Lost primary appeal on grounds of balance of prejudice

[runcmc]

Hi, new to the forums and would really appreciate some advice on our situation.

Due to changes in work and family life i recently moved counties to live with my partner and had incredible difficulty in finding a school place for my two children in R and Yr 2. We couldn't get the children into the local school where my stepdaughter goes, and didn't appeal for this school due to class size prejudice rules. We tried 15 schools in total and in the end could only secure a yr 2 place for my eldest at a school 4 miles away. We then had to appeal for a place in R at the same school and have just received the sad news that our appeal was unsuccessful.

The school has a PAN of 25 rising to 26 in September and is full up to this number. However we have had total backing from the school throughout. We felt that the appeal went really well and we felt that the panel really understood our situation, IE: getting 3 children to 3 different schools is impossible for us and that i wanted to keep the children together after such a big transition in moving home. So you can imaging our horror yesterday when we were told we were unsuccessful.

Admissions had previously offered us two other schools less than 3 miles away that had places, which we duly visited and met with the heads and children. However these schools couldn't meet our needs as a family, in that they had no before or after school childcare/clubs which we would need to use and that the school we appealed for could provide. There were lots of other reasons for these schools not being right for the girls such as a high 'turnover' of pupils, which we felt would be unsettling as the children were trying to establish new friendships.

Our reasons for appealing go an and on and are logical, practical and relevant to our circumstances as a family but obviously i cannot list them all here. A member of the appeals panel even commented that he had never seen such an "impressive list of schools" that had been contacted for a place.

Other than the fact that there are two schools with places which are closer to our house (but in the opposite direction to work/school) i can think of no other reason why our appeal wasn't upheld. I cannot understand how the panel feel that the prejudice would fall more heavily on the side of the children currently attending the school, when the class sizes are below 30, the school would be happy to have her and my youngest is currently separated from her sister and at home with me without a school place.

I just feel so confused as to why the panel appeared to be so amenable and understanding and then reached the opposite decision.

I suppose i just needed a space to chat to people who may understand what this process is like (heart wrenching)and am willing to listen to all advice and opinions to help with our next appeal for yr 1 in September.

Thanks for reading.

The panel presumably felt that you didn't make a good enough case as to why your child needed to go to this school. Unfortunately they don't generally take into account childcare difficulties or things like the high turnover of pupils. It needs to be things that are specific to your child - things that this school can provide which she needs and which will not be provided by other schools.

The school is not supposed to support an appeal so the panel should have discounted any evidence from that direction.

I can't see how childcare would be part of an argument for not accepting places nor a turnover of pupils. Reception age children are all new anyway and all the other children in that school go through the same turnover. Yes, you've just moved but I guess you are part of the turnover problem in a round about way so cant appeal because of that.

I only use the word "generally" as you occasionally get a sympathetic panel. However, most panellists have heard arguments about childcare and similar difficulties over and over again so discount them. The high turnover definitely won't be taken into account. If it was, every pupil in that school could use it as grounds for appealing for another school.

Is the school a small school? (both in terms of total children attending and actual size)

If so, imo, the PAN even if below 30 is usually upheld due to space constraints.

Prh47 is right. There is a difference between the panel feeling personal empathy for your situation and having the statutory power to do anything about it. The panel's remit is very tightly defined and it can only weigh up the balance of prejudice to your child and the prejudice to your school. I have been on panels which have allowed appeals by some quite unpleasant parents and disallowed appeals by some very charming parents, because whether you like the parent or not is immaterial to the decision!

As I understand it, you were offered two places in the same school for your children. The panel probably took the view that this would be manageable (maybe not ideal but manageable) until your children get to the top of the waiting list for the school your stepdaughter attends. I am assuming that the LEA is treating your children as her siblings and therefore you are somewhere near the top of the waiting list?

