Could somebody who works in schools answer this for me

[Brandybucks]

Situation in a nutshell: we moved to the area last summer, DS2 got a reception place in our local school easily as he was in a low birth year (2017/18). DS1 however was in a high birth year (2014/15) and did not get a place in year 3 as all 60 places were taken. School felt it would be disruptive to go above 30 per class which I understand so we went on the waiting list. Fast forward a year and we are still in the same situation - two school runs twice a day and it’s a bit of an exhausting nightmare as I also have 2 younger children. (We don’t want to move DS2 because his school is by far the better school run for us and our younger kids in future.)

Today I noticed on the school website that due to another low birth year they haven’t managed to fill the 60 places in reception and they have gaps. Does anyone know if school might ever look at this situation and say Ok, we can’t fill reception, we have fewer kids in the infants so we will go above class size in year 3/4? Clutching at straws here 😅

The headteachers wording last year was “we have met as an Admissions Committee to consider your application. Having sought external advice, and carefully explored and discussed our Admissions Policy, I am afraid your situation did not meet the criteria for “exceptional circumstances” which would be the only way that we would be able to exceed 30 children per class”. So I’m not sure if there is much point asking again 😣

You've asked the Head and he has said no, but you do have a legal right to take an appeal to an independent panel.
The Head doesn't want you to appeal, but if you really want your child to go to this school then you have nothing to lose.

The final decision isn't with the Head, but with an appeals panel. You won't loose anything by appealing and you may get lucky! We went over PAN for an older sibling where the younger child was allocated a space.

The Appeals Code actually says explicitly that going over the PAN is NOT grounds to refuse a child a place.

Our head, where I was a governor, held the 30 per class sizes with new applicants. When a Dc had a place at another school, no appeal was ever upheld. Junior school y3-6. The DC here is happy and being educated. Dc has a school place. It’s the OP that is finding it hard. So that’s not grounds for a successful appeal, in my view. If the school never goes above 30 then it tends to be that an extra child is considered detrimental. No doubt others have tried. So one might think no appeal has been upheld for ks2.

Saying other dc will be withdrawn is a bit petty. Lots of parents have Dc in different schools, for all sorts of reasons. Schools should not take more Dc above 30 if there is a reasonable alternative. There is in this case.

@TizerorFizz thanks for your input, it’s useful to hear your viewpoint as a previous governor. I tend to agree with you as it is definitely me suffering rather than him. However, since I have 3 children younger than DS1 who will come up through this school it is frustrating that they can’t be more flexible in this instance.

A school that is looking at its finances at a time of falling birth rates is likely to be more flexible - if you are top of the waiting list, otherwise someone else is going to get the place rather than you, and at our school, the child at the top of the waiting list had younger siblings in undersubscribed years which made the decision easier... I would write again asking if they would consider going over PAN if I were top of the list, and if they say no, go to appeal - it's worth a try, it doesn't cost you anything but it will cost the school time and money which might sharpen their minds on the decision if they can just agree to go one over PAN rather than go to appeal. If you are not top of the list then still worth appealing anyway - your case doesn't have to be that strong, just better than theirs!

Going over 30 voluntarily in one class means they would probably lose any appeal to go over 30 in any y3/y6 class in the future. Maybe one more here snd there ends up being 32 in every class. Schools can be directed to take Dc who are looked after and where the school is named for a SEN child so schools do go over 30. It might be that the school expects more Dc starting to fill it up, eg houses being built.

I can fully understand the annoyance of the op with a bigger family but education is being provided by the LA. If this is a VA school, they decide their admissions. When you move house, many people find year groups are full in a local school and have to accept an alternative. It’s standard in many places.