Update. Calling all appeals experts please!!

[Kimmy1979]

Hi, if you have read any of my other recent threads you will already know that i am appealing for my son to go to our most local primary school, under medical grounds. (not an infant class size appeal)
I just want some advice on the following issues please!!

1. on the 5th May we forwarded 4 pieces of medical evidence pertaining to my son's condition (hypermobility) to the admissions department (LEA) as advised by them in order to rank him higher on the waiting list as long term medical conditions comes only second to relevant looked after children on the published admissions criteria. They forwarded this to the Medical Inclusion department. When i spoke to the person dealing with my case they said that my preferred school was no more accessible once inside the building and that they would inform the LEA of this (therefore rejecting my evidence). They did however agree that my son does have a long term medical condition!I have since been in communication with the LEA contesting this decision as the issue is that my preferred school is closer. My consultant statement states clearly that they reccommend my son does not walk distances exceeding 0.5 miles(preferred school 0.4 miles, allocated school 0.75 miles)otherwise his condition is likely to deteriorate. The allocated school has stairs (no lift) and a whole year group of classrooms is upstairs. The preferred school has all it's classrooms downstairs with only the ICT suite and library upstairs! Anyway, the LEA have passed my case to the senior bods to look at. They have had it over a week and i have still not heard anything. I am concerned that in the meantime someone else may be admitted off the waiting list under just proximity criteria. If so, would i have a case for mentioning that the LEA has made a mistake by not dealing with this quicker getting my son to the top of the waiting list (which is where he is likely to go if they review evidence properly)? If so, do i mention this at stage one of appeal or outside of the appeal ie: complain directly to admissions?

1. My friend who is also appealing has been in contact with our local MP re : appeal. She has apparently stated that the PAN for this particular school is going up next year by 5 pupils due to popular demand. This will be possible due to an expansion of the school (new Foundation and Nursery wing). This new wing is in fact due to be completed by September intake this year. Presumably if they can take 5 more next year, they can do it this year seen as the Foundation stage will be occupying this new build from this September? This is something for stage one right?

Sorry to go on. Advice, as always, is greatly appreciated!

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bump for you

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Kimmy,
I have absolutely no doubt that at an appeal the LA would say that they have to be guided by the medical people and until they have made a decision they must place you on the waiting list based effectively on distance. That is correct in law as far as I am concerned.
However there is a point at which the time span for getting that decision becomes excessive and the LA is acting in an unreasonable manner. The problem is I have no idea what that time span is and I don't suppose anybody else has. You can clearly argue this at appeal and the panel will have to make a decision about how long is too long. There is of course the assumption here that a place has become available and has been given to the pupil at the top of the waiting list.
I think that the only thing that you can do is to push them to come to a decision, but normally it is far easier to say no than it is to say yes. Possibly you could write to the admission manager and point out to them that there is an on-going discussion over your son and whether they should be on the medical criteria. Ask that the admission manager not on your son's record and that of the school that any admission should only be agreed after they have consulted with the medical staff. If nothing else it puts a large marker in the sand for an appeal panel to ask some awkward questions if this then does not happen.
Have you got the appeal date yet? If so then I would definitely raise this as a reason why you are appealing and give a detailed account of the timeline involved. Yes it should be in part 1 as you are questioning the admission criteria and admissions from the waiting list. I suspect that the Chair will ask you to raise it in part 2, but you need to raise it in part 1

As far as your friend is concerned yes it would be a part 1 item, but only raising the PAN by 5 suggests only one new classroom and I suspect that might be infant class size reg implications, so it might not be as straight forward as you think.

