My child can't go to a school they've given him

[Ccivy1982]

I have a child whos been allocated a school that he can't go to as a perpetrator who he has a restraining on 4 children go there and we've been through 18 months of hell and he won in court against the abuser. We only.picked 1 school as he said he felt safe to go there and would.enjoy.school.once again ... the education welfare dont seem to care his life would be at risk if he attends the school and i have appealed to all local.schools but getting no where, I will end up home schooling him but I have a 4 month old baby and 2 brain tumours and work 12 hour.night shifts and I'm.not sure I can even do it but my child will be in danger And had threatened his own life if he has to go to that school with those children.... can any one give me any advise????

as u can imagine I was overwhelmed with the advise and what i was led to believe I was formally appealing wasn't an appeal I had not heard of a panel appeal as no.one has explained this hence the brick wall I kept hitting, however after several phone calls to school and council this has been explained and I have asked why this is not.outlined in writting as I was under the illusion I had "appealed"....so yet again this appeal procedure is.not made clear to someone who has never done this before ...so I've been chasing all schools and private appeals to ask if I get a "panel"appeal?! Because to actually to sit and put my case across to actual.people and not just a school secretary or a council liaison officer ( and not.once has this "panel" been mentioned otherwise i wouldnt be on here screaming for help)would be very beneficial, some schools.were very illusive when I asked about this but assured me I would get a "panel" appeal in due time..... I just wish they'd explained this from the outset instead of me thinking I'd tried and appealed and failed where in reality I had NO idea this existed and some schools don't even like to tell u u can appeal this way!!!! Honestly havnt slept this week thinking how stupid I feel over thinking I'd already appealed and I would.of never of known if I hadn't of asked! So now armed with a new set of paper work yet another form to get a panel appeal I feel hopeful....
Oh and I only get Wi-Fi when I'm at work so hence late reply sorry...
Thank u tho this has meant alot to me and I can now start sorting things out ....just when I thought all hope was lost ....

As pp have stated you may not get anywhere with appeals because you won't have compelling reasons why any given school is the only school that will do.

However you will probably be OK anyway. There is a long time between now and September. People move. Kids who do have viable appeal cases, or who have been applying to private schools too, will be currently holding places that they eventually won't need. Sooner or later a place will come up on one of the schools where you are in the 20s or better on the list. The longer you hold out the better your chances. There will be fresh vacant places all over the place in the first week of the new term in September and most people higher than you on all those waiting lists will decline the place if offered as they will have reconciled themselves to their existing arrangement. So just hold your ground.

Do investigate the FAP that was mentioned upthread.

Do write to the catchment school saying that this known threat is present if your DC attends that school and you currently are not confident that they can keep your DC safe. Ask them what additional protection they can put in place to guarantee his safety. Don't let them fob you off and don't accept a response that is not in writing.

If you have a job, book the first 2 weeks of September off now, as when it comes to it your ability to be stubborn will make a difference.

Can your child’s current school help? You do seem lost, and it’s clear that you have good reasons for not wanting your ds to attend his allocated school. I know my children’s school would have helped in this situation, with suggestions and form filling.

Thank u ... I have had some pm with some direct advise and like I said how come this "panel appeal" is like a cloak and dagger type thing or.is that just here in the south?!.... if I'd of.known this instead of just filling form after form and sending documents off and getting rejection and the same response of" he's on the waiting list" I wouldn't of got.myself in such a mess..... and not.once in any official paper work does it say anything about this panel appeal only through asking here and looking at a link some one has kindly shared and I found our councils 104 page booklet and in the world's smallest fine print there it was in black and white (and some of it youd need to be lawyer to understand) ..... I get they have to be fair and equal all children ect ect but sometimes some children don't just fit in the box and there's reasons for it.... it just means i havnt lost all hope just yet....and I feel I have a slight hope.now ....

I’m concerned that you think an appeal is a “cloak and dagger” thing. The letter telling you your school allocation should have told you that you have a right of appeal. I’m also concerned that you think your appeals have been rejected already when (as previously discussed) if you’re in England they cannot have been heard yet, and you don’t mention having attended any appeal hearings. I hope the conversations you’re having via PM can get to the bottom of all of this.

Yes it is thank you and as stated I wasn't aware of any "panel" appeal .... this isn't written anywhere just the right to appeal the descion which I already have but In plain English someone has kindly listed the procedure which I clearly have misunderstood as I have never done this before but I have better understanding now thank you for your comments

Op, you sound confused about the whole appeal system. I would phone admissions up at the LA and ask for a face to face meeting so that they can explain exactly what you need to do.
Regarding the restraining order, what actually happened for this to be imposed, and how was your DS involved? You need to be very clear about this when you go to appeal, as it also sounds very confusing.

I am still not sure you fully understand the process though Ccivy and I do worry that if you've missed the information/signposts in letter/on website you may miss other bits of information.

Have you formally submitted appeal papers requesting an appeal or have you had email exchanges with LA/school staff?

If you've not submitted an actual appeal you need to get on it straight away. As I understand it (and happy to be corrected by the experts) - whilst you can submit an appeal at any time, there is a "deadline" usually end of March and appeal panel hearings will be organised. If you delay submitting then your eventual panel hearing could well be outside of the first tranche (as it were) which could mean your case becomes more difficult to win
Perhaps break down in bullet points what you've done/who you've spoken to.

