Primary School Appeal on Medical Grounds?

[maradyth]

Hi there

I would like to know if an appeal would be considered on medical grounds for the parent of the child?
Basically my child is in primary year 5 and I suffer with mental health disabilities.
Due to this my daughter missed lots of days of school as my anxiety / depression / bipolar disorder leaves me house bound and I have to rely on other people to get her to and from school on days where I am ill as I can't leave the house.
My friend was available to do this for me every day as her child was attending the same school, but has mow moved him to a different school (still in the same town / catchment area)
I am now panicking as the next time I am ill I will struggle to get the school run done.
I have applied for a place at the other school, which I have wanted for a long time due to their outstanding ofsted and my child's current school is inadequate so the move to the new school would be beneficial in every way.
I am aware that the new school which my friend's child now attends has 30 chidren in year 5 already but there are no kids on the waiting list so my child would make 31 if allowed in.
I am waiting for the refusal letter to come and plan on appealing due to the fact that my mental health disability will definately impact on my child's attendance if she cannot be taken and picked up by my friend anymore.
I am suffering terrible anxiety just from the thought of my episodes preventing my child from having the best education / no days off.
Can anyone tell me if this is a good enough reason that an appeal may be successful?
Thank you so much for your understanding.
xx

You would have to read the admission criteria of the school you are applying for . They may not even have a medical criteria and if they do it may only relate to the child.

Maybe your best bet is to talk to your GP about overcoming your anxieties.

I think that there is a bit of confusion between appeals and an initial request for a place at the school.
As you have applied for a place the school and the LA will make a decision as to whether they can admit your child or not, even though the admission number of 30 has been reached. That decision will not be because of you meeting any particular admission criteria, only whether they can accept another pupil in the year group.
If you get a response that they cannot admit, then you appeal the decision. You then need a good set of reasons why you should be admitted. The appeal is for the school you want, so a request for a place based on the current school is no good will not persuade any appeal panel. Your medical history is a good starting point but you need to down play the fact that your friend now has a place at the school as it will appear that the whole appeal is based on your friend. You need to be saying that there are issues getting to current school and that getting to preferred school will be easier.
Saying the school is outstanding will also not be a strong reason but may give you some reasons why you want to go to the school - for instance it has lots of clubs and after school activities or anything else that seems unusual or unique to the school.
I would also echo the poster above in saying you need to seek help to overcome your concerns.

when we went to a primary appeal we lost, we asked because it was difficult to get our child to school as i worked and my husband was disabled, the particular school we wanted was our local school, and one main reason we choose it was for the disabled parent/child parking all the other schools you had to park and walk some distance which my husband could not do and my daughter only 4 at the time could not push his wheelchair, we basically got told that it was our responsibility to get our child to school every day no matter the difficulties it incurred!!. It is always worth speaking to school and LA about your difficulties they maybe able to help, or if there is a childminder that does the school run, failing that you could get a taxi for her on the days you are unable to leave the house, i do hope you get something sorted soon x