Thanks Admission.
My appeal date is Mid June. Up until now the admission department have have done everything correct. They forwarded my medical evidence to the Medical inclusion centre as i said in my post. The problem i have is that from what i gather, it is not actually medically trained people that are making the decision about my son's condition. I spoke to the head of Medical Inclusion who seemed to suggest that tick box criteria regarding the Accessibility within a school is looked at for children with medical conditions. For example, whether a lift is present etc. I don't believe someone has looked into my son's condition and objectively worked through the problems he will face if he had to walk further to school and also around a larger school. Over 7 years this adds up!! I have presented to them a Consultant opinion, GPopinion, Biomechanical/Podiatry specialist opinion and Physio opinion. I can't see how they can dispute my evidence. Do you think i can insist on knowing the medical background of the person making the final decision?
I feel like telling them i will sue if my son's condition gets worse if they don't respect his condition prperly during this process!! Agh!!!!

In terms of the raise in PAN for my preferred school (for which me, my friend and 10 others are appealing for) i believe they are able to do this because of the extra class they are building to open this September. They have two classes of 20 at present with a PAN therfore of 40 and so is not an infant class size appeal.

Sorry Admisson, could you please clarify what you mean't re:my son's record? Do you mean write to Admission manager and insist that they do not admit anyone from the waiting list until a decision has been reached for my son's place on that list? Won't they just laugh and bin my letter?!

If they persist in looking only at the accessibility of the building and refuse to consider the evidence you have provided that a long walk to school will be damaging for your child you can definitely raise that and ask the appeal panel to consider if that decision is reasonable. I would point out that the LA's people have never examined your child yet have rejected evidence from those involved in his treatment.

And yes, Admission is suggesting that you write to the Admission Manager along those lines. Specifically that Medical Inclusion must be consulted in respect of your son before any child is admitted from the waiting list. As Admission says, by doing this you are putting a marker in the sand. If they do just laugh and bin your letter, they are then going to have to justify to the appeal panel why they didn't do what you asked when there was a clear possibility that Medical Inclusion might decide that your son was incorrectly positioned on the waiting list.

As far as the admission process is concerned I am sure that they will be able to put a marker on your son's computer record to the effect that there is a question mark about what category your son might be in and the same on the waiting list for the school concerned. They should already have recorded that information has been received from you on the subject.

You cannot insist on them doing anything and yes they may well laugh at such a suggestion. They however cannot ignore your letter. As much as anything else getting such a letter to the admission manager just keeps pushing them to resolve the situation. I think more importantly at the appeal in mid June you can point out to the panel that you did make such a request on 20th May and it appears to have been ignored. Any admissions to the school after the 20th May immediately become questionable as to whether the right pupil was admitted.

Thanks PRH,
Useful info as always. The prob is that Medical Incluision has already examined my case and as far as i know have reported to the LEA that my preferred school is no more suitable than the allocated one. My point is that they have only examined accesiblity in the school and not the distance away and size of school. I told the LEA i was unsatisfied with this and they have told me my case has now been passed up to senior bods to review all info and make a decision re waiting list. It's all so complicated!

I phoned medical inclusion directly to get my answers on their decision. The LEA have been really slack at keeping me informed!

Thanks Admission. It was in fact the 5th mMay that they first had the medical information given to them so if not resovled by mid June surely that's unreasonable! You have yet again been very helpful

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Your post today looks very interesting

Given how clear the evidence you have submitted is (judging by what you have said here), I would have thought it was unreasonable if the LA can't make up their minds by mid June. I would also think it unreasonable if, faced with evidence that your son may suffer permanent damage if allocated to a school more than 0.5 miles from your home, the LA refuse to give him priority for that school.

I notice that I haven't said anything about the item regarding your friend's appeal. It is, as Admission has confirmed, something for stage 1. I don't think it is a particularly strong point but it may be worth bringing it up. It certainly won't do any harm to mention it.

what are the rules for providing transport if your son will be caused damage by having to walk to a school more than 0.5 miles away?

Thanks guys. We don't meet the criteria for school transport as the allocated school is less than 2miles away. For most children 0.75 miles is not too far to walk, but it is for my son!

