3 choices refused for Infant class size

[purple2019]

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

The admissions criteria will be published online as would last year's allocations. Waiting lists are ordered in the same way as admissions. It is not about "points" but facts. If they admit siblings ahead of distance, for example, if a child joins the school further up their sibling would be placed ahead of your dc. Likewise a child moving into the area closer to the school (according to the published mode of measurement) .

It depends where you live - round here a few schools have introduced them, because of the difficulties that arise when families get their eldest in, then move away but all the siblings still follow - both denting places to those living much closer to the school and the impact of more cars trying to park for the school run.

OP: it's nor exactly about "points", it's about which category your chid is in. Siblings are usually higher than other children.

The LA or the school must make info on "greatest distance offered" available, as it is relevant to appeals (ie parents checking for potential errors). They might however mean that this year's info has not yet been fully collated

How far away from the school do you live? - that details they could not give (security reasons)

I’m confused. What possible security reasons could there be for the council to not tell you how far away you live from the school on whatever measuring system they use?

As pp say, that information’s relevant to appeals, as it lets you check for potential errors.

For primary schools it is normally one parent/carer picking up and dropping off the children in the household, and that adult can't be in two places at once.

I live in an area where one year this happened. Luckily there are other good schools.

I live in an area with predominantly new housing and everywhere is assigned catchment areas.

They are required to answer any reasonable question you ask to help you prepare for your appeal. They must tell you specifically why you missed out rather than a vague reference to points. They cannot refuse to give you your distance or the distance of the last child admitted. Ask again and make it clear that, if they continue to refuse, you will be appealing and will raise their failure to comply with the Admission Appeals Code with the panel.

The one point that is correct is that you can go down the waiting list as well as up. But it sounds like the person you spoke to hasn't got a clue.

If you're in London you can't find out where you are on the waiting lists until 16th May.

The reason is that they want to wait until places offered have been accepted/rejected (deadline is 2nd May) and then the system rejigged to offer out any additional places that have become available. They also use this time to process late applications.

You should be able to get the council to tell you how far you are from each school. Our LA publish the furthest distance offered on their website.

The deadline for lodging an appeal is 19th May which really doesn't give you much time to get your appeal in if you still haven't been offered a place after 16th May.

Have you checked they have the right details on the application? My friend lived on the same road as her first preference school but didn't get in, when looking into it the local authority had messed up the postcode and had her living much further away, their mistake and they had to find a space for her child at the school

Would you mind please telling us which LA this is? The lack of information seems really strange.

If you google your council name and primary school allocations statement 2023 you might be able to find out how far from the school the furthest child admitted was.

I can see all the information on all the oversubscribed schools near me in 2 different council areas.

I had to contact the LA for this information and they told me for individual schools - it was not freely available online.

When submitting My appeal. Do I mention the school names?
E.g the one we are fighting for and why against the one LA have given to us?

You can see last years data online in various places, including (if you pay) the locrating site.
Not sure how that would help you now, it's more a guide when you're doing the initial application. This years data won't be published widely until after June but you should be able to get the information direct from LEA for your appeal.

It sounds like the schools you applied for followed:

1. LAC/EHCP
2. Siblings in catchment
3. Distance within catchment area

And that your DC is in category 3?

It's not a points system per se. It's literally all the kids in 1 get in regardless of catchment. Then as many kids in 2 as there is space for. Then if there's still space, kids from category 3, closest first, measured via the LEA distance measure (usually as the crow flies but not always) to the entrance to your property.

Unfortunately because of some schools being oversubscribed, a number of places could have been taken by children in 1 and 2 with insufficient remaining places for all children still in catchment but without the sibling connection. And then even if your DC lives fairly close (10 min walk) they might be too far away to get in. (For reference we are around 5mins walk from closest primary school and it's hit and miss if kids from our short road get in).

Some years a child in your house might get in if there's fewer siblings in category 2 and/or fewer kids in category 3 who live closer. So it's hard to compare neighbours who may have got in other years when your DC haven't this year - as different years might have a smaller or wider intake boundary. What's relevant is this year, how many places were left after 1&2 and what was the furthest distance offered for 3 vs what distance is your house?

I'd appeal as you have nothing to lose, but unless they put your child in the wrong category (which it doesn't sound like) or they measured your house distance to school wrong, or a child took a place where parents have lied about address (and would then be removed if discovered, freeing up a place that would go to the first child on waiting list), then I've not heard of people being successful. Needing family support, finances etc wouldn't be a valid reason for a place to be given as it wouldn't be fair because lots of people would be in the same position and doesn't feature in the criteria (if that's the school criteria).

It's a very frustrating and stressful experience to go through!

Entirely up to you whether you name the schools in your case, but remember you are appealing for the school you want, not against the school you've got. You can talk about thing offered by the appeal school that are missing from the allocated school, but don't be negative about the allocated school.

Tbh I would say that the only thing worth writing in the appeal is that you believe a mistake has been made because the distance from school to home for the last child admitted under distance criteria in the same category as you lives further away from the school than you do so a mistake has been made and your child would have got a place if the criteria had been applied directly.

It's clear from your posts that you don't actually know whether this is the case and you have tried to find out but they won't tell you. However the appeal panel can require the relevant information to be released and will be able to find out the truth or otherwise of this statement. If it is true then your child will be given a place. If it is not true then there's pretty much nothing else you can say that would make a jot of difference so why bother.

It's Leicester County Council

https://www.leicestershire.gov.uk/education-and-children/schools-colleges-and-academies/school-admissions/appeal-a-school-place-and-check-waiting-lists-online

You can check waiting list positions here.

Tbh unless a mistake has been made you won’t succeed at an appeal however if you’re high up the waiting list it’s quite possible it will move before September but you must accept the place offered in the meantime.

Tbh unless a mistake has been made you won’t succeed at an appeal

That is not necessarily true. Looking at published admission numbers, there would appear to be at least 30 primary schools in Leicestershire where an appeal would not be under infant class size rules. If OP is appealing for one of those schools, she can win even if no mistake has been made.

Yes, I should have been more specific, an appeal to take a class over the PAN is unlikely to succeed unless a mistake has been made - a 2 mile journey to school isn’t going to be enough.

But OP's post of 10:01 yesterday says our rejection letter only stated Infant class size, there was no other details at all. - which surely means that the school in question isn't one of those 30?

It did. If that was the case for all three schools then yes, she will need to find a mistake (or hope that the appeal panel find one). However, rejection letters vary. Some only give the reason for missing out on the applicants first choice. Some fail to give any detailed reasons at all, contrary to the Admissions Code. Some try to use a standard wording for all letters that doesn't really tell the parents anything. And I have occasionally seen LAs quote infant class size in relation to schools where it really doesn't apply. So I wouldn't trust the rejection letter. My first step would be to look at the schools concerned and see if it really is infant class size for all three of them.