Potential KS2 appeal

[Aroundtheworldin80moves]

Complex background so in summary.

• last academic year we were in Germany, DH army, children in MOD school
• we were supposed to move to town A. School places applied for and granted (yr2&4)
• end of July informed we are moving to town B, exact timescale uncertain
• informed it's an August move early August
• applied for school places end of August when the move was definite as there was some doubt

• Town B schools very oversubscribed.
• Place has become available in Yr2 in one of our preferred schools (all schools are good, we selected by taking out the Catholic and infant/juniors)
• DD1 will move into first place on waiting list as soon as I accept DD2 place
• LA haven't officially informed us of all applications yet

To the appeal... My grounds are basically DD1 has no school and sister attends this school. I'm hoping to find more reasons why the school will suit her, but the sibling link is the main one (and headteacher has said all appeals on siblings have always been granted).

What sort of reasons sway appeals panels?

Thank you (I got great advice here for original applications before our location changed)

Google the Admissions Code and look at paragraph 2.18 This should give you some help. Appeals I have attended have always been helped when you can have a letter from the Commanding Officer to back up your child's needs. Some units will send a representative to the appeal to speak as well.

If there is not a place to offer within a reasonable distance you should make it clear when you appeal that no place has been offered that is reasonable to get to.

Coming from an overseas posting, you DD has a lot of adjustment to make and it it beneficial for her to attend a school that is already coping with a child in this situation (your other DD), therefore meeting her needs. Also explain that because your DH may be sent on deployment, the school will be able to support the emotional needs of both children because they will already be understanding DD2 needs, therefore meeting DD1 needs too. No other school would have an understanding of the unique needs of your family in this situation.

Find out if there are any other Service children attending, because if there is, it strengthens your case as well.

Good luck.

Thank you. Welfare have indicated to DH they will assist us (although usually it's the closest school which currently has no places in either year.) It's not a big base, it's a Headquarters so no CO as such. Not many children around.

Our grounds would basically be that it's better for them to be educated together for mutual support following their time in two foreign locations and the upheaval surrounding the closure of their last school. Plus the unpredictability of having a father in the Forces who disappears a lot.

Are you still in the army?
I think there is some priority given to army children, worth asking about.

A desire to have children at the same school isn't normally grounds to win an appeal but it may be in this case. The fact your daughter has not been offered any school despite the Admission Code requires the LA to ensure that they remove disadvantage for armed services children is much stronger. I wouldn't be surprised if the LA come up with an offer just before the hearing. If they don't they will be in a very weak position. Just in case, I would look to strengthen your case by finding things the appeal school offers that are missing from the allocated school and that are particularly relevant to your daughter.

DH is still serving in the Army yes.

Prh47 it was the headteacher who told me the sibling link was good appeal grounds and there is a precedent for it at the school apparently.

I wouldn't necessarily trust the headteacher. Many of them don't fully understand the process. He/she may be right but I wouldn't bet on it. And precedents count for nothing with admission appeals.

Appeal panels are trained that sibling links don't justify admission unless there is evidence that it is more important for the child to be in the same school as a sibling than for other children. They are looking for ways in which your daughter will be disadvantaged. For most children, being in a different school to their sibling is not a significant disadvantage, so a sibling link will move a child up the waiting list but it won't win an appeal. The fact you are an armed forces family along with other upheavals may persuade the appeal panel that the sibling link is more important but I wouldn't rely on that. And it may be that this school gets poorly trained appeal panels who consider the sibling link to be a major factor, but I wouldn't rely on that either.

If your daughter still hasn't been offered a place anywhere by the time of the appeal that is a very strong case. But I would still look to bolster your case.

To update and thank people for help...

The Appeal was today and we were successful. The board found that the application was treated correctly for a Service child, and if it had been she should have been given a place. There was an issue in the wording of the admissions policy, which had been pointed out to the school previously but not corrected. We didn't even have to present our case.

Thank you again for advice.

So pleased for you well done x

Excellent news. Well done.