class size appeal - help

[Loo115]

Hi All,

I have an looming appeal and want to know at which stage should I bring up an error I have think they have made. Circumstances are, it is CofE school which my DD1 attends year 1 my younger DD has not got in due to it being oversubsribed. The criteria is as the norm other than after catchment comes faith then sibling. In our initial application we ommitted the faith information therefore we agree the criteria was applied correctly in the first round. However once we realised our error we sorted our faith reference with the vicar and gave it to the school back in April. In the meantime the places that had been refused from the first round went to children at the top of the waiting list. Our faith ref does't seem to have been taken into account as we know we had a stronger faith ref than the children offered places in the second round, but we were not offered a place and feel we should have been.

I would assume that you have sent in written reasons why you are appealing which outline your case. So both the admission authority and the panel will know the basis of your reason relates to a potential mistake having been made.
The reasons need to start to be presented at stage 1 of the appeal process when they are talking about the admission authorities case not to admit. You have to ask questions so you will need to ask about how the school made the initial alocations, how many of the initial allocations were turned down and how the available places were then filled with dates. It is the dates that are the vital bit as they obviously need to be after you resubmitted your faith information. You also need to clarify how late applications and further information (ie your faith information) are handled and fed into the waiting list
It would be best to then make a point of saying to the panel Chair that you believe that a mistake was made in your particular case.
It is probable that the Chair will say that this needs to be bought up in part 2 under your own personal circumstances but it is for the Chair to make that decision. If you do not do this during stage 1 there is a small possibility that the panel will not allow the evidence as it does relate really to stage 1.That would be a miserable panel who were not being very nice but it is best to avoid the situation in the first place by raising ASAP.
I would also have to say that it is possible that the admission authority have taken your faith ref into consideration but did not believe it warranted the high level you think it does.

Thanks Admission
Our initial appeal reasons only really stated appealling due to DD already attending there as at that time we agreed that a mistake had not been made. However w e have only just realised that we think a mistake has been made in the second round and have not yet submitted this as a reason to appeal. The clerk of appeals has advised it is to late to submit this information and advised just to bring this up at the appeal next week

You should be aware that there is a chance the appeal will be adjourned to a later date to allow the LA and panel to absorb the new evidence. However, if you are right and there was a mistake this is definitely your best chance of winning your appeal so go with it. If you had submitted the evidence of your faith before places were filled that should have been taken into account in determining who was admitted from the waiting list.

Thanks for your advise both. Just had it confirmed today that the last sucessfull applicant had no faith reference but as they lived nearer to the school were offered a place. They had still classed us as having no faith ref (although we had given evidence)and we were next in line,so missed out by 1. The school have also increased their PAN this year from to 45. Although the current reception have 42 pupils can't argue point that there are 3 spaces, as if they admit more than 45 this year and take on 45 next year this will take them over the IFC the following year(3 year 1 & 2 )mixed classes). The school can only have 300 children due to planning regs, but with the current PAN of 45 eventually this will take the school to 315 (45 X 7), can I argue this point?

I'm not quite sure I follow your argument. If the PAN is now 45 they will have already admitted 45 pupils. If it is going up to 45 for admission next year that may help you if the premises aren't going to change between now and then.

I don't know where the information is from that says the school can only take 300 due to planning regs because this is incorrect. If the PAN is now 45 then the school will in 7 years time have 7 year groups all with 45 in and this will mean that 315 pupils will be in the school, no matter what else is said.
As PRH says if they have admitted 45 it is an ICS case and your arguement to succeed has to be that there was a mistake and your faith credentials have not been taken into consideration both in the initial allocation and the subsequent allocation. If they had then a place would have been allocated

Thanks for your advise prh47bridge and admission, had our appeal tonight and felt it went really well. Will just have to wait and see now.

Just found out we won class size appeal, we are so happy.

That is great news

Well done.

congratulations