Need advice for admission in Maidenhead

[settleforgood]

Hi All,

Need some advise. I recently moved to Maidenhead and applied for my daughter admission in primary school ( Year 2) through council. Below is the stats

1. Oldfield School - Waiting 1
2. Furze platt - Waiting 6

The session is about to start and need advise if I should do an appeal for the one of the above schools. I stay in 0.2 mile walking to oldfield so planning to make an appeal.

Please advise if any suggestions in this scenario

And Does the appeal really work ?

Have they offered you a place anywhere? They should offer you somewhere, assuming the old school is now too far away.

Realistically your chances of a successful appeal for a year 2 place are very low. In year 2 (and below) they can have a maximum of 30 pupils. Assuming the class sizes are 30, you will only win an appeal if a mistake has been made or there is an extremely strong reason why you need that school. It is unlikely a mistake has been made in the case of an in-year admission to a full school.

I would probably focus on being offered a place somewhere and hoping for a place to open up at your preferred school. How many places does Oldfield have per year? No. 1 is a good position.

Has your dc been denied a place on ICS? If so it will be very hard to win a year 2 appeal unless maladministration has happened resulting in your dc not being offered a place or being an excepted child under Fair Access Protocol(ie. if no other school can offer a place)

Yes the appeal system does work. I've got a Y3 and a Y7 place through it.
Have they offered you any places?

Oldfield has an admission number of 60, Furze Platt has an admission number of 90, so any appeal would be heard under infant class size rules. This means you are unlikely to win any appeal unless you can show that a mistake has been made. Mistakes are vanishingly rare for in-year admissions. The most likely is if your daughter should have been admitted as an excepted child, e.g. because there are no schools with places within a reasonable distance from home. It would be easier if your daughter was a little older - infant class size rules don't apply to Y3 and above.

If the council haven't come up with a place for your daughter, you need to chase them. They need to find a place for her somewhere.

On the appeal point listen to @prh47bridge - she is literally the MN expert on appeals (and actually knows the law among a sea of often ridiculous posters).

Where have you been offered? Maidenhead schools are notoriously oversubscribed. Both Oldfield and Furze Platt are popular schools. I would take the place of where you’ve been offered. You can stay on waitlists of other 2. Schools in Maidenhead are very good so I wouldn’t be too worried if you haven’t had your first choice.