School appeal under exceptional arrangements

[TUNEPIPE]

Would be most grateful if anyone could give me advice in respect of appealing for a school place after my application under exceptional arrangements was unsuccessful. My grandson lives with my husband, my younger daughter and myself under s Special Guardianship Order, as does his two younger sisters. Their mum, my older daughter was unable, unfortunately, to prioritise their needs. We have been involved with Social Services for over 4 years due to this situation and my grandson had quite a bad start to life. I took advice and because of our situation, felt our family situation was very sensitive and with the involvement of social services thought we could apply under exceptional arrangments, especially as he requires professional help with his emotional needs and his speech. The school we applied to was one that out younger daughter had attended but unfortunately she left last year to move on to secondary school. We were not considered for any of our three preferences and the school we have been offered is where my older went and one that I felt contributed to her long term problems. She was not very happy there at all.

What are my chances of being successful with my appeal especially as this is a very hard category to be considered under. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Tunepipe,
You need to look very carefully at what the admission criteria says under this category and see whether you are covered. I would say that in my LA that you would certainly be considered under this category if you could furnish appropriate written documentation from social services etc, but they do vary.

Did you actually explain the situation on the application form or not? If you did and the LA have not bothered to consider the situation then you can argue that the LA have not carried out the correct admission procedure as they did not make any attempt to take these facts into account.

I would definitely appeal as you have little to loose and a lot to gain, even if it is an infant class size regs appeal.

Thanks for reply admission. I did indeed explain the situation when I made my application. I sent a letter of support from my social worker/support worker and a letter from my grandson's nursery all explaining his emotional needs and a letter from myself explaining his background and our involvement with Social Services. The school we would like to appeal for is a foundation school so they deal with their own admissions, although the L.A. send out the letters offering places. I have been in contact with the head teacher of this school and she said that she took advice from Social Services (although I am not sure if this was general advice or about my grandson's particular case) and she was told that as he is not a looked after child we did not qualify under the exceptional arrangements category. I told her that we had not applied under the looked after child category but she said they felt we were not within the exceptional arrangements category either. I have been unable to clarify exactly what is considered under the exceptional arrangements category. I have even been in contact with the admissions team for my L.A. It would seem that each case is dealt with on an individual basis. The L.A. admissions booklet states under "What is an exceptional arrangement?" - If there are sensitive family circumstances such as significant family disability or involvement of support services (for example Social Services) we may also consider these when you apply. I took advice and felt, along with my social worker, that we came under this category.

I think, as you say, there is nothing to lose by appealing. Unless I try I will never know. It is rather daunting though and know that I need to build a good case. Many thanks once again for your reply.

Tunepipe - I have nothing useful to add but just wanted to wish you luck as you are obviously trying to do your very best for your whole family.

Thank you so much Runoutofideas. Our family have gone through a tremendous upheaval over the last 4 years and my husband and I feel a great responsibilty to give our grandchildren (and our younger daughter)the best we possibly can. They have had a lot to go through and most probably will have a lot more ahead of them. Thanks again for your best wishes.

Tunepipe,
You are correct in saying that they are a foundation school and therefore are the admission authority. It is therefore to some extent their decision as to what they interpret as exceptional circumstances. Is the school using the same admission criteria as the LA? If they are and they say they are using the LA criteria in any of their literature, then they have to accept the LAs version of what is exceptional circumstances. Given the quotation from the LA's booklet they can hardly ignore your circumstances. They can still argue that they do not believe they were truely exceptional and this is why you do need to go to appeal, so that a panel can rule on whether they think the circumstances were exceptional enough.
I do have to caution you that there are relatively few pupils admitted under this criteria, but I think you will only find out by appealing whether it is strong enough.

Another thought, do you have his name down on their waiting list anyway? If the appeal is unsucessful you may still have a chance of a place begin offered once other people have made their decisions and shuffled about a bit between schools. Even if he has to start at the school you are less keen on you may get an option to move him some time into the school year.

