in school admissions

[noshbosh]

hi have recently moved area, am trying to get my son into a nearby good school but they are full up in his academic year. all other nearby schools are as well. LEA suggessted i try a few others with vacancies but they are known to be poor schools . what shall i do - am need of advice desperately , please help.

Unfortunatly you can only get in a school that has a place.

ihave knowledge of the area as i used to live there when i was young so i am familiar with the schools.

can i not appeal or something ?

schools can change but their reputations take a long time to disappear.

By all means appeal but the answer will not likely change. There is no space - what do you want them to do?

If your ds is in KS1 there's nothing you can do as there is a legal limit of 30 children per class. However, there is not a limit of 30 children per class in KS2 (don't know about higher) and you could appeal for a place. The local education authority will be able to advise.

Yes, you can appeal. However, your chances of success depend on the details. If your DS is in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2, it could be an infant class size appeal (depends on the admission number and the number of classes). You are unlikely to win an infant class size appeal as the grounds for success are very limited. How far away are the schools with vacancies? If they are a long way away you may be able to win on an argument that your child should be treated as an excepted child, but that would be a long shot.

If your DS is in year 3 or higher (or it isn't an infant class size appeal) you would stand a better chance. You would have to argue that the prejudice to the school if they admit your son is less than the prejudice to your son if he is forced to go elsewhere. I'm afraid you can't use the fact that the schools with available places are poor schools. You would have to rely on other factors such as damaging his integration with the school and local community because the school is a long way away, any needs he has which would not be met by the schools with places, etc.

If I were you, I would put your son on the waiting list for your preferred schools and appeal. You don't lose anything by appealing and you may get a place. In the meantime, I'm afraid he is going to have to go to one of the schools with vacancies.

Just to add to that, your first step is to find out the admission number for your preferred school and the number of classes in each year. If your DS is in KS1 (i.e. Reception, Year 1 or Year 2) that will tell you whether or not it will be an infant class size appeal.

It may also be useful to find out the school's capacity. Normally for a primary school the capacity is seven times the admission number (assuming the school has Reception and Years 1-6) but it doesn't have to be. If the capacity is more than seven times the admission number, that indicates the school may be able to cope with more pupils than it currently admits. That's only really useful if it isn't an infant class size case, though.