As ^^, but just to clarify that 'reasonable' is used according to the legal definition, not your everyday sense (you might think e.g. that as it's your nearest school and your DC will have to take 2 buses and a 10 min walk uphill to get to the allocated school which is in the opposite direction from your work, then it is 'unreasonable' not to admit them to the preferred school. It is not 'unreasonable' in the legal sense)
^So what is the legal definition of unreasonable? It has been described as the following in the School Admission Appeals Code:
The panel will need to be satisfied that the decision to refuse to admit the child was "perverse in the light of the admission arrangements" i.e. it was "beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision maker" or "a decision which is so outrageous in its defiance of logic or of accepted moral standards that no sensible person who had applied his mind to the question could have arrived at it".^
There are very few examples of this (because so rare) but one that is often quoted is the case of a child who was not admitted to the school where a step-sibling was already a pupil, because the admissions authority (the school in this case) did not consider the child to be a sibling. The panel took the view that the school admissions authority was acting perversely and unreasonably in refusing admission under sibling criteria, citing the fact the LA included step-siblings under sibling criteria for the schools for which it acted as admissions authority.
As others have said, ICS cases are very difficult to win. It's always worth checking the available space and number of teachers; the panel will need to confirm that it is indeed an ICS case but usually this is just a formality (yes, PAN is 30, we have 7 classes of 30, we have made 30 offers for YR for Sept 17). However, sometimes the situation is slightly less clear-cut, especially if mixed year classes are involved. E.g. PAN of 45 means two YR classes of 22 and 23, but it's future ICS prejudice, as you will have a total of 90 Y1 and Y2 pupils in 3 classes of 30.
If, OTOH, PAN is e.g. 16, you may have a mixed YR/Y1 and Y1/Y2 class of 24 pupils per class, and then mixed Y3/4 and 5/6 classes of 32 pupils each. Appealing for admission of a 17th pupil would be considered as a standard appeal because although classes in the school would exceed 30 in the future, they wouldn't do so at the infant class size stage (KS1 - YR, 1 & 2).
As a parent, you need to ensure that you have checked all the facts and that they are indeed as presented by the admissions authority i.e.:
- it is an ICS appeal
- the grounds on which your child was refused admission are correct (e.g. Distance from house if refused under distance criteria - can be measured however the authority decides, eg front door to front door, middle of property, shortest walking distance, as crow flies, as long as it is clear in admission arrangements what method is used and it is applied fairly to all applicants). I have seen a transposition error costing a place - distance stated as 1.31 miles when it was 1.13 miles. Not quite sure how that happened, but I bet there was an investigation...
- admission arrangements fairly applied, eg if siblings in catchment, catchment, siblings out of catchment etc, that nobody was rejected from catchment category if offers were made to siblings out of catchment.
- Admissions criteria lawful (as Patricia ^^)
- Admissions arrangements continued to be applied fairly after offers made, I.e. Management of waiting list. As long as you were on the waiting list, nobody from a lower priority category than your child should have been offered a place from the waiting list under normal circumstances (beware of this, it is always possible that somebody may have moved into a higher category) - but if you know you lost out on distance, you were 3rd on the waiting list but 4th the waiting list who lives 2 houses down from you has just been offered, it is worth checking whether a mistake has been made.
- the decision was not (legally) unreasonable or perverse.
Aside from the appeal itself, which can't take into account the following factors, are you on the waiting list and do you know the position? It is highly possible that there will be further movement between now and Sept and even that children simply don't turn up in Sept (some schools regularly have 1 or 2 no-shows where families have taken up a private school place but not bothered informing the LA/state school that the state place is not needed, or families regularly move out of the area and assume the new authority will inform the old authority). Also do you have any idea of average turnover at the school, ie when a place will come up? Have you been allocated a place at all?