Anyone any experience of a successful appeal against a Primary School place allocation?

[TigerFeet]

DD has been refused a place at our nearest school on grounds of distance. The distance has been calculated by road (1.5 miles) whereas in reality a footbridge across a drain means that the walking distance is more like ½ mile, doable in 15 minutes even at dd's wandering pace. We have been allocated a place at a school 3, maybe 4 miles away through a town centre with an horrendous traffic problem.

We are going to appeal on these grounds.

I would love to hear from anyone who has appealed successfully. Any advice would be very gratefully received.

TIA

Our LEA says they calculate distance as "exact geographical distance" (basically the distance between your house and the school drawn as a straight line on a map) and they do not take into account, short cuts or even if the distance they calculated is impossible to actually do without massive detours.
Your LEA might have some kind of "wiggle" rule so they can throw out complaints based on actual journey vv notional journey as shown on a map.
So read the rules really carefully before appeal as our LEA throws out distance appeals very quickly. However, if your LEA if trying to be "green" go for that angle i.e. walk vv car (reduce traffic, child gets exercise), I know someone who managed it on those grounds but not the distance ones.

The distance between the house and the school as a straight line is even shorter [wry ]

Thanks for the advice re appealing on green grounds - this is the slant we were planning to take so it's great to hear that may be seen as valid

We had similar situation but it didn't even get as far as an appeal. The LEA came and remeasured our route and we were offered a place.

Good luck!

The other school is a great school - it's just too far away. There is another school within walking distance but I don't want dd to go there. I hope that won't affect the appeal

The school we want is perfect for dd - she has friends going there, the environment will suit her and it's the closest to her. Also her current nursery run a before and after school club for it.

I'm sure you will get in, they probably didn't know the footbridge existed. In our case the alternative route didn't exist on the map. Check the council's info on how they measure the shortest designated route and get them out asap to remeaure.

oh good luck TF
I do hope you get in, it sounds totally reasonable to me. Sorry I haven't any advice but wishing you well with it