In year admission - is my advisor messing it up?

[ohblahdee]

Hello,
We are moving to an area with no Y5 places for my son at half term. He has been allocated a school 6.8 miles away. 5 miles is the 'reasonable' distance. He is on the waiting list and I have lodged an appeal.
My worry is the LA have appointed a junior to my case who has made mistakes. I was told there was no waiting list for my preferred school - that his two sisters have places at. There is a waiting list and if it wasn't for me phoning up about something else I would never have known. My son was also allocated a school 3.8 miles away and then the place withdrawn and this new one further away given. She sent me this letter just as she went home for the day on Friday. Its distressing to tell my son things have changed again.
Now I've just checked the fair access protocol and he qualifies over distance but the school is currently at 31 (pan 30) so 5% over is 1.5 rounded down to 31.
My question and worry is can I count on my inexperienced advisor at the LA to do something using the fair access protocol if the class number goes down to 30 before the appeal? Or is any of this relevant at appeal? I'm sorry I've tried to keep this concise but it's very long!

I think you are misunderstanding the role of the LA and this adviser in terms of in-year admissions. They are not there as your advocate. They are legally required to offer you a place at a school that they believe is appropriate and within reasonable distance. Having said that most LA officers will try their best to get you a school that is reasonable.
What is a reasonable distance is something that differs from LA to LA, however it is usually accepted that if the LA offers a school that is more than 3 miles away, then the LA have to provide a means of getting a junior school pupil to the school. It does not mean that the school is unacceptable at a distance of 6.8 miles, though I would think that many appeal panel members would find this distance unacceptable.
Regrettably sometimes there are issues around whether a place is available and this relies on there being good communication between the school and the LA . Unfortunately in this case there has been a breakdown in communication and even though the school was offered, the fact that it was then withdrawn after a short period of time means that it was not a valid offer.
Each LA has to have a Fair Access Protocol and if there are no year 5 places in the immediate area you are living then this may trigger the LA instructing a school to admit, even though in theory the school is full. The information that you have posted would suggest that the LA do not believe that it is appropriate to use FAP as they have made the official offer of a place in a school 6.8 miles away. I do not understand the comments about 5% but it could be something in the FAP for that particular LA. I would however say I am not sure it is relevant. If the school has a published admission number of 30 and there are currently 31 in the year group, then the LA and the school will not admit any other pupil to the year group until two pupils have left, giving 29 in the year group and then only 1 will be admitted to bring the year group back to 30.
I would suggest that you keep your child on the waiting list but in the meantime having been turned down for your preferred school that you appeal for a place at the school, with the first reason for a place being that there is no local places available and your son needs to be in a school that is practical to get to, not one that is 6.8 miles away. Your understanding about what has happened is relevant at appeal, especially bringing up the confusion around the offer of a school at 3 miles for which you should furnish written information so that the panel are clear that this did happen.

Thank you for your reply admission. I will work those points into my appeal letter. I've read somewhere that reasonable travel distance is 5 miles for primary school, or maybe it was 45 minutes (each way?) I've checked the gov code and it's not on there.any ideas where else to look?
The FAP says 'if a school is not 5% over PAN in that year group they will be allocated that school'. The school itself said they do often have movement so it could be that one more person may leave.
I am quite hopeful for appeal as they have Been at 33 but now I know our option if it fails is a commute along a busy dual carriage way in a strangers car I feel we have a hell of a lot more to loose. My advisor has been asked to call me this morning so I should find out what's going on.

We were offered different schools for our girls, 2 miles apart starting at the same time and I didn't drive! The cheeky lea lady suggested I asked my mother to help me (she lives 200 miles away and worked full time) which I said ridiculous, sexist and I would be filing a formal complaint about her attitude. I announced both my girls therefore would be homeschooled and I would be writing to my mp to explain how the attitude of the lea forced me to homeschool - amazingly a place was found for both girls at my local school within 24 hours. Be professional but insistent and they will sort it out.

According to government guidance a journey of up to 45 minutes each way is reasonable for a primary school child. However, if the nearest school the LA can offer is over 3 miles away by the shortest safe walking route (2 miles if the child is under 8) the LA must provide free transport.

Thanks, that sounds like what I meant. I've just phoned the school and they have said they have 33 in the class. The LA said 31. This now means I have no hope at appeal and changes everything. I have wasted time in not getting appeals lodged for other schools. I could cry.

You should continue to appeal. Yes with 33 in the class it is becoming a large class but there is no upper limit. At appeal it is whether the appeal panel believe that the greater prejudice is to the school and the pupils in the school or to the pupil wanting to be admitted to the school.
I suspect that to be admitted and make the class size 34 it will have to be a very good case to admit. However the main reason I would continue the appeal is that it is clear from your posts that there is a bit of shambles in terms of communication between school and LA. One thinks 31 and the other 33 pupils in the class. There is a very clear process for handling in-year admissions via a waiting list and nothing you have said in the posts gives me confidence that the right procedure has been carried out so far. By going to appeal and making the school / LA explain all that has happened at the very least you will have some confidence that the process was correct. At best it might suggest that the school did not carry out the correct procedure in the class size getting to 33 and therefore whether your application should have been considered in a more favourable light.

Thank you Admissions. I've spoken to both school and LEA again.
School says they are class of 30 that have agreed to go 10% over so they are at 33.
LEA says that means they are considered operational at 33. Admissions have also said Year 4 have had 34 because of an appeal.
It also may mean they are under the 5% needed to action the FAP. The distance is over what the council state is reasonable so they are checking this out now.
It has been a very stressful situation. I'm going to log an appeal for a different school now which because of all this misinformation has cost 9 working days to get it logged.
Regarding putting this in writing for appeal, I don't want this to end up being a really long 'he said, she said' but should I be putting all the information on there or just summarising?

It is up to you how you do it but personally I would put in a summary. You can expand on your written case during the hearing.

Thank you prh47bridge. I think a bullet list summary would be best. I just checked and its was two weeks since my offer of a nearer place and the withdrawal. I am visiting the school we want to get in to on Monday is there anything I should ask the HT?

sorry jumbled that! *visiting the school on Monday, is there anything we should ask?