Appealing decision - help needed!

[Wineandpyjamas]

Hi all, I’m hoping someone can help. I posted in AIBU about being upset this morning but have decided to repost here as a fair few posters said it was the best place for advice!

So my DD is classed as severely visually impaired. She has a CAF form at her nursery and is under the care of the local visual specialist team.

We applied for our first choice as it is a fully accessible school and my DD has problems with depth perception (ie stairs) and needs help and support with managing challenging terrain or areas she is unfamiliar with.

I didn’t include any supporting paperwork in the application as it didn’t ask for any but I did tick the box which said does she have SEN and then explained her needs in detail at the end.

Rightly or wrongly I didn’t know there was anything else I needed to do.

She has been refused a place at this school and offered one at our third choice which is a large estate primary with poor SEN provision atm (as stated in their inspection report).

DD really needs a smaller and quieter environment as nursery have reported that she becomes overwhelmed and distressed if there is too much ‘freeflow’ activity for example.

I checked our first choice schools admission statement and they’ve said that 0 places have been allocated to children with a plan where the school has been named - what does this mean?

Obviously I am going to appeal but looking for advice from here. We don’t have an EHCP in place - it was never mentioned to us. I’ve emailed her nursery SENCO requesting a meeting to discuss possible options.

She is also due an appointment at our local ophthalmology department so can ask them for certification if needed as well.

What else can I be doing?

You are right to assemble evidence of your child’s visual impairment and how your preferred school is able to meet her needs. You need to be aware, though, that if your preferred school has a PAN of 30 or multiples of 30, the infant class size rules will apply, in which case you can win your appeal only if you can demonstrate that an error was made or the decision was so unreasonable as to be irrational.

Does this school have medical or social need amongst its oversubscription criteria? If so, you can question whether they considered your application under that heading and why it was refused. It might be because you did not submit supporting evidence.

Thanks for replying @PanelChair - I’m unsure if they have medical or social need.

I’ve just been in touch with admissions and it seems the best thing to do (which I’m doing) is to get in touch with the SENCO at her nursery. Hopefully she will then get in touch with the SEN department in admissions. She seemed to think we had quite a strong case for appeal despite not having an EHCP but obviously yes the infant class size is an issue.

Got to try everything though so at least I’ll know I gave it my best shot.

Many thanks for the response.

That sounds like the best way forward. In appeal terms, I think your best chance is in arguing that not awarding a medical/social place was unreasonable (assuming the school has such a category - it should be shown in the admissions booklet).

To repeat advice I gave on your other thread but with a few modifications...

If the allocated school is not fully accessible for your daughter you have a good case for appeal. Reception appeals are usually difficult to win as they are heard under infant class size rules. However, even if yours is an infant class size case, you have a good argument that the refusal to admit was unreasonable.

For clarity:

• it doesn't matter whether or not your daughter has an EHCP
• you can make this argument even if the school doesn't have a category for medical needs, although it would help if they do

You told the local authority of your daughter's disability. Whilst their published admission arrangements may not take that into account, it could still be unreasonable of them to fail to do so if the result is your daughter being allocated a place at a school that is not fully accessible for her.

I think the other way forward is to get the nursery to put forward the evidence that they must have to the LA to start the process for an EHC Plan. I do have to say here that any pupil in my nursery who had significant visual impairment would have already been put forward for such a plan, so do question why that has not happened.
The process could be lengthy depending on the level of evidence available but the whole point of it is that if you do get an EHC Plan that you can then name the school that you want and in most circumstances that would then be allowed. Importantly the infant class size regs would not apply and your child would be accepted as an excepted pupil. Don't though rely on getting an EHC Plan, you must go through both the waiting list and appeal process.

When is your dd 5? If you're applying for an EHCP the whole process can be lengthy. Ours took 9 months from application to award including mediation over refusal to assess. If you get the process going then you can see about keeping her out of school while you get it named on the EHCP ('the plan'). It's risky as you aren't guaranteed the EHCP or them accepting the school as your named school but it's worth a shot.