Primary schools appeal - moved to new area

[pingster]

I'm hoping someone with knowledge of school appeal might be able to help me with some advice around school appeals.

We have recently moved to a new area not that far from where we lived before. At the moment we are commuting back to the original area to take my DS to school - this usually takes around 30-45 mins although has taken up to an hour. We are also leaving early to avoid the traffic which means getting up 30-45 mins earlier than we used to and leaving the house by 7.20am.

My DS is in Y4 and there are currently no spaces available in any of the 5 schools in the area we live - I have applied to all of them and been refused a place, he is on the waiting list for the two non-church schools which are also the closest schools to us.

The council will allocate me a place in the nearest available school and I am waiting for this to come through formally - they have told me on the phone that there is a space in a church school (we are not religious) that is ofsted rated as requires improvement in the next town along which would still be a 15-20 min commute. Although better than the current commute it still isn't great and it would mean he doesn't get to make friends in our new area. We had thought that the commute back to his current school would be ok until a suitable space came up but he's very recently been diagnosed with Coeliac disease which is completely wiping him out, and the commute on top of this is really not good for him.

All schools have said I have a right to appeal the decision not to give him a place and the council have reiterated this. I have tried to get some information on what suitable criteria for an appeal would be but neither the school not council have been very helpful on this just telling me that I can appeal if I want to. I think the criteria I could use to appeal are:

1. He is exhausted with the commute with his illness and the school offered would still involve a commute (although he may start to feel better now he is not eating gluten).
2. The social side - it would be much better for him to go to a local school and make local friends.
3. The religious side - I would really prefer him not to go to a church school.

Does anyone have any advice on whether these might be reasonable criteria for an appeal, and if so how to approach the appeal? I also have the issue that there are two schools I would be happy with so do I appeal to both?

To win an appeal you need to show that the disadvantage to your son through not attending the appeal school outweighs any problems the school will face through having to admit an additional child.

A commute of 15-20 minutes each way is considered reasonable at this age. To argue that it is too long for your son you will need medical evidence to support your appeal. This needs to be in the form of a letter from your GP or specialist. The letter needs to be clear that it is giving their view, not simply repeating your view.

Wanting him to go to a local school and make local friends is understandable but it is not strong grounds for appeal. Your preference not to go to a church school won't carry any weight at all with the panel as it is about what you want, not what is good for your son. Note, by the way, that some faith schools are a lot less religious than some non-faith schools, so don't reject a school simply because it is a church school.

By the way, the allocated school being rated "requires improvement" is also not grounds to win an appeal.

To make a stronger case you need to look at what the appeal school offers that is not available at the allocated school and that is particularly relevant to your son. For example, if the allocated school provides lots of sporting activities and your son is sporty, that can help your appeal.

Thanks that's really helpful. We've got a specialist appointment next week so I'll see if they think his condition would be helped by being at a school closer and if they would be willing to write a letter. My DS is very sporty and so is one of the schools so I'll also look into that - I hadn't realised that might be something we could include in an appeal.