certainly what you are saying is happening is not one of them.
However in your post you say the other class is maxed out. So I would presume that you have a PAN of 60, so are you saying that you have 26 in one class and 34 in the other class? If so then I think you could argue you do not have to admit as you are at 60 but at an appeal no matter how much you talk about the level of SEN etc in the small class, I would put money on the appeal panel admitting up to 30 in the class as your case to not admit is very weak as I would struggle to accept that you can prove prejudice.

Yes I believe it is 26 in one class and 34 in the other. On appeal we would have to explain which is why we have thorough meetings setting criteria for each class each term so there is no discrimination.

Not single academy, we're under an established MAT and taking advice from the directors.

OP, I have appealed for DS1 in Year 7, DS2 in Year 4 and again when he was in Year 9 and have been successful each time. The "prejudice the education of the other pupils" is just standard wording and is not a judgement on your DS specifically.

When we appealed for Year 4, we were in a similar position to you, although DD had begun at the school. Our arguments were, like yours, sibling already in school, nearness to home, nothing particularly compelling.
If one of the Year 4 classes has 31 children, they can't argue against there being 31 in the other, can they? Good luck.

m0therofdragons - If you are up to PAN overall for the year you are ok although an appeal panel may question the class organisation. However, if you are below PAN clause 2.F of the multi-academy funding agreement means that you are still subject to the relevant provisions in the School Standards and Framework Act. I hope the directors of your MAT are getting this right. Unfortunately I have come across MATs where the directors have strange ideas as to how the law on admissions applies to them.

Hi yes motherofdragons that's another thing - the amount of extra need. The year above him has 13 pupils receiving sen support but the year he would join has only 6. So that looks positive.

And given that the school said they had no objection - both the head and the deputy said that, so it was said twice - it's looking positive. Appeal is at 10.30am tomorrow.

missmiminum thanks for your advice.

he is being assessed but hasn't been diagnosed yet - i suspect he has been distracted because of disruption to his life - we've moved 7 times in 6 years (or something - maybe 6 times in 7 years, I forget). That's not a clinical reason to go to the local school, but it is a common sense reason.

I don't think I will get my DH to ever think talking about DS's possible special needs is a good idea.

Good luck to others. thanks again and i will report the result.

thanks everyone - we won the appeal. Huge thanks as we worked hard on your advice.

Excellent news. Well done.

Jolly good, congratulations.