Infant Class Size Appeal

[lauralycett21]

I applied for my son to attend the same C of E school as my daughter who is currently in year 2. My sons birthday is 16th September so he just missed last years intake which has meant he has been at the nursery for 20 months. He attends the schools wrap around session 5 days a week and stays in the after school club three days due to both parents working full time and I am also completing a degree. As such he has developed routines within the school having his lunch each day in the same area as his sister.
My son has been declined a offer at this school due to over subscription, during in time my son has been at nursery we moved 0.5 mile up the road this has been the reason for his refusal.
He is currently 1st on the waiting list and I have put in an appeal.
This appeal was delayed by the chair been off sick and not due to be heard until 14.07.17, this has meant that next week when the whole of his class line up in the playground and complete a 2 week transition into reception my son has to remain in nursery with the other child who is appealing. This in itself is a disgusting process the whole point of transition is to prepare children and he is now left out of the process due to sickness which should have been covered.

I have read the appeals process inside out and gather the only way to win is to identify a is take in the application or admissions process. I think I may have spotted this however don't want to get my hopes up.

As the school is C of E school the religious aspect is third on the admissions criteria , the school states that this should a person who is a regular worshipper at least twice per month for 12 months. When I emailed the vicar I was advised that he could sign the form if my son had attended the playgroup at the church. The government guidance states that the admissions authorities must ensure that parents can easily understand how any faith-based criteria will be reasonably satisfied. I do not believe that that is a clear process as worshipping and attending a playgroup at church are two totally different things.

I cannot describe the pressure and stress this has placed upon our family. I have not been able to talk to my four year old about the school move as I have not known and still do not know which school he will be in. Him and his sister have a close bond and we are as a family Christians. I believe it unfair for one child to be raised with Christian and one to not due to a house move of 0.5 mile. The process is totally discriminatory and the appeals process really feels like a paper exercise with the ultimate answer being no.

What do others think?

I'm assuming siblings comes below worship in the criteria?

Did you apply under the regular worship criteria?

I'm assuming the appeal is ICS. Do you have any record of what the vicar said?

How to get the required proof of worship should be clear from the admissions criteria, but you would need some sort of proof that the school would accept other things other than that which is in the criteria.

Also, the issue would need to have led to you not getting a place; if it would have made not difference (say you would have qualified under worship but still not got
A place on distance) it doesn't help.

Also - was it the chair of the panel who was ill? Panel members are volunteers and this is the busy time of year, so last minute subs are not always possible, though our LEA does try.

You applied under faith criteria and that has been rejected? Church toddler groups would rarely count as a church service unless eg Messy Church or similar. The church will submit details to the diocese so they will be very clear about what is a service and what is an event. It could be the verger or similar who actually does the paperwork and could confirm.

No sibling link?

So you are in the "all other children" category - is there a catchment/priority area and if so are you inside or outside? - and the last admitted child lives nearer. Is that right?

Admissions procedures can't take into consideration most of your concerns (they are distressing but not relevant) so you need to strip down to the factors pertaining to the actual oversubscription criteria. If the vicar misled you then that is very unfortunate but not the Local Authority's fault, so it wouldn't be their error. If he was correct and the toddler group is an official service then you should have been in the faith category and that would be the LA error.

So were you attending services at the church or just dropping your child off at playgroup? I don't think playgroup attendance will count.

And as for one child being raised a Christian and the other not, well IMO, it is what happens in the family that determines whether your child is being raised as a Christian, not what happens at school, so don't rely on this as an argument in your appeal.

I also don't understand why you are appealing so late, you must have known about the situation since April, I don't think that all appeals in your area have been on hold because of one person's illness since April.

Clearly as a sibling, and if you were a regular attendee at the church then your son has had some bad luck if all the reception places were filled by children in similar circumstances but who lived closer.

good luck anyway.

I do have proof of what the Vicar said this is in a e-mail link, he is the vicar for the school and he stated that he has previously signed the form due the Christian content of the playgroup. This is however totally different to the advertised admission criteria of regular worshipping and as such is not clear to parents.

