Dreaded school appeal

[Bebyt]

A new poster here but long time reader of various threads.

Unfortunately my daughter did not get into the school we applied for based on it being oversubscribed. Despite it being the closest school to our house it isn’t classed as our catchment school, that’s another 2.7 miles away?! We are currently 2nd on the waiting list and have lodged the appeal as her bother currently attends there and living in quiet a rural area there aren’t a huge amount of other choices. DD attends the playgroup attached to the school and it has become apparent that another child who also isn’t catchment has been offered a place leading to me and the other parent who is first on the waiting list feeling quiet frustrated. A further parent has let slip that they have moved out of catchment now but daren’t inform the Local Authority incase they have their offer of a place taken away from them.

The legal team at the LA said I could ask the admissions team to do a reconsideration based on my belief that there has been a mistake with the allocation process but the admissions team are refusing to do this because I can’t provide the child’s name due to confidentiality which is absolutely correct and I certainly wouldn’t expect playgroup to breach this. I just don’t know where to go from here in terms of the appeal? I have Ulcerative Colitis which determines my need to have the children at the school closest to my house and my GP is willing to provide me with medical evidence explaining the impact it’s having on my condition particularly being hugely stressed out right now. I’m just wondering if anyone else can give me any guidance as to how to go forward

In terms of what somebody else did about getting their child into the school, this is irrelevant to any appeal for your child. You have gone as far as you can in reporting the situation and it might well be, despite what the admissions team said, that they will look at the situation about this other child - they simply will not tell you anything because of confidentiality.
A lot at the appeal will depend on whether it is an infant class size appeal or not. If it is, then I am afraid that the only reason for succeeding at such an appeal is that a mistake was made in your application and that you should have been offered a place. If it is not an infant class size regs case, then the outcome is around how strong your case is. Normally the fact that you have another child at the school would not be a strong case at all. You can argue at appeal that your Ulcerative Colitis is reason why you need the children in the school and I would suggest this is your best argument but it is still quite a weak argument - sorry that sounds awful as I know how much people can suffer with it, but in terms of admissions it would be considered a weak argument.

Admission thanks for your response it’s most appreciated. Unfortunately it is an infant class size appeal that we are facing. I have very much suspected from the general response from the LA that appeal probably won’t be successful and is only really being held because of the formality of having to offer it. I think the only hope I’m clinging onto is that they have admitted more than the 30 pupils in the last 3 years (my sons year had 36 when starting school).

It could be that the other non catchment child is closer than you though. This may be why the child had a place, or is higher up the admissions criteria than you are. You will not know the reason for this decision and it does not affect your appeal.

It's a shame there is no sibling priority in the admissions criteria. These usually go above catchment. You could try and argue that your child should be admitted because you already have a child at the school. If the school frequently takes more than 30, I would try and put this forward too. However, they may have been forced to take more due to the school being named on statements and/or children in care having priority. 36 sounds very high though, so they obviously have a classroom big enough. You could try and argue this point. Space is not a problem becuase the school has taken more children in the past. These are all long shots though.

Thanks bubblesbuddy. You are of course right there could be a number of reasons for having to admit more than the 30 in previous years. The class room they have is lovely, it’s 2 classrooms joined together and they have free flow throughout it all. When they split off for phonics etc they have 15 in one room and 15 in the other so space is definitely not an issue it will come down to whether they have the teaching staff to accommodate that I should imagine.

Unfortunately your health will not make any difference at all. Only your child’s health is relevant as they have to get the school building technically you don’t.

If the appeal is ICS, then yes, you either need to show an error has been made or show that the decision not to admit was unreasonable (in the sense that no sensible person would have made it, a strong bar to pass).

If you don't think an error was made in your case (for example, you are sure they used your correct address, and placed you in the right admissions category) then I think its a forlorn hope. Nothing that you have about the class having previously gone over PAN/siblings/health would tip the bar as "unreasonable" in this sense I'm afraid.

The interesting thing from your point of view is the year group with 36 in it. That was most likely down to a mistake by somebody, that people who should have got a place did not originally and therefore had to admit at appeal.
From your point of view that is slightly good news because that suggests that they can sometimes make mistakes. So you need to double check everything in terms of distance etc just in case they have made a mistake again.

Thank you all for your responses, its been very helpful. Admission yes I think you are probably right in the sense that a mistake was possibly made in that year. I’m obviously hoping that this has happened on this occasion as otherwise seems unlikely to work out in my favour. What information am I reasonably allowed to ask the LA for. I asked yesterday how they have calculated the distances to be told they can’t provide that but can confirm they are correct.

The parent who has moved out of catchment would not lose their place if they informed the LA provided they were genuinely living in catchment at the time they applied. They are not relevant to your case.

You can ask anything reasonable to allow you to prepare your appeal. It is reasonable for you to ask how distances were calculated, although the method used should be in the admission arrangements for the school. If they calculate based on the shortest walking route it is reasonable for you to ask what route they used. It is reasonable for you to ask the distance for the last applicant admitted if they haven't provided that already. It is not reasonable for you to ask about the distances for specific children.