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.

Thanks again BetsyBoop and prh47bridge. I hope we can prove that due consideration was not given to our grandson under exceptional arrangements. We will certainly do our best and have noted all comments from the many informative posts which have been appreciated. We go to panel on 10th May so fingers crossed!

Thank you everyone!

This is a bit short notice as I have my appeal tomorrow. Hoping that admissions and prh47bridge are around to answer query. Have been reading other threads about appeals and was wondering whether, under the circumstances, it would be appropriate to include something or not. The schools statement said that they had admitted 30 to reception already and that to take on another pupil would cost over £100,000 to employ another teacher over the next 3 years. I understand that funding for April 2010 to March 2011 for the school is set in January 2010. I notice that the PAN for the school for all classes is 30, however current class sizes show 29 in Year 5 and 23 in year 6. Should I query whether funding is being received for 30 in these classes because if it is then they would be receiving funding for more pupils than they have. Obviously come September 2010, Year 5 would move up to Year 6 but it is still a class short of one pupil. My thought is that should the panel decide that my grandson should have been admitted under exceptional arrangements (obviously I know that this might not be the case!), would the school still need to take on an additional teacher if they have been funded for an extra child that they do not have. I am probably barking up the wrong tree! Your advice might be to leave well alone as it is not appropriate to my case but would appreciate advice anyway. Many thanks.

No need to query that tomorrow as I can tell you the answer now!

The funding for the year starting in April is determined by the number of children on the roll in January. If there were 29 in year 5 and 23 in year 6 in January this year the funding for the financial year just started would be based on those numbers. Schools don't get any funding for places that haven't been taken up. So I'm afraid that doesn't help you. Sorry.

Hope it goes well tomorrow.

The £100,000 figure is a statement relating to the infant class size regs. The admission authority has to show what the consequences would be of admitting an extra pupil over the 30. In this case it is the employment of an extra school teacher for reception,year 1 and year 2. £100,000 is a bit over the top as that would suggest a very experienced teacher but in reality it is an indication of the kind of cost of taking an extra pupil and still keeping within the infant class size regs. It is also making an assumption that there is no movement in pupils in 3 years, which is not that likely.

The funding is not based on the PAN number but the actual number in the year group, so it is funding for 29 in year 5 and only 23 in year 6.

If the panel accept that your grandson should have been admitted then they will be admitted as an excepted pupil for the whole of the reception year. That means that they can operate with 31 in the class without having to employ a second school teacher. If someone leaves then they cannot replace with another pupil, they have simply returned to the correct number. Your grandson would count for funding from April 2011, roughly £3500. If the school still had 31 in the year group in September 2011 when they became year 1, then the school would have to either move a pupil to another class or bring in a second teacher at that point.

There is no value in bringing up the funding of pupils in terms of your appeal and could simply cause more confusion. I would stick with the case as previously discussed.

Just to add that regardless of funding, a "spare" place in what will be the Y6 class in Sept doesn't mean they wouldn't have to take on another teacher anyway. The "infant class size" rules mean there can only be a max of 30 pupils per teacher in YR/Y1/Y2 & the appeals panel won't force the school to have mixed year classes just so they can use the "spare" place in Y6 & avoid employing another teacher.

Good luck tomorrow

Thanks prh47bridge, admission and BetsyBoop. Glad your answers were what I was thinking. Didn't really want to complicate things but wasn't sure if it was relevant. Will stick with case as suggested. Think of me tomorrow. Thanks for best wishes and all your help. It is down to me now!

I wish that I could report otherwise, but my appeal held on 10th May was unsuccessful! Have been waiting for Appeal Panel's detailed letter before submitting this post but it took a while to come through. Had to chase it up last Friday and received it on Saturday. Basically it stated that my preferred school would suffer prejudice by admitting another child and as the panel felt that the school had carried out the right admission procedure, they could not uphold my appeal. I challenged why the school did not feel that they could consider my grandson under exceptional arrangements (the head teacher was representing the school) but did not get an answer as the clerk to the panel pointed out that this category was for serious or life-threatening medical conditions. I pointed out that it also said that if there are sensitive family cirsumstances such as significant family disability or involvement of support services (for example, Social Services)this may also be considered. Unfortunately I got no response to this from the clerk and the head teacher said no more. I had expected the panel to ask me questions but they didn't. To be honest I think they had already made their decision prior to the appeal and were just going through the process. I had submitted a further letter from my social worker with my appeal statement which was more detailed about the impact that my grandson's early neglect would have on him. The Appeal Panel's letter stated that it was extremely sympathetic to all my concerns regarding grandson's emotional needs and specific family circumstances. However it noted that the detailed letter from social worker could not be taken into consideration, as it had not been included in initial application. I am a bit confused by this. Is it saying that just the school could not consider this letter or is it that the Appeal Panel could not consider this also? I thought that it was possible to submit further evidence right up to appeal date but if it is not going to be considered then what is the point.

To be honest I feel gutted. Put a lot of time and effort into appeal but feel that it was a complete waste of time. Keep thinking that I did not present case very well and that I have let my grandson down. He is the most important person but at the end of the day he was not that important to the panel and that hurts.

Unfortunately this was an infant class size appeal which meant that you needed to show that a mistake had been made. That means the panel has to look at the evidence available to the school when the original decision was taken. You can certainly submit further evidence right up to the appeal date to try and show a mistake was made. However, if the letter from the social worker wasn't available at the time the school made its decision the panel is entitled to ignore it.

Having said that, the comments from the clerk were clearly wrong. Based on what you have posted about the hearing, I wonder if the panel considered the "exceptional arrangements" properly or if they simply accepted the clerk's view. If I were you I would refer this case to the Local Government Ombudsman on the basis that the comments from the clerk, the lack of answers from the clerk and head teacher when you challenged them on this point and the lack of questions from the panel suggest that the panel failed to consider the case properly. In particular, the panel may have accepted the clerk's view that "exceptional arrangements" only applies to serious or life threatening medical conditions although that view is clearly contrary to the admission criteria. I think there may be enough here to justify the LGO ordering a second appeal. There are, of course, no guarantees but I think it is worth a try.

Very sorry that your appeal was not successful.
I would have to agree with PRH this is a case that may warrant further action by going to the LGO. There seems to have been a lack of understanding over what the admission criteria actually said and what that actually meant in terms of what could be considered under the criteria. It is possible that the panel were given poor advice by the clerk in terms of what was possible under this category. It is no surprise that the panel came to the conclusion it did as soon as the ability to consider you application was misplaced in terms of the admission criteria was removed.

sorry it wasn't better news

If you can stomach it, I would pursue with the LGO as PRH & Admission have suggested.

Following my unsuccessful appeal I referred my case to the LGO who were willing to investigate. After quite a few weeks I heard from them yesterday. They have ruled in my favour and recommended that my grandson is admitted to our first preference school as a +1 pupil. To say that I am happy and relieved is putting it mildly. It was a bit of a battle but worth it in the end. All due respect to the school, they have contacted me also to arrange for my grandson to meet his new teacher, as he obviously missed out on induction days and are keen for things to go smoothly.

Can I thank everyone for their advice and encouragement especially admission, PRH and BetsyBoop . Thank goodness for forums like this. Best wishes and good luck to anyone that still has an appeal coming up. I will be thinking about you all.

I am really glad to hear that. Congratulations and well done for pursuing this one right to the end.

What fantastic news. It's lovely to hear that the school have thought to make arrangements for your grandson to meet his teacher. I hope you all enjoy the holiday and that September goes well too

That is just excellent new Tunepipe, I am so pleased for you & your DGS

That is brilliant news and good on you for perservering with this.