As pp have stated you may not get anywhere with appeals because you won't have compelling reasons why any given school is the only school that will do

I strongly disagree. The OP has a compelling case. Contrary to what is sometimes said on here, the OP does NOT have to show that the appeal school is the only school for her son. She simply has to show that her son will be prejudiced (i.e. disadvantaged) if he doesn't go to the appeal school and that this outweighs any prejudice to the school from having an additional pupil. The only schools considered are the appeal school and the allocated school. The fact that there may be other schools where there are no safeguarding concerns is irrelevant. So the fact that there are genuine safeguarding concerns related to the allocated school means that the OP has a strong case for any school.

how come this "panel appeal" is like a cloak and dagger type thing or.is that just here in the south

I share PanelChair's concern that you think it is a "cloak and dagger" thing. I suspect the problem is that, since you only applied for one school (which was not a good idea), in order to appeal for other schools you have first had to apply to places at those schools. You cannot appeal until you have applied for a place and been rejected. So you have taken the refusal of your application for a place as refusal of your appeal. It isn't.

I am concerned that, because of your misunderstanding, you may not have appealed for the additional schools at all. You may have simply applied for a place. If the letters refusing a place told you how to appeal the decision, you need to submit an appeal for those schools.

I also share myrtleWilson's concern that you may not have actually appealed for your preferred school. The letter you received at the beginning of March telling you which school your son was being offered would also have told you how to appeal for a place at your preferred school. Have you followed the instructions in that letter? If you are uncertain, ring the local authority and check if they have your appeal. If they don't you need to submit your appeal as soon as possible. You can appeal at any time but you need your appeal to be heard with all the other appeals. Even though you have probably missed the deadline, that should still be possible if you get your appeal in quickly.

Go to the Secondary school admissions pages of your local authority's website. There will be an explanation of how the system works, including 'What to do if your child isn't offered a place at one / any of your preferred schools'. This bit will explain about the right of apoeal. The website of each individual school will state what you must do to lodge an appeal for that school; if it is a community school, you will almost certainly be directed to the LA's Statutory Appeals department, but some academies employ a Clerk to organise appeals for their school.

Here is an example of information abput Appeals - I am just using Essex County Council as an example here, but your own LA - and the local authority where the school is located, if not in your own LA- will provide the information relevant to you.

www.essex.gov.uk/Education-Schools/Schools/Admissions/Pages/Secondary-Admissions.aspx

www.essex.gov.uk/Education-Schools/Schools/Admissions/Pages/Appeals.aspx

Nothing at all 'cloak and dagger' about it.

By the way, although your appeal will not be treated any differently if you decide not to attend the actual hearing, if you are not there, the panel can only consider what they are able to see in front of them in writing. If there is anything which is not completely clear,and you are present, the panel can ask you for clarification - if you are not there, no one will ring you up ito ask. Similarly, include a copy of everything that you want the panel to see. It's no good putting e.g., 'my social worker says x, I'll get him to write you a letter if you like' - you need to get the letter and send in a copy with your paperwork, or at least by the deadline for submitting extra documents.

You can drive with two brain tumours??

Hey lovely, this sounds like one for your local MP. Where are you based?

Hey lovely, this sounds like one for your local MP

No, it really doesn't. The OP needs to appeal. On the information she has given here I would expect her to win. Her MP's involvement won't make any difference.

Yes, and the MP can support her in doing that and signpost other IRL help which she may need 🙄

The MP won't be able to give any better advice on appealing than those posters on here who regularly support and advise parents going through this process. Plus as time is of the essence somewhat, waiting to see an MP in their surgery will take longer than reading some posts on here.

Agree with myrtleWilson. Also, getting an MP involved with your appeal is at best useless and can be counterproductive. Appeal panels don't like feeling that the appellant is trying to bully them.

Once again, I agree with prh47bridge.

MPs really aren’t social workers and their surgeries are not law centres. Going to the MP creates the potential for delay with no real benefit at the end of it. People here can support OP in putting her appeal together in a way that - although there are no guarantees - maximises her chance of winning. On the face of it, she already has a strong case.

The OP is in a really tough situation with a number of factors and should be getting all the support she can. Maybe the MP cannot help with this appeal, but if it gets turned down, she needs future support or needs to be made aware of her entitlements, then yes an MP can help/signpost and she will be on their radar. Agree they're not social workers and it's luck who you get, but some are great and will do all they can. And I've always emailed.

The reason I suggest MP is because I know what a massive help the support was in this case (even if he is otherwise a dick) www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-dorset-18691528

I'm sure one of the experts will know more but isn't there something about appealing a perverse decision? That is something about a decision being something no reasonable person would make.
Did you put the information about the restraining order in your original application? If so one of the experts might know if you can appeal the decision to not put your son in a suitable category in the first place. For example some areas have a special category for exceptional social or medical need that gets allocated before siblings or distance.

The perverse decision only really applies to infant class size appeals, but the OP can certainly state the adverse effects of not being given her desired school.