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Primary education

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Original poster

3 choices refused for Infant class size

71 replies

purple2019 · 17/04/2023 17:00

I applied for 3 schools for my 1st child, unfortunately all 3 choices have been refused for the same reasons - "Infant Class size"
One of the school I applied for is 10 mins walk which has been refused.

Local Authority have allocated a school which we didn't want and this school is the furthest one from all 3 personal choices. (approx 30 min walk)

Most frustrating part on this is some parents only chose one school only and their child have got that school.

We are now going to appeal the decision and wanted to ask kind of information do I/we need to add in the appeal.
So far I have been advised to add the below information for the appeal

Financial
travel distance from home
providing the schools name
Family Support

Should I be including the above information in the appeal?

If anyone has been in the same situation as me, please could you let me know what else to include appeal to make this successful

OP posts:

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myrtleWilson · 17/04/2023 17:03

For ICS appeals there are limited reasons for an appeal - and the bullet points you've provided won't be included. You'd be looking for the applications process to have had an error in it somewhere - are you confident your application was put in the correct category?

prh47bridge · 17/04/2023 17:06

As these are infant class size cases, the only way you can win an appeal is if a mistake has been made that cost your child a place. As @myrtleWilson says, you need to check that your child was put in the correct admissions category for each school. You should also check that the home to school distance looks right. If they haven't given you this information, contact your council and ask them.

Raindancer411 · 17/04/2023 17:08

In the meantime, call the infants and be asked to go on the waiting list?

Foundryside · 17/04/2023 17:08

If it’s an Infant Class Size appeal, then it’ll be really hard to win.

They’re only allowed to go above a class size of 30 in exceptional circumstances, such as the council made a mistake processing your application, and you’d have got a space if the mistake hadn’t been made; or the decision to refuse admission was not one that a reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case.

Arguments about travel distance or family support are unlikely to count for an Infant Class Size appeal.

Are you on the waiting lists for your preferred schools?

Mammyloveswine · 17/04/2023 17:09

The parents who only selected one school will likely be in the catchment.. criteria is really strict!

Look at the admissions criteria and you'll get an idea...

It might be op that you can go on a waiting list, generally there are children who move or who wanted a different school so there may still be a place become available in the coming weeks.

YorkshireLawyer · 17/04/2023 17:10

Where ICS applies you are only likely to be successful on appeal if the local authority has made a mistake in applying the admission criteria, eg if they haven’t considered your child
in the correct category or haven’t measured the distance from your home to the school
correctly. Factors like travel time, family support, preference for a particular school etc will not be taken into account. Did you not apply for your closest/catchment school? The best you can do now, unfortunately, is likely to be to get onto waiting lists for any and all schools you would be happy with and hope a place becomes available that way. Good luck.

mummyh2016 · 17/04/2023 17:11

It has no bearing on getting a school place if you only put 1 option so there's no reason for that to annoy you.

TulipsAndDaisiesAndBlossom · 17/04/2023 17:17

The people who only put one choice and then got it, only got it because they were higher up in the criterion than you were.

PuttingDownRoots · 17/04/2023 17:22

Did you apply for your three closest schools? And how far away (in miles) is the allocated school.

They consider a 4yo capable of walking 2 miles (disregarding the fact that's a 4 mile round trip for the parent) otherwise you will be entitled to transport if you applied for your closest schools.

olderthanyouthink · 17/04/2023 17:27

"Most frustrating part on this is some parents only chose one school only and their child have got that school"

Because they're higher up on the order of preference, maybe live closer, maybe a sibling, have been in care, have ECHPs etc

NerrSnerr · 17/04/2023 17:36

It looks like the schools you applied for are over subscribed so you didn't meet the criteria. The ones who only applied for one school would have met the criteria. Did you look at the maximum distance the furthest child was allocated last year? One of our local schools is 0.4 miles away but never admits anyone further than 0.3 so everyone knows that if you're over the main road you won't get in.

forgotname · 17/04/2023 17:39

How did you find out the reason? We've been offered third place.., not the end of the world but DD is really settled in nursery and has many friends who would have been given a place due to siblings

Duhduhdub · 17/04/2023 17:42

Make sure you accept the offer that you do have, or you could be left with no place at all.
If you haven’t already, phone your preferred schools and get on the waiting lists.
Schools aren’t told how many other schools you’ve applied to or your order of preference; they apply their admissions criteria to every application received.

strawberry2017 · 17/04/2023 18:03

Did you child attend the school nursery at any of the choices? X

viques · 17/04/2023 18:06

strawberry2017 · 17/04/2023 18:03

Did you child attend the school nursery at any of the choices? X

That makes no difference. Nursery attendance is not a factor in place allocation.

NameChange30 · 17/04/2023 18:07

Are any of them your catchment school?
get on the waiting lists for all of them. And your catchment school if it's not included.

Pjmasksonrepeat · 17/04/2023 18:18

@forgotname it should give the reason on your offer email against each choice although every LA is different.

MotherOfGreyhounds · 17/04/2023 18:18

I think you'll be extremely unlikely to win an appeal in these circumstances unfortunately, for the reasons PP have already outlined. I'd put my energy into making sure that I was on the waiting list for the schools. I think after the 2nd of May you will be able to find out your position on the lists, which should give you some idea of if you're likely to get a waiting list place at any of the three schools.

It's very unusual not to get any school you put on your application - did you research the historic admissions data to see if you'd have gotten a place in previous years?

Pinkflipflop85 · 17/04/2023 18:20

strawberry2017 · 17/04/2023 18:03

Did you child attend the school nursery at any of the choices? X

Attending the nursery makes absolutely no difference to Primary school places/criteria.

WheelsUp · 17/04/2023 18:21

Don't forget that you can join the waiting list for any school - even ones that weren't on your original application form.

strawberry2017 · 17/04/2023 18:26

It's one of the criteria in our area. It's not one of the top criteria's but they do take it in to consideration. This was confirmed to me by our head teacher. Our school is an academy - not sure if that makes a difference

Shinyandnew1 · 17/04/2023 18:27

Parental choice is a bit of a pretence really and most people still go for their catchment.

As others have said, it’s irrelevant that others only put one choice and get it. They presumably chose their catchment school or one that was undersubscribed?

Did you put your catchment?

PuttingDownRoots · 17/04/2023 18:31

Lots of areas don't have catchments... they just admit the nearest pupils.

Its possible to not live close enough to your nearest school to not get in.

Leftoverssandwich · 17/04/2023 18:32

Lots of places don’t have catchment systems. It’s also possible not to get into your nearest schools on distance. I find these threads frustrating when people tell others off without any knowledge of their circumstances.

redskylight · 17/04/2023 18:39

OP needs to look at the admissions criteria for the school she lives in, and find out if they have been applied fairly. If, for example, they've admitted everyone to 700m away and OP lives 500m away that sounds like a mistake.
If there are fixed catchments and OP does not live in the fixed catchment, then living closer may still put her lower down.

Crucial things is that OP checks for herself.

But, as others have said. If you've been rejected on ICS, you need to prove a mistake. Also worth going on waiting lists.

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