Appealing school place

[Chester6girls]

Hi there, has anyone been down the appeal process for a primary school place please and got any advice? I am considering doing this and feel I have nothing to lose but am nervous of potentially needing to speak in front of a panel and it sounds like it wouldn't be for several months. My child has a rare condition which means they have lots of hospital appointments and whilst they are doing well at the moment, it could mean developmental issues and health problems down the line. We very much felt the school in question would be best equipped to deal with this and help them. Anyone that appealed, did you attend and speak or not? The form looks like we have both options. Thanks

Did you apply on medical/social grounds and were refused?

The first thing to determine is is it an ICS appeal - are there 30 children per teacher in YR,1 or 2.

Many/most reception years are ICS; Infant Class Size, which are exceptionally hard to win as the law caps classes at 30 in years R,1,2 unless there are exceptional circumstances (basically if the admissions authority made an error that cost you a place, or the decision not to admit is so unreasonable (in a specific legal sense) that no sensible person would have made it). Very few ICS appeals are granted.

Non ICS appeals are different and I won't go into depth here as each appeal is different, but essentially you need to show that the detriment to the school of taking another pupil is less than the detriment to your child of getting a place. Note, it is not the case, for non-ICS appeals that you can only appeal on the grounds of something in the admissions criteria! You can appeal on a wide variety of grounds to show detriment. If you decide to do this, post and ask for help! A number of us here are happy to do so.

Oh, and you can appeal on paper only, if you wish, but I would counsel against it. It's much harder for panels to get a good grasp of the entire situation if they can't ask questions.