Sorry to hijack, but is there another school in the local area that although maybe not as good as your preffered, better than your offered - we used this with DSS and it worked a treat, he got in staright away and loves it there.
Good Luck

Thanks for further advice admission. Schools admission criteria is same as L.A. which is firstly L.A.C., secondly Exceptional arrangements, thirdly siblings at time of admission and fourthly distance. I do realise that it is a hard category to be admitted under but will give it my all.
Thanks also to beautifulgirls and bluemonkey123. Our grandson is on the waiting list for all 3 of our prefered schools so still hope that there will be some movement there. Came to my notice today that one of my grandson's peers at nursery who lives in the same area as us got into our 1st preference school. They are some 0.6 miles closer than us. Apparently it was their second choice school and the ironic thing is that they are closer to the school that we have been offered than us!
According to L.A. admissions all schools in our county have had all their places filled so until waiting lists come out do not know at this point whether there are any places available in any other schools. Thanks again for all advice.

I applied to a school for my son under special arrangements. It wasn't a particularly good school but I was keen for him not to have any further upheaval in his life. I supplied written evidence form a health professional in the original application, but when it came to appeal, the appeal panel found that the requirements stated that a letter supporting why the school applied for was the only school suitable. They were subsequently able to say, with a straight face, that the supporting letter did not use the actual words in the actual order "x is the only school suitable because..."

I kid you not.

I researched extensively and bought documents from schoolappeals.com and had a fantastic watertight case, but I hadn't counted on this particular ridiculousness. The only reason that I didn;t take it further was that our circumstances had changed in the meantime and my son had been given a place in a very good school. Weird old situation.

Anyway - I have an appeal document based on special circumstances - took me ages to compile it and it slaughtered the authority, but the appeal panel were under the wing of the authority, with no doubt. You are more than welcome to a copy if you think it will help you put your appeal together - and all the other info I garnered if you like, TP?

Thank you MotherJack. Much appreciated. How would I get a copy though. Sorry but am fairly new to all this.

Email me at:

r h u n t e r at c o r r e s p o n d e n c e dot c o dot u k

leaving out all spaces and substituting at and dots for appropriate symbols of course!

Not sure if you have emailed me or not TP, but nothing has arrived...?

You have to demonstrate why only the school you want meets the documented needs of your DC. The poster who said their 'watertight' appeal fell but she got child into an equally good school suggests that the appeal panel was right to turn down their case.it is not easy to prove

No, the appeal panel was not right - they claimed that exact wording - which was not specified anywhere in any of the application literature - was required in his documented needs. Absolute tripe.

The fact that I got my son into a far better school has nothing to do with it. Appeal panels are not at liberty to take anything like that into account. Whilst the school was far better, it did not meet his documented needs.

Further to my post dated 19-03-10, I have now put in my appeal form although only at this stage outlining my reasons for appeal. I am hoping to get more info before Appeal date which has yet to come. I had contacted the head teacher of the school that we are appealing for to ask reasons for why my application under exceptional arrangements was not successful. I was told that they did not feel that we had demonstrated that their school was the only one that could meet my grandson's needs and that a school closer to home could do the same, if not better. I am not sure if this was a hint to stick with the school that we have been allocated. Apart from the fact that this was the school that my younger daughter went to, it is a school that our grandson is very familiar with which would help him enormously, 18 of his peers from nursery are going there, change is very difficult for him so this would make transition possibly easier. He has emotional and speech problems and we have an appointment with CAMHS tomorrow. I am hoping that they might be able to give some support to our appeal. Support letters from our social worker and nursery do not seem to have any bearing. Any further advice (especially from admissions and prh47bridge) would be most appreciated.

I meant to add that I have checked the waiting lists for all 3 preferred schools and they are pretty dire.

1st Preference - 65th
2nd Preference - 40th
3rd Preference - not yet available but not holding out any hope

Here is my advice.

First, headteacher should not have been on the admission panel if she was you have grounds. Second, her suggestion that DC is not looked after suggest that your child might have been assessed under this category which of course was not the basis of your application. Third, schools are advised to provide more detail for the basis of exceptional circumstances in their admissions documentation - does this exist? Fourth, the minutes of the admission panel should set out the discussion and decision around your application and why it didn't accept your application. If you appeal the appeals panel will ask for this. Fifth, if a applicant got in who lived further away from you then that looks odd in itself - it maybe that that candidate also had exceptional circumstances but - all in all - it sounds like you have grounds for appeal. Sixthly, when then school wrote to you they should have told you in writing the basis for your failed application and how to appeal - if the letter from the school didn't do this you have further grounds for appeal. Sevethly, based on the facts of your case I would have said the schools decision might be considered unreasonable.

