Primary admission appeal based on oversubscription

[Nhad]

Hi,

I have recently moved houses to a different areas in Leicester, I have applied for my daughter for an in term move. All four of the schools I applied for are in my new area and I was refused for all. I would like to appeal and wanted some advice, where can I find out how many people there are in the year four classes this year and the previous years.

Any advice is welcome on what I should write on my reasons for appeal.

thanks guys

What I don’t really understand is why you would want your child in an overly large class that the school and teacher can’t accommodate properly/well, hence their refusal. Unless there is a back story here and you are fleeing DV or similar surely you knew the schools were all full before you moved? It’s a symptom of our woefully underfunded education system but if you have a child in school it has to be a consideration when moving house. If they just bent all of the rules all of the time because everyone moved house then some schools would have 50 in a class.

Have you been offered a place at any school?

Do you have grounds for appeal? You moved to an area where the schools you want are full, my understanding is that if you are offered a school place, any school place, the LA have fulfilled their obligation.

Hi.

I have been offered a place that is 4.3 miles away.

I think you'd be better off accepting the place that's further away and to go on the waiting list of the others and see what comes up.

accept the place, and go on the waiting list at he other schools. Don't attempt to cram your child into a class already full, and force children in that class to be squashed up and without enough resources all day every day- not that you are likely to succeed anyway, but if you did it ends up miserable for everybody

I appealed, it was awful, like being in court. Four people who were on the committee who listened to why i should get a place for my son at an over subscribed school, my reasons were not good enough, which I understand in a way but I wish I had not bothered going for an appeal. My son started at a school that a place that had been found for him, he went one day and on that day the headmaster of the school I appealed for phoned me to say they had a place for him so it worked out in the end!

Hi,

Aww that sounds amazing, I’m happy you got your choice in the end. Well it’s a good job you did attend.

I’ve been told they don’t hold waiting lists for in year applications and so I can’t be told where I am on any waiting list

At 4.3 miles you should be offered transport.

When we appealed for my DD in Yr4 the school had to provide us with a massive pack of information... it had pupil numbers in all years,all the classroom sizes (and legal requirements for them), staffing numbers etc.

We won the appeal incidentally. The teacher and school were expecting us too.

Which kind of reasons did you give, if you don’t mind sharing please.

Hi,

Thats great that you won, I wonder if you could share any tips or reasons that you gave.

What year group are you appealing for?

Year 4

I don't think "other people got there before me" is adequate grounds for an appeal. As PP have said, the best way to navigate the system is to accept the place you have been offered and wait for a place to come up at your preferred schools.

A Year 4 appeal will be on the balance of prejudice; that the prejudice to your child of not attending is greater than the prejudice to the school of taking another child into the class.

You would need to show what the appeal school has that benefits your child specifically - what do they do, offer, that meets their needs that could show prejudice to them if they didn't have access to?

Transport is not going to be very relevant, as at 4.3m you should be offered transport, though what exactly will differ by LA and your locale.

The school will make a case that the year is full, and that any other students will jeopardise the efficient education of the existing children. They are likely to make arguments about school physical size, both classrooms and other spaces. They should be able to give you information about current class sizes in each year.

Thankyou this is helpful. When I fill in the initial form should Include all reasons or just that prejudice of my child of not attending is greater than the prejudice to the school of taking another child into the class.

The initial form just applying for an appeal can just state your requirement for an appeal, you don't need to go into detail at this point.

When you submit your full appeal, you need to explain all your reasons and attach all relevant evidence. A panel does not have to allow you to admit new evidence at appeal so be sure to submit everything in advance.

Hi,

Yes I have to start writing all the relevant reasons to prove that the prejudice to my child is greater, very cheeky of me to ask but does anyone have anything they can share with me in terms of reasons or how to word it.

Read your offer letter carefully - usually it has information further down the letter on how to apply for transport assistance. As you have been offered place over 3 miles away, you are eligible to apply for this.

You appeal will not happen for a few weeks and you have a duty under the Education Act to ensure your child is receiving full time education, so you should either start her at the school offered or register for home education in the meantime. However, you should be aware that if you refuse the offer and home educate, the LA have no duty to find her a school place if you lose your appeal.

You need to start your daughter within 10 school days, otherwise the school should refer you to the Child Missing Education Officer at the LA.

Thanks, she’s still in her old school.

It's good she is in school. You need to consider if you lose the appeal, whether she will remain in her existing school or go to the one offered - if you don't accept it, the LA can rescind the offer after half a term.

I won’t be accepting it as they are of similar distances and so it wouldn’t make sense to move her.

Please refuse it if that is the case, as someone else will need a school place. Please don't sit on it and not reply. We have lots of children waiting in our area and if we had all the places refused that weren't required, we could place so many more children.

Good luck with your appeal.

It isn't a disadvantage to the school itself, it is a disadvantage to every child in the class, because every lesson every day, now one table of two spaces will have 3 people on it, so 3/30 disadvantaged at any one moment, so every member of the class disadvantage 10% of the time for the rest of their school career.

And that is just seating, add books, science resources, marking, live teacher feedback, etc, and is it basically all of them, all the time

so 30 other children put at a constant disadvantage because you want your child in there- how would you then feel if once your child was in, somebody else appealed as well.

Thankfully most such appeals fail, but when they succeed, the other children know why they are being squashed, and having to share one book between 3 instead of two