Tips - What to do if you aren't happy with your school place

[PatriciaHolm]

I've posted this a few times before and it seems to be helpful, so I thought I would repost today, as it's National Offer Day for Primaries (England and Wales)

I thought it might be useful to do a quick summary post, primarily on what to do if you aren't happy, as I know it may come up a lot today....(FWIW, I sit on Appeals Panels, and also a Chair of Governors. There are several other very experienced panelists and admissions experts around too.) Hopefully this will be helpful.

What to do if you get a school you don't want?

1. Accept it. This is does not signal to the LA that you are happy, it just locks in a "last resort" option. It has NO impact on waiting lists - you get no preferential treatment on lists or at appeal if you turn the place down, nor are you negatively impacted if you have accepted a place.
If you turn it down, the LA no longer has an obligation to find you a place, so you will be dependent on waiting lists/appeals. If they don't come through, you could find yourself with no place in September. So ONLY turn it down if homeschool (or private) is definitely an option......

2.Get yourself onto Waiting lists for schools you do want. In some areas you are automatically put on lists for schools higher in your preferences that you don't get into, in some cases you need to ask, so check - your LA website, email, or login portal will probably tell you what to do. You can also add yourself to lists for schools you didn't apply for (some LAs limit the amount of lists you can be on though.)
You can also ask the LA if there are any other local schools with places that you might prefer.

3. Check there has been no mistake. If you are genuinely surprised and you think a mistake might have been made - wrong distance used, sibling link ignored etc - it's worth checking. Your decision letter/portal is likely to have the criteria you were assessed under for each school and, for example, the distance used in the case of distance criteria, so check all is well. If it doesn't, check with the LA. But be patient, lots of people will be calling/emailing today/tomorrow!.

4. Think about appeals. You can appeal for any school you applied for and didn't get into.
However, note that appeals for many/most reception years are ICS; Infant Class Size, which are exceptionally hard to win as the law caps classes at 30 in years R,1,2 unless there are exceptional circumstances (basically if the admissions authority made an error that cost you a place, or the decision not to admit is so unreasonable (in a specific legal sense) that no sensible person would have made it. Very few ICS appeals are granted).

Non ICS appeals are different and I won't go into depth here as each appeal is different, but essentially you need to show that the detriment to the school of taking another pupil is less than the detriment to your child of getting a place. If you decide to do this, post and ask for help! A number of us here are happy to do so.

If you are happy - great! Accept it, if you need to (some LAs will auto accept for you.) And be patient - most schools are a bit busy right now...

Any questions, do ask. Sometimes it's easier for someone not emotionally involved to figure out the answer or find a detail.

Sorry this is long! Looking for some advice / reassurance please. My DS didn’t get into our preferred school. He was ranked 105th, the last place was offered to child 100. In terms of distance we’ve missed out by around 1/30th of a mile. We’re on the waiting list but have also decided to appeal. As I understand it, for this particular school it’s not an appeal under ICS, the reception intake is 3x classes of 29. So the appeal will be on personal circumstances but I’ve really struggled to find any guidance on how to structure this, how much detail to include in the initial written appeal etc. Our main reason for wanting him to go there is that he’s already at nursery there - we knew that nursery wasn’t a guarantee of school place but given how close we live to the school (0.35 miles), reasonably expected he’d get a place. It was also the only school that his childminder could do pick up /drop offs from and we wanted him to stay with her for a bit of consistency and also because she cares for DD too.

He can be a bit shy and we hoped he’d come out of his shell but were shocked by how difficult he found the transition to nursery. Within a few weeks the staff were talking about a referral to SALT because they thought he had a speech delay. We were surprised at this because we hadn’t had any concerns previously. After much discussion we realised that it was just crippling shyness / anxiety. He would avoid eye contact with teachers / TA’s, barely spoke and chose to play alone despite other kids trying to engage with him. The staff started an ‘intervention’ using specialised resources to try and support him. It took a few months but more recently he’s really improved, we can see he’s happier going in there, and he’s made friendships and good relationships with teaching staff. He’s also met the Reception teachers who have been coming in for sessions to familiarise the children. Pretty much every other child in the nursery is going to this school and if he goes to the 2nd choice school he won’t know anyone. I honestly believe if he goes to the other school that we will have to start all over again and this will really impact on his first few months at least. Nursery teacher agrees with this.

I’m really upset at the thought of him having to go through this again because looking back, although he wasn’t kicking off at the gates and getting upset I can see now that he was just quite sad in the first few months.

In addition if he goes to the 2nd choice school his childminder won’t be able to do the wraparound care so we’ll need to look at other options which again is more upheaval for him and would probably mean changing DD’s childcare too.

Lastly, he was a prem baby and spent three weeks in NICU due to respiratory distress and since then has been very prone to respiratory infections which cause significant shortness of breath. The first choice school is bordered by a park on one side and a residential street on the other - it’s a designated school street so very little traffic. The 2nd choice has a playground which is next to a busy main road and I’m concerned about the effects of traffic pollution on his health.

Can someone advise how best to convey our sincere concerns about how he will be affected by this and any insight into how likely it might be to succeed? Thanks in advance.

I think you just need to set it out as you have above. This wouldn’t be enough for an ICS appeal, but you’re free of those restrictions so give it your best shot. The issue around respiratory distress is probably the strongest and most distinctive thing here - lots of appeals are likely to mention being in the nursery and/or wanting to stay with existing friends - so I’d put that first in the running order. Include a letter from your GP/paediatrician if you can.

Thanks @PanelChair, much appreciated