Primary school admissions appeal

[bothcholma]

Well, it has arrived. The dreaded confirmation from the local authority that my twin 4 year olds have not been allocated places at the same primary school as their 8 year old sister. I know I have to appeal the decision but know that it will have been reached due to oversubscription. On what grounds do I make the most telling appeal that ,"The decision was not one which any reasonable admission authority would have made in the circumstances of the case"?

Go through the admissions criteria with a fine tooth comb. Can you get a copy of how the places were allocated? I ask because siblings usually come high up the list so the school must be really over subscribed. One way to have the decision over turned is to prove that they have not applied their admissions criteria fairly. If they have offered a place to a child in a lower admissions catagory than the one your twins fall in then that is illegal.
Otherwise I think you are maybe relying on compassion and goodwill and as schools are restricted on numbers it's not easy.
Put their names on the waiting list anyway... you can find out how far up the list they are. People don't always take up the places offered, though admittedly as you are waiting for two places it's a long shot.

You really need to get hold of 'how to win your school appeal' by Ben Rooney
First off I would meet with the head to see 9if the school will support your appeal.I had a problem when my DD wasn't admitted to the same school as her 2 elder brothers.The governing body wrote a strong letter in support of our appeal
The LEA have to give you all the information about the school that you ask for.One of the
things you need to find out isthe net capacilty of the school.This is worked out on the square metreage of classrooms ,dining halls etc and also the actual number of children there will be at the school next year. In our case the net capacity of the school was 90 but there wew only 60 children there.If the net capacity is greater than the actual number of children then
Also find out how many children in each year group and how these could be grouped to make room for your DTs
tThe LEA have to give you all the information about the school that you ask for.
In the appeal you should definitely bring up how it will affect your DD if she has to move schools.
You really need to get the book though it is very very good

wow katie was that for reception class?
support from governors must have helped.

I didn't think net capacity came into it when infant class size prejudice applies, I'm struggling to get that book from the library here do you know whether the LA have to give you information about why previous appeals failed?

1dilemma - I think I have a copy and will be happy to let you have it. Iirc, net capacity doesn't matter until KS2 though.

Hi all, I need help.

My daughter has just turned 4 and she has not been accepted to any of the 3 schools we have applied to for reception intake in January 2011. The rejections were all based on over subscription. I need to know if it is worth appealing or not!

All 3 schools are Church schools within the borough of Camden. First is Catholic and the next 2 are C of E.

My daughter has been baptised C of E and therefore I understand that it will be an up hill struggle against the admission policy for the Catholic school. However she is in the nursery of this school and we are less than 0.1miles distance from this school. This is our preferred choice for her.

We have found out that another family who are Catholic are higher up on the waiting list of the C of E schools than our daughter based on distance when quite clearly their admissions policy states religious upbringing first.

She has been offered another place in a non religious school with a satisfactory report.

Therefore I have a few questions:

1. Do we appeal for the Catholic School?
2. If so, on what grounds do we argue? Is there something in 'The school standards and Framework Act 1998' that rules distance over religion?
3. Do we have to take a school we are offered even though we want her to go to a religious school (Christian Faith)?

Thank you.

The Catholic school are perfectly within their rights to prioritise religion. I am guessing that they ask for proof of Catholicism - attendance etc - in giving places and you have lost out because being CofE you were placed in a lower admission category. There is nothing you can do about that. I'm guessing you can go on the waiting list though and that is probably your best bet. Being in the nursery usually has no impact on admittance to primary.

You can't insist she be given a place at a religious school; if you missed out on distance, and the admission procedures have been carried out fairly, all you can do is go on the waiting list.

The admission criteria for church schools vary. Some give priority to families attending a church of that denomination. Some giver priority to families attending any church that is part of Churches Together. Depending on what the admission criteris for the CofE school say it may be correct that you are behind the Catholic family on the waiting list.

There is nothing in the law that prioritises distance over religion. It is up to the school to determine its own admission criteria and a faith school is within its rights to prioritise children from that faith.

Your chances of success in any appeal depend on whether it is an Infant Class Size appeal. If the school would have 30 children in each class in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 if all three years were full, it will be an ICS appeal. In that case you would need to prove that a mistake had been made and that your child would have been admitted if they'd got it right. If it is not an ICS appeal you would stand a better chance but you would need to have strong reasons why this is the right school for your child.

As PatriciaHolm says, you can't insist on a place at a religious school. You can, of course, ask your LA if there are places available at any other religious school in the area, although any school with places will be further away than the allocated school.

The admissions appeal code says that schools should not weigh in on behalf of children in the appeal process -

1.29 ... Where the admission authority is the local authority, one additional representative of the school (e.g. a head teacher or governor) may accompany the presenting officer to assist proceedings, for example, by answering questions raised by appellants about the school. However, that additional person?s role at the hearing is solely to answer questions put to them about the school; the panel chair must not allow them to comment on the child, the appellant or their case.

So, even if an appellant has a letter of support from the HT or the governing body, the panel should not give it any weight.

Bothcholma - Is yours a school with a catchment area? Do you live in or outside it? You need to double-check how your twins came not to be offered places - presumably because there were so many other siblings living closer to the school or within catchment if you live outside it and fall into a lower priority group.

DAR82 - You mention that your child is baptised but you don't say whether you are a church member. Many C of E schools have admissions criteria which prioritise regular church attendance - is this where your application fell down? Similarly, some C of E schools reserve a proportion of their places for the community, so that might explain why a Catholic child was admitted before yours, especially if they live closer.

In any of these scenarios, the scope for winning an appeal is very limited if infant class size rules apply (generally, where there are 30 children in a class).

Refusing the place you have been offered does not give you any extra leverage at appeal - panels will not respond to blackmail.

You can appeal for any faith school that you wish on the basis that you want a faith school for your child. However this highly unlikely to get you a place at any school that is up to admission number as you would have to have a very understadning appeal panel to achieve that. You will also in many cases be faced with it being an infant class size regs case when only a mistake by the admission authority will be sufficient to get a place.

I would make sure that you are on the waiting list for every school that you feel is appropriate.By all means go to appeal but I think from the information supplied your chances of success are slim.

Thank you all for support and advice. There are other circumstances as well but again I don't think they come under the set criteria for an appeal. However I will speak to the appeal panel with my fingers crossed.

I will not be blackmailing them and the whole thought process about being offered other schools was just the one she was offered is predominantly Muslim and I don't want my daughter being a minority in the school. Also their Ofsted was appalling. We will see what happens from the appeal and other offers. Many thanks again.

I wouldn't worry too much about the minority issue. My DS is one of 6 'white british' children in his reception class of 30 and really doesn't bat an eyelid. If anything many of the more recent immigrants go much bigger on the british traditions. One of the muslim mums but on the most fabulous traditional british birthday party at the weekend with non pork jelly and the works!
(I would be worried about the OFSTED though!)