A couple of appeals questions

[RedSheep73]

The deadline is fast approaching and there are a couple of areas I'm not really clear on.

Do we get to see the school's case against us, before the hearing, and if so how long before? Should we address the 'we think you could accommodate an extra child' stuff now, or do we leave that until the hearing itself? And, does the school get to respond specifically to what we've said?

Also, if we are referring to evidence from school prospectus/website/Ofsted reports, should we include copies of those? or is it sufficient to refer/link to them as they're publicly accessible?

Yes all parties get the papers beforehand - about 10 days to a week in my area but it may vary.

Put your case as strongly as you can in the written statement and then summarise at the hearing.

I would include extracts from the documents with references (doc name, date of publication, page ref etc) but there is no need to include the whole thing.

Just to say as well that the schools’ cases tend to be generic rather than a case against you personally. Along the lines of the admission criteria were applied correctly; ‘we can’t admit another child for reasons of space, safety etc etc.

Bear in mind that there may be a number of appeals and you have to show why your child needs to go to that particular school and no other, the space argument alone is unlikely to swing it.

If the panel think the school can squeeze another couple of kids in, it may not necessarily be your child.

As Artbum says, you will receive the school's case to refuse admission before the hearing. There used to be a deadline for this in the Appeals Code but that has been removed. Now the Code just says you must receive the papers a "reasonable time" before the hearing. That is usually a week or so.

Your case needs to be about why this is the right school for your child. You can safely leave challenging the school's ability to cope with an additional pupil until the hearing. At that point you will know the reasons the school says it can't take any more so you will be in a much better position to challenge them.

Many thanks both of you.

Yes we are focussing on why the school is the right one for our child, I just wanted confirmation that we don't have to include the school space business now. I don't want to mess it up by making any technical errors!

If you feel more comfortable that you have covered it yourself, there is no reason why you cannot ask some questions during part 1 of the appeal. You just have to remember that you have to ask questions, so before the hearing, having received the schools papers on why not to admit, you can have ready some questions such as " I see there are 155 in year 8 when you are saying you cannot admit over 150. Surely the fact you have 155 pupils means you could take an extra pupil in year 7?"

I stole from this thread and therefore didn't try to get into "why the school can take us" in my written appeal, so thanks for that!

Anyone with appeal panel experience, is the whole "reasons why we can't" and rebuttal likely to be a key piece? Surely it's almost always pretty generic... struggling to think of what reasons they might give and how I would counter meaningfully!

You will receive the school's case a few days before the appeal. It is likely to be fairly generic. Don't stress about what they will say at this stage. Wait and see what they actually say. While you are waiting, find out if they have been over PAN in Y7 recently - the last 5 years, say. If they have, that will strengthen your case that they can handle additional pupils.

Thanks, makes sense. Will see if I can find those numbers while I wait.

The other thing for all to realise is that whilst when you read the school's case you may feel that it is personal and that they do not want you, the reality is that they have to meet certain criteria with their submission. It therefore will be generic and it is in no way personal.
Most cases will mention small classrooms, narrow corridor, too small a hall, too small a playground, increased risk of accidents and the fact the teacher will be able to spend less time with each pupil. The school has to show reasons over and above having reached the PAN for the year group as to why they cannot admit the extra pupil.
What you can do in part 1 of the appeal is look for the weaker areas of their case and try and ask questions about this. So when they say "higher risk of accidents" then you should ask then how many accidents there have been in the last twelve months which were of such severity that they had to be officially reported. The probability is that there are none, plenty of minor mishaps as in any school but no serious accidents. By chipping away at the schools case you can sometimes prove that they have no case but in the majority of cases reduce the level of prejudice that you have to overcome in part 2 which is about your own personal case.