Oversubscribed KS1 appeal advice

[lahoward]

As the titles says, I have submitted an appeal for my daughter who was refused a place at an oversubscribed school by the local admissions authority, on the basis that the next school year they would be over subscribed. This is a small school whereby year 1 / year 2 are joint classes.

For this current school year they do have a space, however next year this would take their class size to one child over.

i am fully understanding of how difficult these appeals can be, but I am hoping given our personal circumstances that we atleast stand a small shot.

For context, I have 3 children, 2 of my children (oldest two) already attend this school, my youngest who’s in year 1 is who the appeal relates too.

At the beginning of last year me and the children had to flee a DV situation and was temporarily housed by the council 32 miles away from their school (this is somewhere I had a support network and links to) I moved my two oldest children with support from their father to their current school because of this and because the 32 miles was making for an hour a 25 minute drive to school per day.

my youngest has a different father, (who we fled from) for the past year I have been in child arrangements for her in court, as was not able to move her until I had the permission of the court, who have no said that she can move to the same school as her brothers and she is not to go to another school without permission from the other parent or the court.

So my daughters place was rejected due to over subscription, I am appealing on the basis of the fact my 2 sons attend the school, the current travel time between the two school, the court order now allowing me to accept the school they offered, and the background of DV to also bring all 3 children back together.

My eldest has SEN and the school are fantastic with him, if my appeal is to be turned down I would need to live the oldest two to be in the same school as my youngest, however there is no school close to us for the space for all 3. I physically cannot be in two places at once.

has anybody got any advice?

If the joint Y1/Y2 class has 30 pupils when full, this is an infant class size appeal. If that is the case, the rules are that you can only win if a mistake has been made that cost your daughter a place, e.g. they admitted another child off the waiting list but your daughter should have been at the head of the list. Your only real chance would be if you got a sympathetic appeal panel that was prepared to bend the rules. It happens sometimes, but it is rare.

If this is not an infant class size case, you have a better chance. In that situation you can win by showing that the disadvantage to your daughter from not being admitted outweighs any problems the school will face through having to cope with an additional child. You may be able to make a case around the fact that, unless she is admitted, she will have to continue to attend a school 32 miles away until you can get her father or the courts to agree to another school. However, I would recommend you also look for anything this school offers that is relevant to your daughter and is missing from her current school. For example, if she is sporty and this school has more sporting activities than her current school, that would be a point worth making.

I'm afraid your difficulties getting your children to school if they are not all in the same school won't carry any weight with the appeal panel. They aren't allowed to take transport difficulties into account.

Sadly, the court order you have doesn't really work with the reality of the admissions process. It is not in any way binding on the school or the LA. It means you have to find a school with places, then get either the father or the courts to agree that your daughter can go there, by which time the place may no longer be available.

Thank you for your response.

It is to do with Infant class size, so unfortunately I have to pray the appeal panel will be sympathetic towards the situation.

I have got the backing on the headteacher whom in the documents the LA contacted him to ask how admitting my daughter would affect the class, his response was simply that if he could accept my daughter he would, and it is simply the legislation stopping the school being able to do so.

I have sent evidence, of DA towards myself and my daughter in question, the court order, a statment outlining details, it was also noted that within my application to move my sons I would need a school to which could accommodate all children. Along with a letter from somebody with the NHS outlining the work she has done with me and my child in terms of mental health and the importance of allowing my daughter to have this stability.

I shall have to just wait and see I suppose

[post edited by MNHQ to remove identifying details]

OP, you seem to have mentioned your dd's name in your post. Might want to edit it if you still can, or report your post and ask MN to edit, especially in your particular circumstances.

Oh no! I will do, thank you for pointing that out!

It is n't about a sympathetic panel though, the restrictions aren't discretionary.

Whilst the restrictions are not discretionary, I have come across cases where a sympathetic appeal panel has ignored them and admitted a child who should not have been admitted under the rules.

The headteacher says it's the legislation that is stopping him taking her? Actually he could take her, but he'd have to provide another teacher next year, which presumably, under current funding, he can't afford.

Often headteachers says things because they want to be helpful but it doesn't often carry any weight with the panel.

The school we are applying for, the headteacher doesn’t have the authority as the admissions is purely dealt with by the council. He stated in his response to the appeal for the appeals panel to hear that if it was his decision he would accept her?

it’s all confusing and I don’t have much knowlage of this type of thing, which doesn’t help. The difficulty just falls that I’m tied into a court order, dad is unreasonable and has ceased his contact. And I’m travelling in excess of 4 hours a day to get my children to school, with no other reasonable option but to apply to the court for a variation which of course can take a long time, it took a year to get the current order.

OP you could try to ask if your local authority Admissions would apply their 'Fair Access' protocol to allocate the identified school for your child given the exceptional circumstances around her changing schools and court involvement.

Well, I had a phone call today. After I spoke to somebody from the council more about the situation, whom was speaking to somebody from their legal department. I am not sure how, but a few hours after the conversation I got a phone call to say a place had been allocated to her, she starts on Monday!

What a relief

Unfortunately the Fair Access Protocol can only be used in certain circumstances which do not apply here. Even if it could be invoked, it cannot be used to get a place at a particular school. It will allocate a place at the nearest school that is able to cope with an additional child, which would leave OP having to go back to court to get the order changed, by which time the place might no longer be available.

Delighted for you that it has been resolved.

That's great news.