The panel might also have thought that a school with high 'turnover' might have useful experience of welcoming children who join outside the usual round and this might actually help your children. Needing after school clubs is rarely enough to win an appeal - not every school can offer them and it's not unreasonable, generally, to expect parents to make other arrangements - sharing the school run, hiring a childminder or whatever.

I agree with panelmember, the key issue here is that there are two other schools with places that are readily available. The other reasons that you quote for not wanting these schools are important to you but the panel would not have taken these as a reason not to attend these other available schools.

I would actually get your names down on the waiting list for the school that your step-daughter goes to and appeal now for both the reception and year 2 places. I appreciate that you are talking about them being infant class size appeals and therefore the likleyhood of success is very low but you may get a "generous" panel who accepts your argument that the three children should be together. There is also another issue and that is if the LA cannot offer places at the local school and the other schools are 2+ miles away they will have to make arrangements for transport to the schools, under normal circumstances. Sometimes the idea that the LA has to pay out money does make them try harder!

We lost our appeal for my daughter (reception) to be at the same school as my son (yr 1).

In Sept my children will be in two different schools one which local to us and the other is 4 miles away from us.

We moved into the catchment area after the schools in take and the local school had no places for my son even though he went there for nursery, resulting him to go to a school 4 miles away from us and sitting on a waiting list. We should have moved into our new house in January but due to solicitors problems ended up moving in July, missing out on any offers in between, admission where aware of us moving but where unable to offer us anything until we had moved into the house and then we had to have a welfare visit.

Currently I am driving my son to a school 4 miles away and then dropping of my daughter at our local school for 9.00 am - she is always late. When I am struggling I rely on my friends who have children of their own, we have no family to help us.

We wanted our children to be in the same school 4 miles away as my son is in yr 1 and settled we had the opportunity to move him (18 months later) to the local school, but due to his behavioural issues and health issues (stress and hair loss) we chose to leave him there and move our daughter over to the school he is currently at.

But because we swapped my daughters choice of school over on 10 Feb even though offers were made on 25 Feb it was classed as a late application (no one informed us about a cabinet member) resulting my daughter to sit on a waiting list at no.3. Even though she has a sibling at the school she is priority no. 3, children in the catchment area or moving into the catchment area have priority, which means she can move up down and stand no chance of getting into the school.

Logistically it is impossible to be at two places at once. One school starts at 8.55 - 3.15 pm and the other school starts at 9.00 -3.20 pm up to year 2 and then year 3+ both schools start at 8.55 ? 3.30 pm. It takes me approx 20 mins to get my son to school and 25 mins back due to traffic to get my daughter into school ? she is always late. I am putting my life at risk and my children?s life at risk getting them from one school to another on time.

We can't afford childcare costs as my husband has had to have a major pay cut to save jobs, he?s having a third operation on his foot in the summer and will be off work for 3-4 months as he was last year. My health is in a bad way at the moment due to all the driving around, stress and depression. We will be financially broke come September due to the extra expenses. I am currently seeking work but due to my daughter only being in nursery half days it is impossible to find anything and even if I do find work everything I earn will go on childcare costs!

We had a supporting letter from our doctor, MP and my husbands company. When we presented our case I was nervous and didn?t manage to get all our main points across and ended up crying and getting all frustrated when the panel asked me questions and when admission presented their case to the panel. It was a daunting experience and I now wished I got a representative/solicitor etc. involved. I have spoken/heard of parents who have won their appeals due to logistic reasons and late applications. We can?t appeal again but can get in touch with ombudsman/solicitor (very expensive).

I am beside myself at the moment thinking away around the whole situation and even thought about getting a solicitor involved and borrowing money from the bank! I can understand what you are going through!

Thanks for all your comments and sharing your experiences. It helps to have various angles to view my situation from.

We still haven't received the letter that explains why the panel reached their decision, hopefully that will shed some more light on the situation.

SKM- just curious if you had any feedback from your panel/admissions after your daughters appeal. Was it helpful/constructive?