Unsuccessful school Appeal

[jellybellydancer]

My son has been offered a place in school for September for a school that I believe will be damaging to his education and wellbeing. I appealed to two schools on the same grounds; one we have been successful with and we’ve moved up the admissions criteria, and the second school rejected our appeal. The second school does have an a ‘children with exceptional medical, social or compassionate grounds’ criteria within its admissions policy which was the basis of my appeal. I provided a doctors letter and a independent report from an educational psychologist who both supported my appeal and provided information about my son’s emotional state.

However the council has rejected my appeal as ‘the reasons I put forward in support of my preference were not sufficiently strong’.

Does anyone have any thoughts regarding how an appeal can be successful in one school but not another? Is there any guidance for the appeal panel to review against for the medical, social or compassionate grounds or is it based on the panel’s opinions? Any thoughts or suggestions on what I can do next would also be welcome.

There were seven attendees acting on behalf of the school, council and the independent panel at the appeal, two of which were from the council and one in particular seemed focus on demonstrating the council had followed due process when allocating the school place. I was disappointed that there doesn’t seem to be much compassion or understanding and I do feel this is demonstrated in the outcome of the appeal.

I'm slightly confused.

What kinds of appeal are we talking about?

If it was a standard appeal against refusal of a place, then winning gets you a place in the school - it doesn't just move you up the criteria. Do you simply mean you appealed against the decision not to put him in the "exceptional needs' category?

Do you now have a school place at the school where you won this appeal?

An appeals panel (in a regular appeal against refusal of a place) can decide that the correct admissions process was not followed if they decide the process to decide whether your child should be given exceptional needs status was not followed properly. Usually, the evidence needs to show why this school and no other is the one that best suits the child's needs, with the school named in the evidence. A GP's letter won't be given much weight (and many criteria say so).

Could you clarify?

Thanks for your reply.

Yes it was a standard appeal based on a change in circumstances since we initially put in our application for secondary school places.

The council’s advice suggested that we appeal based on the evidence that we should meet the social and welfare category which we did not originally apply under, but the council were not in the position to change after I provided further information as they stated it as it was too late in the process.

I don’t believe we do have a school place in the school we won the appeal for. They agreed he should move up categories but unfortunately they only have offered places to children who are in higher up categories than we are. So that’s why I think we’ve moved up the waiting list...

In the letter I received from the successful appeal it said we were successful in our appeal but did not specifically say we had been offered a place.

So we were in category 14, the school said our circumstances put us in category 13 but they only took children up to category 10 before they met the PAN.

But - if it was a standard school appeal, then yes, you do have a place. That's the point. School appeals have no affect on the waiting list - if you win, you get a school place!

When did this appeal happen?

That's all very odd. To the best of my knowledge, the admissions appeal panel has no power to move a child to a different category: all they can do is allow or disallow the appeal. Are you sure they didn't just make a recommendation that the category should change?

Also, if you're child is in the category of children with exceptional needs, normally the only ones that would come ahead of your child would be those for whom the school is named in an Education, Health and Care Plan, and looked after children. It would be unusual for them not to have had places allocated in the original admissions round.

I don't understand your reference to seven attendees on behalf of the school and the panel. The panel is independent and doesn't have anyone attending on its behalf; it's not there on the side of the school. There will be a clerk advising the panel, but s/he is also independent. There should not have been anyone from the council on the appeal panel.

Appeals based on exceptional criteria can be allowed if it can be demonstrated that there are specific reasons why the child can attend only the school in question. Therefore if one panel decides that the child's needs can be met only in school A, it would actually be illogical to find that they can also be met in school B.

In the longer term, if your child's access to education is affected by his emotional issues, might it be possible to apply for an EHCP?

This is all confusing. If you were in category 14 (presumably last category?) but social and health needs only moved you up to 13 - what were the other 12 categories - LAC presumably first and perhaps the others all religion based?
Can you post a redacted version of the letter you've received following the appeal?

