Hi-
My son has an appeal hearing for middle school transfer on the 12th of July. I am looking for advise on the hearing. He has ADHD with autistic traits and dyslexia. The lower school he and his younger brothers currently attend is right next door to the middle school. We are out of catchment but people who live on our street have children attending the middle school(and there is a bus but we won't be using it) and we felt when buying we weren't too far out of the inclusion area for that reason. We are outpriced in the area we were renting when it came time to buy over £100k difference just 10 minutes apart.
He is the only student out of all the year 4's who didn't get a place and he is 23rd on the waiting list.
We didn't change schools when we moved for 2 reasons - firstly my son was in the process of getting diagnosed and he was(is) receiving excellent support from the school and friends. Secondly, there was(and still isn't) room for my middle son and none of the local schools would let me even visit the schools because of this. There is still a waiting list now for the 4 local primary schools. That is another issue- as the local schools are primary my son we are appealing for would only be at the school for 2 years which wouldn't help his send needs and the middle school he has been allocated is not local (opposite direction to where he currently goes with his brothers) and would mean he would need to get a bus which he isn't capable of.
School appeals have been successful in the past, but this is the first year the school will be at full capacity since increasing PAN in 2014.
Do we have a strong enough case? I have letters from his ADHD soecialist and Senco at school. The middle school we want him to attend has outstanding send provision (including a specialist send PE teacher) and as I mentioned is right next door to the school he currently attends so transfer of pastoral care would be smoother and make the transition less anxious for him.