Sibling Admission Appeal for Reception sept 2018

[MoJoMum2]

As I write this I am heartbroken for my son who is 4, he has not been offered a place at the Catholic Academy 5 mins walk away, that my 5year old daughter attends in Reception. They both attended Nursery there and are very close in age, 12 months apart and friendship. We are Christian and but because my daughter got a place last year with no problem, we assumed as a sibling he would be fine. He has been offered a school 6.3miles away. The rose their bikes to school today and I am in tears knowing that this may not happen in September.

Is there a waiting list and are there any places at nearer schools in the meantime? As long as he was considered in the correct category for a place there is little you can base an appeal on if the class is full.

Are you looking for any particular advice?

Infant class size appeals are very rarely successful. Have you looked at the admissions criteria and ensured your child was placed in the correct category? Siblings do not always have priority as they used to.

I have started the apeals process. I feel there have been errors made as the admissions policy does state that in causes of oversubscription, siblings have first prior. I want to focus on the psychological wellbeing of my son and the whole family, as thus is a very distressing situation now and moving forward. I am prone to panic attacks and anxiety. I am struggling to manage. I am also considering keeping him in nursery as he is 5 in Jan 2018. So overwhelming.

You will get some good advice on here. There are a lot of people with a wealth of knowledge on this.

My advice is that you read as much as you can about the appeal so that you understand it completely.

Also, that you find out if there are places in other schools nearby so you at least have a place that is not so far away. If you only put one school then they would have allocated you a place in the nearest school with a place after everyone else was given the places that they put on their forms. But there will have been some movement since then and there may be a place in a nearer school.

Thank you for responding so quickly.

Do they consider Catholic baptised siblings, those attending the local RC church/es etc ahead of other siblings?

Surely siblings aren’t ahead of catholics though?

He is 2nd on the waiting list at the moment, but they have late applications, so will re rank. Finding difficult to get information as school say Lea and lea say school head and governors. It is a VA Academy.

Sorry, cross posted with LIZS.

what is the admissions policy wrt siblings?

Your health issues are not going to win an ICS appeal.

What exactly was the oversubscription criteria? Which category has your child been placed in and which do you think they should have been placed in?

Can you tell us the admission criteria?
Are you Catholic? - you say Christian, so I'm guessing perhaps not Catholic?
Do Catholics get priority over siblings?

You really need to keep a cool head to get the best result from the appeal. Panic won't help. Who is supporting you?

As it is an academy they will set their own criteria and run their own admissions process. However some academies do contract this out to the LEA.

OK, the first thing you need is a copy of the admissions policy and this should be very clearly available on their website someone (legal requirement)

This will list criteria in order of importance, so it might be:

looked after kids
kids with statements
catholic siblings
catholic other kids
non catholic siblings
non catholic other kids
distance.

Or it might be

looked after kids
kids with statements
all siblings
catholic kids
non catholic kids

or some other variation. The point is that if it is the second one, then you should have been above all the categories that come after siblings, which means the class must be full of looked after kids, kids with statements and sibling who live closer.

It is unlikely that there are so many siblings who live closer (but not impossible) in which case they have made an administrative error, and they have to offer you a place. This is the key on which your appeal should be based, and so it is vital to find out the admissions criteria

BUT if it is the first, then above you are all the catholic kids who applied and so you may very well have missed out.

I think I am right in telling you that they have to tell you why you didn't get a place, and that should also make clear if they have used the criteria properly.

Time to get a bit bolshy on the phone and hold on to speak to someone who can give definite information, and stop passing you from pillar to post

What exactly are the admissions criteria and which category was he placed in?

Siblings may have priority, but often in catholic schools, catholic siblings will have priority not siblings of other faiths. You do need to make sure he was placed in the correct category - the letter you got after allocation should tell you this.

If it is an infant class size appeal, then being a sibling isn't ground to win I'm afraid. Is it ICS?

You need to be clear:

What are the admission criteria in order.
What category was your son placed in - is that correct.
What was the last category placed, and furthest distance for that.

If there was a mistake, then you should be given a place. If not then it will be hard but you might get in off the waiting list at some point anyway.

if you can post the above info nice and clearly then the admissions experts who will turn up will be able to advise you.

E.g. I would expect it could go something like:

1. exceptional Medical /Social
2. LAC / ex LAC of faith
3. siblings of Catholic faith (proved by xyz)
4. other of Catholic faith
5. LAC / ex LAC not of faith
6. siblings not of faith
7. others

In my example you would be in criteria 6 as Christian but not Catholic.

had to get on my laptop to copy the admissions policy
Oversubscription Criteria
Where schools have more applications than places available, Governors will draw up a ranked list based on
the criteria listed below and will allocate places accordingly.
Children who have an Educational Health and Care Plan (EHCP) (see Note 1) which names the school will be
admitted. This will reduce the number of places available.

1. Catholic looked after or previously looked after children. (See Notes 2 and 3).
2. Catholic (see Note 3) children living in the parish(es) served by the school
3. Catholic (see Note 3) children living outside the parish(es) served by the school
4. Other looked after or previously looked after children (see Note 2).
5. Catechumens, Candidates and members of Eastern Christian Churches (see Notes 4, 5 and 6)
6. Children of other Christian denominations whose membership is evidenced by a minister of religion

(see note 7)

1. Children of other faiths whose membership is evidenced by a religious leader (see note 8)

Page 5 of 6 2018/19 St Barnabas Jan 2017

1. Any other children not within categories 1-7.

First priority within the Oversubscription Criteria will be given to applications from children who will have siblings (see note 9) attending the school at the proposed time of admission.

so we are 6, however, it does say first priority given to siblings.

What does note 9 say? I'm reading that as first priority within each category. So if you're placed in category 6, you would be given priority over another child in that category who does not have a sibling in the school.

So which category did your dc fit into? And how far down the categories were spaces allocated, were there any offers in 8.

It means that within category 6, siblings come before non siblings.

So I'm afraid you have ALL catholic kids ahead of you, from inside and outside the borough.
You are along way down the priority list

I recieved an email from LA saying not offered, no reason. I was told to email the school to appeal. They responded with ICS information. Still no idea what catergory was used for the last child accepted.

Note 9. ‘Siblings’ means a child who lives as a brother or sister in the same house, including natural brothers or
sisters with either one or both parents in common, adopted brothers or sisters, stepbrothers or sisters,
foster brothers or sisters, or the child of a parent’s partner where the child for whom the school place is
sought is living in the same family unit at the same address as that sibling. It also includes natural brothers
or sisters where the child for whom the school place is sought is not living in the same family unit as the
same address as that sibling.

I presume he was category 6, however, no confirmation from LA or school. I spoke to the Business sec and she said it is all done outside of the school at the diocese.

as I said, you are in category 6, and there are just too many kids ahead of you. The sibling rule only works within that category.

You can try to appeal, but realistically, you won't get anywhere. Your best bet is to hold on on the waiting list until a place comes up. As number 2 it shouldn't be long, don't forget people will take their kids OFF the waiting list as they start at other schools.