The chair is an independent chair and separate from the council and yes she was off sick and this has delayed all the appeals within the school.

I have definitely not appealed late and don't know why you made that assumption, I appealed the day we received our decision and have been complaining about the lack of information since this time.

I have also contacted our local MP and am awaiting a response from this. I have taken this seriously and done everything I should have regards to the appeal process.

If this vicar had signed this formed DS would have been much higher in admissions criteria and gained a place I am almost certain.

Does your son actually attend the playgroup, and you didn't get the form signed because you didn't know this at the time? If you can then prove that the admissions authority would have accepted this but it wasn't declared anywhere in the criteria, you might have a case if this directly cost you a place.

Appeals can take time to organise, I've still got 2 full days of ICS appeals to sit on in the next 2 weeks.

If you want to PM me the name of the school I'll take a look at the criteria.

You have put your child's name in your last post - you may want to contact MNHQ and get it edited out.

I've reported your last post as it has your son's name in it.

does it just say involved in 'worship' or is it 'worship and work' of the church?

You have put some very identifying details in your last post and your user name - you might want to think about whether you are happy about that, particularly as journos snoop around MN looking for "news" for national papers

If this vicar had signed this form he would have been much higher in admissions criteria and gained a place I am almost certain.*

You need to be more than almost certain, you need to find out which admission category you would have been in if the form had been signed and whether within that admission category he would have been offered a place considering his sibling/distance - you need to know which category the last child was admitted under and if the same category that you think your ds should have been in then were they further/ without sibling.

You have named your ds. If you report your post MNHQ can amend it.

So do you attend church as a family?

Did you ask the church vice to sign the form?

I'm not sure I understand. The vicar emailed you to say he could sign the supplementary form and then didn't.

Did he give you a reason why he wouldn't sign it when you gave it to him.

I think the problem you might have is that the mistake has to have cost you a place you would otherwise have got. From what you've said I'm not sure that applies.

You don't have a signed supplementary form - why not? Are you regular worshippers at church? It sounds as if you aren't and you don't meet the twice a month criteria but the Vicar was trying to be helpful and say that even if your son had attended the playgroup he would count it for the purposes of signing the form? Is that a correct understanding of the situation?

I'm not sure I understand.

You didn't apply under the religious criteria because they were unclear they would apply to you, but have subsequently found out they would have done

Or are you saying you applied under religious criteria and were refused but you don't think they applied their own rule correctly.

You state you didn't get a place because you moved but then you are going on about the vicar signing a form???
What was the reason you didn't get a place - it can't be both!

What are the application criteria e.g. 1. Special needs 2. Siblings 3. Church attendance 4. Distance

Some school do now use your new address even with a sibling link as so many people rent close to the school and get the first child in and then move to a bigger cheaper house further away knowing they have the sibling link.

You need to know what category you were offeeed a place in and why as well as the distance of the last person offered a place in your category before you can work out what mistake has been made.

I believe it unfair for one child to be raised with Christian and one to not due to a house move of 0.5 mile - don't rely on this argument at appeal! I'm not sure if you meant to say that one child is being raised with Christians or in a school with Christian values, either way it won't wash. All schools are supposed to hold a daily act of worship with a broadly Christian slant and there will be other Christians in whatever school your son attends. It is also up to you as parents to look after his Christian upbringing through church, Sunday school etc.

OP. To get help you need to be more clear.

1. What are the application criteria.
2. What criteria did you apply under.
3. What was the last admission criteria and distance accepted.
4. Did you apply under worship criteria or not? Is your complaint that you didn't but would have, or that people have got in under that criteria that shouldn't have, or what?
5. What distance are you away.

You do need to understand that being at the nursery in no way entitles your son to a place. Perhaps at the moment you just need to explain to him where he will be going (and talk that school up), whilst simultaneously hoping a place comes up at his sister's school?