Grounds for appeal for school place

[roundthebend4]

Need some help please a
appealing to get Dd in to our local school

We moved into area in March but informed school was full ,so she stayed at other school where was living 5 miles away and in differnt county ATM I am paying take her on bus every day

Am appealling for place in September as she goes into year 3 .it is the only school in the village only 25 houses here but as school is rated outstanding lot of competion for places

all the schools here hold their own lists

My grounds for appeal is 1 it is the only school here next one is 2 miles away but is full nearest with space I'd 3.5

and appealing as ds will start special school in September do need put him on transport be home yo collect him.and since all Lea offered is bus pass for me and dd if went with other option that has spaces no way can do school run in time .don't drive either

This will be a bit hasty as I have to go out, but

This is an appeal for key stage 2 and so infant class size rules dont apply. This is good news for you, as you have more scope to argue and win. You have to show that your daughter's need for a place outweighs the school's need to keep numbers down.

Are you on the waiting list? Waiting lists should be held in the same order as admissions criteria. Assuming the school uses distance as an admissions criterion, the order should be something like: looked after children, social and medical need, other children ranked according to distance. So if you're already close to the school, you should be somewhere near the top of the list.

Your potential grounds of appeal are

1. Nearest available school. Get as much information as you can about how the classes are organised (is it a very small school? are there mixed year classes etc? what is the school's capacity assessment? is it full according to that capacity? etc) and highlight anything which confirms that your child could be accommodated without any detriment ('prejudice' in appeals speak) to the other children.

2. Social and medical need - as you need to be around when your son is collected for his special school, you need your daughter to have a place at this school. A letter from the LEA confirming your son's place at the special school will be useful for the panel to see.

3. You need to put most of the focus on why you need this particular school rather than don't like/want the other one. Even so, it is worth mentioning that you cannot drive and keeping your daughter at her existing school or travelling 4 x 3.5 miles by bus every day isn't feasible.

4. LEAs are supposed to have a Fair Access Protocol to help find places for children who move mid-year. Have you seen your LEA's? Have they done all they're supposed to? If not, use the appeal to highlight any way in which the LEA has failed you and your daughter.

5. Go to the old DCSF website and read the admissions code and admissions appeal code and check that the school and LEA have complied with them. Any breaches of the codes give you more grounds for appeal.

HTH but I'm sure the other regular appeals people will be along and spot other lines you could pursue!

Ty yes the Lea found a possiable place but it's still 3.5 miles ,2 buses .

In this county or schools opted out so set their own eating list times etc

yep I'm about a 3 minute walk away from the school village. Well not even that.

Apart from the distance to get her to school she can't do no clubs or any school events let alone make local friends

yes were on waiting list same day we moved in to the house and yes have ds statement that names the school he be going to

Oh and there's 94 children on the role so is mixed classes they ate planning to extend the school but is work in progress ,East Herts have a shortage of school places both primary and senior

Either way I can't leave Dd where she is the cost of transport to much but the School Lea offered transport won't take into account of ds needs so itmean taking her on bus just can't do it

Then those are the things you need to emphasise in your appeal. The point about your daughter needing to attend school near her new home to make new local friends is something you can mention, as it shows the prejudice she will suffer if not admitted.

Even if the school does its own admissions (is it a foundation school?) it's still bound by the admissions code.

I think that panelmember has summarised the main points that seem appropriate from your posts.

You need to keep emphasising that this involves both your daughter and your son and the difficulties that surround the trip to school for your son. I think that it might be worth just pointing out to the panel that daughter sometimes feels as though she is being ignored because of the needs of your son and this would be an important boost to her to get a place at her local school where she can develop her own friendship group.

Also to me an important point is that you live in the village of 25 houses and that you need to go to the local school for the reasons connected to son, whereas the majority of the pupils at the school are not local.

Thank you for the advice
, I put it all in writing to the acting head and pointed out will make the base of my appeal .But just had phonecall today telling me there is a space for DD from September

Know I quite possiably forced there hand some and hopefully there adult enough to respect why , but I really wanted her to go to the local school with other children from the village and all the social events in village are done through the school .

Fantastic! Perhaps it was coincidence that they realised today that you ought to be top of the waiting list. Or perhaps they realised that the might of MN was behind you! Anyway, I'm glad you're spared the hassle of going to appeal.

Yep think lot of forms need a are you a Musnetter tick box on them make life so much easier

Thank you all for help