Primary school appeal - advice needed!

[Blueberry12]

Hi, like many others here, my son didn’t receive a place at his first choice rural school (where his sister is). It’s the first time the school has ever been over subscribed! There’s a huge new housing estate nearby which is a big reason for the over sub this year. We are going to appeal as he should be joining his sister, the school’s published admission criteria state they ‘aim to provide sibling places where possible’ and (although the infant class size limit of 30 is applied here) the school has previously admitted 45 children, has two reception classrooms and only 19 children in the current reception class.

Infant Class Size legislation states that a class with more than 30 pupils means the school must take ‘Qualifying Measures’ – i.e hire an extra teacher and find an extra classroom. My question is, does the fact the school have previously admitted 45 stand in our favour? The headteacher really wants to admit the children who weren’t accepted (there are about 5 in total, 3 are siblings) and bump up the current reception so there would be a combined recep/yr1 from sept. Admissions are saying that this would mean taking places away from other schools. Does anyone have experience of similar and can tell me how it worked out?

Thank you!

I find it crazy that a headteacher can't slightly extend their school if there is capacity, willingness to do so and it's been done before

If the head is willing to reorganise so that there will not be any classes over 30 in Reception, Y1 and Y2 even if all three years are full they can admit more pupils if they wish. What the head cannot do is admit more when it will cause the school to breach the infant class size limit.

The limit causes all kinds of problems. Most panel members who have sat on primary appeals have dealt with cases where it was clear that the child really needed to be admitted but the class size limit meant that the panel's hands were tied. Unless we get a government that is willing to scrap the class size limit and take the adverse publicity such a move will generate we are stuck with the current situation.

Governors at these schools can alter their admissions criteria if they wish. The LA doesn’t set universal admissions criteria. The Governors have to follow a procedure and consult. However if they bump up siblings, and they then don’t have spaces for local catchment DC, there is a problem caused by that. As you can imagine. Live in catchment is the best advice. What the Head thinks doesn’t trump policy. They might also upset parents by rearranging classes and they cannot go back to 45 without consultation. Do they still have space? The Governors may not want split she classes. Lots to consider.

Some categories of children can be admitted to bump the number over 30. Looked after is one.

Governors can indeed alter admissions criteria, but only well in advance of applications, not as a remedy for current individual circumstances. There aren't really any universal solutions that will result in everyone getting the place they want at a popular school.

The difficulty is that even if the school does extend the PAN, they can't 'cherry pick' applicants. As there is no priority for siblings who aren't within 2 miles, they would still have to admit any children on the waiting list in distance order, whether or not they are siblings.

Once people get wind of an increased PAN, they are likely to join the waiting list, even if they otherwise wouldn't have.

It really isn't as simple as saying 'we'll have those siblings'.

Of course, if it was at appeal, and the HT said they now had space, then the appeals panel may find that the school is not above the limit set by ICS regulations and admit the child.

Some categories of children can be admitted to bump the number over 30. Looked after is one.
And the second twin.
But usually only after the full admissions process has been gone through, I believe - so it goes like this:
LAC and other children apply at the normal time.
LAC admitted.
29 other children admitted.

LAC applies as they have been moved to foster care in June. Class has 30 in it. LAC applies. LAC gets 31st place.

Twins apply at the normal time. Twins live next door to the school. 10 siblings get places, twins get places 11 and 12.

Twins apply at the normal time. Twins live on the edge of the catchment. 10 siblings get places, 19 other children are closer than the twins, twins get places 30 and 31.

You must live close to me.We had similar a couple of years ago & PAN was raised to 30 for a year. There were siblings not accepted.

I did make it clear that altering the sibling and admissions policy wasn’t a quick fix and that proposals must be consulted upon. However in my LA, where governors buy the clerking package, Governors are asked to consider if they wish to amend the admissions policy. If a school had 45 and then reduced to 30, you would think this might have been an annual agenda item I’d siblings could not be accommodated and the Head was making non policy comments. It does need looking at. You can stipulate distance for siblings too. All siblings, siblings up to x miles etc.

Very happy to be able to update this thread and say that my son has been given a place at the school - along with the other initially refused children! Because most were siblings, admissions said it was an exceptional occurrence and that they didn't want to lose the children who were already at the school. They will have to juggle classes around so the 30 ics limit is not exceeded. Amazed and delighted.

That's brilliant news, and as close to an ideal solution as anyone in your position could have hoped for! Thanks for updating.

Oh wow well done! We've not even put our appeal in yet. I'm not sure how it will win for us as there is only one class per year group with an ICS 30.

Thank you! @sonicknuckles it's the same at our school but because the current y1 and reception aren't full (only 46 total of both classes) there is space for more and they can shuffle classes. Wishing you lots of luck!

Thank you blueberry

Fantastic result