Appeal advice please (not infant class size)

[Kimmy1979]

Hi, i was wondering if anyone has any advice please. My son was not sucessful in gaining a place at our most local primary school for September. We are appealing (along with 11 others). Our date is 14th June. I will try and provide as much info as possible:

• The school has a PAN of 280. It is a small school with mixed classes at the upper end of the school. It does not come under infant class size restrictions as there are 2 classes of only 20 children in Foundation, years one and two.

• They are undergoing expansion-with a new building to house the Pre-school and Foundation classes. This is on target to be ready by September. There will therefore be extra room in the main building once Foundation relocate to the new building.

*The headteacher is sided with the LA and does not want extra children. Ofsted completed in Feb this year they got Outstanding in all areas.

• They used GIS to determine crow flies distances. We missed out on catchment by 90metres. They had a high intake of siblings this year and it's the first year on record that we were not within the catchment.

Our case is as follows:

1. My son has a medical condition called hypermobility. It effects his balance, posture and mobility. His ankles are at a bizzare angle and he trips and falls regularly. I do not drive and so we need to walk. The preferred school is 0.4 miles from our house and our Consultant provided us with a letter stating My son should not walk distances exceeding 0.5 miles without significant periods of rest. The allocated school is 0.7 miles away. We do not meet criteria for having transport provided as the allocated school is less than 2miles away. I know the distances don't seem much, but if he had to walk to the allocated school it would mean walking an extra 20 miles a month (91miles extra over the school year)which is likely to make his condition worse at this delicate stage.

We have also had statements from our GP, Physio and Podiatist in support. We DID NOT disclose this on application (fools) as we have always been in catchment before, and my son is pretty sensitive about his condition as he has been bullied before for being so clumsy. Thought applying was just a formality!!

We are 8th on waiting list and have sent our medical evidence to LA to try and get him higher on list (as medical conditions come only second to children in care in their criteria). However the LA are being unhelpful and are blocking us a bit.

1. My son is shy and sensitive as a result of previous bullying. He has managed to make three close friends at preschool and ALL of them are going to our preferred school. He needs their support to cope with transition and prevent him from being vulnerable to bullying. The parents of the friends have also all provided statements in support, as have the preschool staff.

1. My daugther is starting preschool on the site of the preferred school in September. The allocated school does not have a nursery. I can not be in two places at once, and she will be late to preschool every day by about 20 mins.

1. I walk to work and would need to dramatically reduce my hours if we lost appeal as the allocated school is in the opposite direction from work.

No one has ever been sucessful in appealing for our preferred school before, but this is the 1st year that the building has expanded. The LA are starting to see me as a pain and are stating to be very unhelpful in answering my questions.

So desperate. Please help with advice on how to beat atage one, and how best to present my stage two information.

Many thanks xkx

Thanks everyone, i have found a good info leaflet on HMS so might send that in just to give them some background information as they are unlikely to have heard of it. I will only send this though if physio cannot write the letter about keeping mobility low but frequent! Thanks again xkx

Soph, sorry to hear about your issues-sounds awful, best of luck to you

Morning all,
Sorry to hijack this thread, was just wondering if PRH, admissions or panelmember would have any possible advice regarding the 40 school day statutory time limit for your appeal to be heard. I lodged my appeal over the Easter weekend in the first week of April, so my appeal should have been heard by next week at the latest but I haven't even got a date for it yet so its not going to happen in time. Doesn't this mean the appeal won't be legal and does that work to my advantage or disadvantage in any way? Your fantastic advice so far has been invaluable and extremely helpful.

Hi, i believe the 40 day limit is school days (not including weekends or bank holidays) and starts from the deadline for when all appeal confirmations had to be in and not necc. when you actually sent yours in. Hope that helps!

It says on the LGO's website and in the schools appeals code i think, that its 40 school days from the date of the appeal being lodged? doesn't this then mean from when you actually sent the appeal form in? Can't find anywhere though where it says what happens if the timescales aren't adhered to....

I don't think "school days" includes school holidays either, so if you take those out when are your 40 days up?

The LA normally publish a timetable for appeals, giving a "window" for when they will be hear - this is usually on their website and/or in the admissions booklet.

The appeals code is a MUST do within 40 school days, (or end of summer term if sooner) so they will be in breach of the code if they don't - however in practice so long as it's heard before the end of term and it hasn't made any difference to the outcome of the appeal then I suspect it will be no more than a rap on the knuckles if they do it on say school day 45.

Thanks for this, I hadn't acccounted for school hols, so it looks like they have until end of june in that case....

Just to confirm that Betsy is right. It is actual school days so school holidays don't count. You start counting on the day the LA received your appeal form, which will normally be a day or two after you sent it.

Betsy is also right that missing this deadline will only lead to a rap on the knuckles for the LA unless it affects the outcome of the appeal. In most cases the delay won't make any difference to the appeal. In the unlikely event that they miss the deadline and it does disadvantage you that would be grounds for going to the Local Government Ombudsman. In the equally unlikely event that the delay helps you in some way there is nothing the LA, school or anyone else can do about it.