My friend is actually appealing for the same school as me and so the info she has for stage one will also assist me

If after this second review of my medical evidence, they still do not prioritise my son on waiting list what do you think i can do? With all the evidence already in their hands i can't see what other evidence they need?! They are certaintly dragging their heels and i know they think i'm a pain in the bum. I'm worried they will refuse just because of that!

A LEA can provide transport for a child with medical needs even if you are under 2 miles from school: our (fairly stingy) LEA is doing that for dd. But they did first want to know why I can't drive/push her in a wheelchair.

Hi Cory, nice to hear from you again

If they do go against policy and provide transport it won't solve all the problems as

1. Allocated school is one of the largest in the area and so my son will still need to do a lot more walking once there.

1. Presumably the transport won't take me as well? I would not be happy about sending my nearly 5 year old off in a cab and into school without me.

1. If they do take me, will they take my doughter as well?

I don't have licence to drive, and can't push wheelchair as i am already pushing my daughter's buggy!

Whatever the LA decides you still have the appeal. It isn't an ICS appeal IIRC, so you have a good chance of winning on the medical evidence. The panel is NOT bound by the LA's decision.

You have already made a couple of points in this thread as to why the allocated school isn't suitable even if it was close enough. Bring those up at the appeal.

Thanks PRH, i suppose i just want all bases covered. I wouldn't be making such a fuss about the waiting list if it wasn't for the fact that i know at least 2 and possibly 3 families very very unlikely to take their place at the preferred school due to them moving away over the summer.

Do you think i should mention the other logistical problems with the allocated school at panel or just purely mention medical evidence (they already have the extensive other problems with allocated school on paper as part of main appeal document)?

Also, is there anything from THE CODE that i can use to help my case? (maybr in light of them not putting my son on top of waiting list due to medical evidence?)

I would concentrate on the stuff that is relevant to your son's medical condition. As I said on another thread, you can make stuff relevant but don't get overly creative. The panel will notice if you are trying to make something relevant when really it is completely irrelevant.

So, logistical problems that are relevant should get mentioned. I wouldn't mention the possibility of free transport and the difficulties with that unless someone else brings it up. The fact you can't drive is definitely relevant as it means your son has to walk to school.

Any logistical issues which don't impact your son's condition I would either ignore or only give a brief mention. I think you should try to keep the panel focussed on your son's condition.

Is it more a case of quality over quantity of reasons for appealing then? [Hmm]

In general I would say yes, quality is more important than quantity. Having one or two really good arguments around which you build your case is better than having a couple of dozen unrelated arguments that leave the panel confused.

What do you consider to be unrelated and best arguments? ie what have they heard before and so unlikely to add much weight to appeal? In my case i only know 2others that are appealing, don't know the other 9 so have very little inside knowledge of their stage 2 arguments!

Stage 2 should be about your child and why this is the right school for them. Things that won't add weight to your appeal:

• Logistical issues. Problems getting your child to and from the allocated school aren't something the panel can consider.

• Childcare problems. They may be very real to you but the panel can't take them into account.

• "My child is very timid and shy and therefore needs to stay with friends." Comes up all the time. Unless there is a medical condition to which it can be linked, it doesn't get you anywhere.

• Ofsted reports/league table positions. The panel can't take this into account.

Obviously a medical condition or similar special need which indicates that your child needs to go to the school for which you are appealing helps. However, the panel will want independent evidence if you are using this as an argument.

The other area to look at is anything the preferred school has that the allocated school doesn't which will be of particular benefit to your child. Look at the school's facilities, after school clubs, extra-curricular activities and the like and see if you can link any of them to your child's interests/abilities.

If the allocated school is particularly far away you may also be able to suggest that the fact your child wouldn't see their classmates outside school might hamper their social development. I wouldn't generally class this as a particularly strong argument but I know of cases where panels have accepted this as sufficient reason to admit.

Your goal is to show that your child's education will suffer if he/she doesn't go to this school. Just showing that it is a better and/or more convenient school generally won't get you anywhere.