Primary School appeal letter

[Longroadahead08]

Hoping any appeal experts can answer this for me.
I have received the paperwork to lodge my appeal by 14th May.
The form states to write as much info as possible in the event I am unable to attend the hearing.
That seems sensible to me, but I have also read that you do not have to do this. Simply return the form with any evidence you would like to submit and formally state you wish to appeal the decision not to offer your child a place.
Am wondering if I should:
A) Standard formal paragraph stating I wish to appeal
B) Brief bullet points of my grounds to appeal
C) In-depth appeal statement/ letter.

Apologies if it seems like a silly thing to ask!

C) especially at eh moment, incase you’re having to isolate because covid or something.

Also will be a good way to get yourself ready for the actual appeal as you can read it all through

Good luck

You need the appeals experts @prh47bridge and @patriciaholm

If you simply state that you want to appeal and offer no other information, the panel can only go on the information you provide, which is nothing. That means that if it's an infant class size appeal and there have been no mistakes made, you'll have your appeal rejected very quickly.

You need to establish in your own mind three things:
Is this an infant class size appeal (classes of 15/30/45/60 indicate so)?
If so, do you think that a mistake was made which denied your child a place at the school?
If so, what was that mistake?
If not, what are your grounds for appeal? Bear in mind that an ICS appeal can only succeed if a mistake was made, or if the decision not to admit was unreasonable (absurd in the circumstances).

If it is not an Infant Class Size appeal, then you need to give your reasons for thinking the school should take your child, because it will come down to a balance of prejudice (harm) between your child and the school.

You should send in your appeal by the stated date so that you will have an appeal before September.
In terms of what you put in the initial appeal letter this will somewhat depend on what evidence you already have to put in the appeal. You should put down all that is relevant and get it back within the stated time frame but you should also make the point that you reserve the right to add to you appeal document prior to the appeal.
If you think that you have other information after your initial appeal letter then you should send it in at least 7 days before the appeal date to make sure that it is received and distributed to the panel and admission authority.
How you construct the appeal letter is up to you. As a panel member I always appreciate getting an appeal based on bullet-points as it is easy to see that the main arguments being put forward are without having to wade through an abridged version of war and peace.

Thank you to everyone who has replied.
I should have mentioned it’s not an ICS appeal.

Due to Covid the form gives the option of the appeal being conducted via zoom video/ telephone or written evidence.

I think I will clearly state my grounds for appeal in bullet form and inc. evidence I am submitting

I am opting for zoom video on the day of the appeal.

If it's not an ICS appeal, then it's even more important that you say why you are appealing - you actually have a chance of winning (In my LA, ICS appeal success rate is around 0.4%).

Agree with Lougle. Stating your grounds in bullet form is fine but make sure it is clear. You want the panel to know what your case is about before the hearing but you can elaborate on what you've written in the hearing.

Thank you everyone. I am really glad I asked now. It really does make sense to state my reasons for appeal first.
@prh47bridge has already been kind enough to respond to my PM. He advised me on ICS and balance of prejudice.

It was one of those school appeal legal solicitor websites that said not to detail the grounds for appeal. They seem to go in very hard with their appeal tactics. Seems unnecessary when the panel is actually there to listen fairly to an appeal.

The advice on MN is invaluable

If the school appeal legal solicitor is suggesting that you do not disclose full details of your appeal until the appeal hearing then they are completely wrong. The appeal panel will if they are suddenly presented with a large amount of extra information at the appeal call for at least an adjournment because the reasons behind the appeal have to be clear to all parties. At best that will mean the information being shared with all parties and a short term adjournment on the day for them to review the documents. At worst the panel will postpone the appeal to another date, which is of no help to anybody.

Please send all evidence available in good time. I'm recovering from a day of appeals, where parents have sending stuff to the clerk over the weekend. It seems churlish to refuse to read a short medical letter because it was sent during the previous evening' but it doesn't put the panel in a good frame of mind.

Thanks @admission it certainly wouldn’t go well to bombard the panel with lots of new details on the day.

@eddiemairswife that sounds like a headache to deal with! I definitely won’t be leaving any evidence until the last minute.