I don’t believe we do have a school place in the school we won the appeal for

As PatriciaHolm says, that does not make sense. An appeal panel does not have any power to move you up the waiting list. The only decision they make is whether or not to admit your child. If your appeal succeeds your child is admitted. If it fails your child is not admitted. It is as simple as that.

The letter said your appeal was successful. That means you have a place. The fact the letter didn't say so is because they assumed you would understand that.

As for why an appeal would be successful for one school and not another, there are all kinds of reasons. It could be that one school had a stronger case to refuse admission, or it could be that there were other appellants with stronger cases, or it could simply be that a different appeal panel took a different view of your case.

But the important point is that you have won one of your appeals and therefore have a place at that school.

Thanks for all your comments and advice so far, I’m hoping I’ve misunderstood the letter in that case! Hopefully it’s attached.

As there were children who were still on the waiting list that were in higher categories, I thought that we could appeal on the basis we were in the wrong category and the outcome would be we’d move up the waiting list. But we’d not be able to overtake other higher category children.

The council have been really unhelpful with advice, and I think our circumstances for appeal are unusual so it’s been hard to find information to support our case. Plus my knowledge about the education system is limited!

Also both appeals looked at the category we were in, then which we should have been. So maybe this has influenced what my thinking about how the appeal works.

The second school also deal with their own admissions, so maybe there is more flexibility for this reason. I really hope you are all correct and he has been accepted, they were so helpful and seem to be a wonderfully supportive school.

That reads to me like you have a place, unless you win the appeal for your first choice school

So you have a place but if you won a different appeal you should decide and let them know.

Yes, that's a pretty standard post appeal letter, summarising your points and why the panel decided in your favour.

You have a place at that school.

yep -I agree it reads to me that you have a place there unless you get and choose to take up an offer from the other school you're appealing for. But am sure appeal experts will be along soon to advise!

That if i may so, is a dreadful letter from the clerk, it is totally confusing . My reading of the letter is that you have a place at the school you were appealing for but I agree it is far from clear and could easily be read as you are now in cat 13 but still not getting a place at the school.
I would also be very unhappy with the way that the panel are apparently involving themselves in the potential outcome of your appeal for your first preference school. They should not be making any comment on that appeal, in fact should not even know it is happening.
I would go back to the admission office and ask the question, now the appeal panel have upheld my appeal, when will i hear from the school about taster days etc or should i be contacting them. Making it obvious that you are assuming that you have a place offered.

You have a place!

I agree with Admission that it is a very poor letter. However, my reading is also that you have a place at that school. The paragraph about the appeal to your first choice definitely should not be there.

Thanks all.

I've replied as per Admissions suggestion and confirmed we would like to accept the place offered assuming this is what the letter is stating. I’ll see what happens next.

This school was only my second choice because it's so popular, it's one of the best state schools in the county so I thought we had a better chance with admission to the other school. But actually we ended up on a similar place on both school's waiting list.

I did tell both appeal panels I was appealing to both schools, mainly because my reasons for appealing were due to the school place offered being completely unsuitable. But you cannot seem to appeal against the school you were offered, only the school you wish to attend. So I also shared why I thought these schools would suit his needs, but the reasons probably wouldn't be any different / better than anyone else's appeal; location, facilities, ethos, quality of education etc.

I also gave the background information detailing why it was inappropriate for him to attend the other school. The second school were vocal in agreeing it was not suitable and asked why the council were not offering more support for our circumstances.

So I'm really grateful if they have accepted him, and they've shown us more kindness and help than anyone else during this process.

This school was only my second choice because it's so popular, it's one of the best state schools in the county so I thought we had a better chance with admission to the other school

Not relevant now but you should have made this school your first choice. It would not have affected your chances of getting in to the other school. By making it second choice, if you had been lucky enough to end up with places at both schools you would only have been offered the other school. And it has muddied the waters a little in that the appeal panel now thinks you wouldn't want this school if you got a place at the other school, hence the paragraph about your appeal to the other school.

The good news is that none of this matters. You have a place at your preferred school. Well done.