Appeals - School Admissions PAN

[SunburstsOrMarbleHalls]

Today I accompanied a friend to a school appeal for moral support. As part of the Stage 1 questioning a numerical breakdown of how many pupils in each admissions category had been admitted for Sept 2018 was disclosed. The PAN cut off in Category 4.

When I added the totals together it came to PAN +1. When this was queried I expected the answer to be that there had been an additional admission from Category 1 - LAC / Medical SEN and the school had no option but to admit. However the school explained that the additional child was from Category 2 - It was only after the appeal had ended and I returned home with my friend I started to think about the information and I am a bit confused. I don't understand how the PAN + 1 child could have been from category 2 as surely that means that one less would have gotten in from Category 4 during the regular admissions process.

If it was an admin error by the parent on the original application OR maladministration during the regular admission round OR a late application outside of the admissions round then should they of had to go through the appeals process along with over 50 other appellants?

Sorry to be vague but I don't want to divulge the school or particular admission category's as it is my friend who is appealing and I feel I should not reveal too much without my friends permission.

If it was an error by the parent or a late application the admission authority is not under any obligation to do anything about it. However, if it was an error by the admission authority they are supposed to admit the affected child immediately, without making the parents go through an appeal. That doesn't always happen - many admission authorities insist on an appeal regardless. But if, for example, they realised that a child had been placed in the wrong category they should have admitted them without an appeal.

I would expect LAC and Medical/SEN to be 2 different categories -

Cat 1 - LAC
Cat 2- Medical/Social needs

I've never seen them as one category. Is that where the confusion lies?

Oh and yes, as prh says, if the admissions authority made an error (didn't realise a child was LAC, for example) that cost the child a place, they should admit immediately, even if it takes the school over PAN.