Mid-Term Transfer - Appeal

[Awilkins95]

Hi - was hoping for any advice around mid term transfer and appeals.

We applied for our son (Year2) to move school on the 4th December. This was after a visit to the school and being told there were 2 spaces available.

We revisited the school on the 19th December with our son where he was showed around and we were informed that there was still space and a formality once the LA had processed the application.

We chased yesterday to be told that our application had been unsuccessful. The two spaces have been taken by other children.

Our application and decision was processed well outside of the 15 days that it should be. No explanation has been given for the delay or why we were unsuccessful vs the other applicants. We live in catchment for the school.

Is it grounds for appeal that we have an underlying feeling that our application was mismanaged? It feels like the school shouldn’t have told us it was a formality if they were not sure as well. The LA are using GDPR as an excuse to not provide any details.

any help or advice greatly appreciated 🙏

I believe its 15 school days, not calender days.

You need to find out when the other children applied... if it was before you, then no mistake was made.

Yes, start the appeal, you can make all of these issues part of the appeal. The LA will attend the appeal to answer. If they have made a mistake, then chances are it won't go to appeal and your child will be given a place.

Thanks - we applied on the 4th December and only received the decision yesterday so counting only school days we are over the 15

The LA wouldn’t tell us when the other children applied. Found that strange.

Possibly the other children had a higher priority than your child in relation to the admissions policy, for example an EHCP naming the school, or they are a looked after child. Alternatively, they may have been allocated to the school through the Fair Access Panel.

This. The school will have an admissions policy that states the order that children should be admitted.

Agree - but shouldn’t the admissions team just state this as the reason rather than give conflicting information? Surely it’s not GDPR to say that the other applicants ranked higher in priority.

I don’t think it holds much weight in the appeal but the school certainly shouldn’t have told us that it was a formality and treated our son as if he was already a student. He’s 6yo and been speaking about the school trips the teacher told him he’d be going on.

I think we’re beginning to accept that the decision is unlikely to change. People saying things they shouldn’t have isn’t going to be ground for them to overturn. 😞

If you appeal, and they find that your application wasn't processed properly, but he would have got a place if it had been processed properly, then he should be awarded a place. The other children won't lose their place.

If you appeal, and the council provides evidence to the appeal board the other family applied first, then no mistake was made.

However... the school might have no idea that other children had applied when they told you there was a space. I've been through the In year process twice for two children. The schools and council had different information. (The schools knew a place was available quicker, but the council knew a space was taken quicker)

Would the higher priority still apply for the in-year transfer if OP's application had been submitted before? I'm no expert but I thought in-year applications were based on submission date ahead of other criteria. Or might children with eg, an EHCP, leapfrog others?

I guess it would depend the stage each application had reached. If there were two places and three applicants being dealt with at once then the admissions criteria would apply. An ehcp naming the school would take priority over distance, for example.

I don't think it would. I think if they had the OP's application at 10am on December the 4th the place, or one of the places, should have been allocated to the op.

If two applications for adopted twins arrived at 10.31am on December 4th then the school would have only had one place to allocate.

The child is in KS1 and, by law classes are capped at 30. If the year group is full, even if you go to appeal, you are unlikely to get a place.

Although I’ve had classes of 31 due to successful appeals.

Unless an error had been made, which denied the OP's DC a place they should have been offered. In that case, the appeal should be upheld, and their DC would be an 'excepted' pupil (that is, adding them would not mean that the the school is obliged to take the 'relevant measures' of providing a second qualified teacher etc).

Winning an appeal due to a mistake is an exception (along with twins for example).

If you submitted the application on 4 Dec and got your reply yesterday, that would have been on the 15rh day, as term dates would fit with that.

Not sure if you have different term dates but we contacted them on school day 17 and received the decision later that day.

Admissions officer initially said that applications were handled in order but then said there are circumstances where children can jump the queue. I’m fairly sure we submitted our application first but may have had somebody jump ahead of us. They won’t share the timeline with me unfortunately.

That may mean that one of the children admitted had an EHCP naming the school, or that they are a looked after or formerly looked after child. Another possible reason is that one of the children got in via the Fair Access Protocol.

An appeal may give you peace of mind that your application was handled correctly. However, if infant class size rules apply, you will only succeed if a mistake has been made and your son should have been offered a place.