Don't talk to the head again but ask in writing for the information to lodge an appeal (if not already sent). Then appeal. Good luck!

Tunepipe,
I think that the school as the admission authority is tending to confuse the situation. What the school seems to be interpreting as exceptional circumstances is your grandson's speech issues. I would agree with them under these circumstances that another school could be suitable and therefore you would have no priority under exceptional circumstances.

The criteria however for exceptional circumstances is defined by the LA as areas such as you seem to fit (special guardianship order,social service involvement). The school has therefore to my way of thinking misinterpreted whether you would fit into the criteria.

You need to go to appeal to get this interpretation set by the admission appeal panel. They may agree with the school, but that is what the appeal panel is there for, to make an independant decision. I would include any letters you have from the social workers. It should confirm the difficult circumstances of the family - special guardianship order etc, to give authority to what you are saying. I think you need to be careful not to go to far into pushing the special needs of the grandson because that is actually tending to confirm the school's view of the situation - its all about the child's special needs, not the exceptional circumstances.

What type of foundation school is it?

Wouldn't your grandson be under the category of 'looked after children?' Seems to me that you are fulfilling the role of a foster parent.
Not sure about the definition of a looked after child, but may be worth a look?

Your social worker would know whether your grandson is 'looked after' or not. There will be 'looked after' review that you attend if he is?

Looked after children are priority and the top of the list.

Many thanks for all replies. Just to carify last 3 posts - my grandson is not a looked after child. We have a Special Guardianship Order which gives us parental responsibility and allows him to stay within the family unit and have contact with his mum, our daughter. It is not as final as adoption but if we had not of stepped in he would most definitely have gone into the care system and been adopted, which just does not bear thinking of.

With ref. to zanzibarmum's post. The school is a non faith foundation school . I am not sure whether head teacher was party to decision not to accept my application under exceptional arrangements. Could you clarify that you think that I should get information about all the issues that you pointed out in writing? Not too hopeful as it took 2 weeks to get a letter from her stating why my application was not successful. Also there was not a candidate who lived further away that got in. Sorry if there was any confusion there.

With ref. to admission's post. I am beginning to think that there has been a misinterpretation of our application so many thanks for pointing that out. Does an application under Exceptional Arrangements still have to prove though that the preferred school is the only school that would be suitable? Or is the fact that we are involved with social services and that there are sensitive issues involved, enough to apply under this category?

The letter of support from my grandson's nursery did concentrate more on his emotional and social needs. My social worker has written a further letter for me which highlights more his neglect and the impact that this has had on him. Do you think this would have more impact? I do hope that I have covered everything. I just want to make sure that I have a good case and don't miss anything. I would be most grateful for any further advice on this admissions.

Yes, I understand that you have a Special Guardianship Order, however my point was what the definition of a looked after child would be. My understanding is that it's a child with a care order in force which usually means under care proceedings, but it may be worth checking. A boy in my daughter's class is deemed as a 'looked after' child even though he has been adopted.

If your grandson doesn't fulfill the definition of a looked after child, then perhaps the spirit of the legislation may apply as it's designed to address children's exceptional educational needs when there has been family upheaval

worth a look

There are two ways to win an appeal: on the substance and on the process.

On the substance. You must demonstrate why this school only is the right school for your child. The school where the DC mother went may not be the right one for your family for this child based on the problems your daughter had there. It seems this or other reasons for the chosen school wasn't made clear in your initial application so the school may not be at fault here - they can't consider what you haven't presented.

But it may be that the school has made several procedural errors - not telling you reasons for failure until you pressed for a letter. If criteria doesn't set out grounds for exceptional circumstances and (even though your child is not 'looked after') if the criteria just says 'looked after' (rather than 'looked adter within the meaning of the act...', or words to that effect) you may have a case to argue.

Head's comments mudding the water with the LEA references also sound fishy.

Appeal. Get everything in writing or contemporaneous notes. Basis of appeal is substance (depending on precise wording of criteria) and one or two procedural points.

What I find appaling is that school knows your family - sibling just ledt - and they treat you in this way.