6 Weeks for An Appeal?

[gemjack]

My daughter has just moved house, and has 3 children. She has been successful in getting my eldest granddaughter in school, (what I would call the juniors). The youngest, child, my grandson, is not ready for school, but as a place in pre school. However she has been unable to get a place for my other granddaughter in the infants school due to the classes been full. Therefore she is not getting educated at this moment in time. Surely you cannot leave a 6 year old without education for 6 weeks. She has been offered a place at another school some 2 miles in the opposite direction, meaning a daily walk of 10 miles, she does not drive and her husband is away in the army. I live some 90 miles away so not an option.

Does the infant the youngest is allocated to have a juniors ? If so maybe they both can go to this area so she doesn't have to be in 2 places at once ? Also I think if the only school that has places is over 2 miles she should be entitled to free school transport. Again worth checking with local authority.. I really hope LA can help must be a nightmare for her

Gemjack,
Are we talking about separate infant and junior schools here or are we talking about a primary school, where the younger daughter can't get a place in the infant year group she should be in?

I would assume it is the later. Your daughter needs to ask the Local Authority where there is a school for both of her children. If it is more than 2 miles away, then the LA should then be paying for transport to the school. Also in the meantime ask for an appeal for the preferred school. There will be many appeals at this time of the year and the maximum period that is allowed for the appeal is 30 school days (6 weeks) but this does not include any school holidays.

I am afraid that the LA will be making an assumption that they will start to attend the offered school, no matter how difficult it is. Hence the need to ask the LA where there is places for both children

It might also be worth confirming to the LA that the husband is in the forces. If she has had to move for the "job" then many LAs will give preference in these circumstances.

Thanks Admission, that really helps.

Just to add to what Admission has said.

The LEA will indeed assume that your daughter will find some way of getting her children to both schools. When she gets to the appeal, the fact that she is keeping her younger child off school (if that is what she is doing) won't help her to win the appeal - panels will make a decision based on the merits of the appeal, but they won't give way to anything that appears to be blackmail.