Secondary appeal few issues before panel next week

[dizzydora79]

Hi, I've submitted an appeal for my DD. Received letter in May advising that it would be next week and detailing that would receive the governing body's case seven working days before. This was delayed and when I received the documents this week they also sent a form for me to sign to waive my right to the seven working days notice. So I've only had five working days notice which is not enough when if I want to submit further information it's got to be provided five working days prior to appeal.

I'm worried that if I say I'm not happy to waive my right do I then 'upset' the panel members making them less likely to consider fairly because I may end up upsetting schedules etc?

Are the admissions authority allowed to ask me to waive my right?

So in response to the reasons for not offering my dd a place I notice they've only applied the policy against 'feeder'. However when I submitted the application I applied ticking medical/social need and feeder. Shouldn't they have considered both and/or contacted me either for further info or to tell me that the application wouldn't be considered for medical/social?

I assumed when I sent the appeal paperwork in that they already had the medical/social and I sent further information of this with my appeal. Upon reading their case I realised this hasn't been done.

How do I go about raising this? Do I raise it as part of my appeal? Or do I contact the admissions authority and ask them why my application was not considered under the med/social criteria?

My third issue in respect of this appeal is when I first added my dd to the waiting list for this school I asked a question via email about previous years admission numbers, they replied and said that it would have to be put through as a FOI request, so they'd sent it through. The response came back with incorrect numbers saying they hadn't admitted over PAN when even some of their own information confirmed they had.

I queried this and then received a response apologising and giving me the 'correct' numbers. In their case not to admit, their figures for net capacity and ofsted roll numbers do not add up with the information.

Do I query this as part of my appeal? If so, how? I'm conscious of 'upsetting' the school/admissions/governing body but I just feel that there is a lot of mixed, maybe incorrect information.

They've also sent information regarding changes since the first round of offers, it says *backfilling will be allocated by the local authority in date order- I understand they have to apply the same criteria when doing this but on their own paperwork they have allocated a place from the waiting list to a child with sibling/feeder living further away than a place to a waiting list child with the same priority living 2 miles closer- child was allocated a place two weeks later. How can they do this? I was told by admissions that they would have to get the waiting lists ready officially in criteria order before allocating any places. Can they do this?

My DD is 6th on the waiting list and previous years they have admitted approx 30 over PAN. Do I just go along to my appeal or raise further my points above?

Sorry for the long post and thanks in advance for any help/advice offered.

I'm not sure on what you should do re waiving 7 days.

However, comparing and speculation about other appeals isn't helpful. You wont know, and can't know, the details of other appeals.

Equally, PAN isn't terribly relevant because the argument 'you went over one year so should give me a place' doesn't work. (E.g. My classroom is set up for 32 and that's a push. One year we had a year over PAN and I had to fit 34 in by adding collapsible exam desks for one class. My classroom isn't the smallest either. It would be ridiculous to have an endless 'but you managed...' claim.)

Equally, you don't know why they went over PAN. Some schools are forced over PAN mid year due to having specialist services and being a named school for a statemented child moving into area, other outstanding schools are forced over PAN because children in care have the right to an excellent school and can be taxied in to ensure this happens.

I think you probably need the 7 days to prepare, but your focus needs to be on your child's needs and why that school specifically is able to meet those needs in a way that another school wouldn't, not other appeals and other children.

Thanks. Any idea how I go about them not applying the medical/social criteria to original application?

It depends on what the medical/social criteria was and whether the appeal was on those grounds legitimately (in a procedural and criteria sense, not your genuine intent by the way).

If what you've suggested doesn't fit medical/social then I'm not sure they've done anything wrong, but I'm certainly not an expert in that area. They might have had to explain why social/medical isn't a grounds for appeal in their response but someone with more knowledge of the nuts and bolts would be better placed to comment.

The medical/social seems to be the latest way for parents who aren't happy with their places trying to cook up enough of an argument to push a school into taking their child (I'm not saying that's you by the way) and so, understandably, schools and panels need clarity on what the issue is, enough appropriate evidence and why that school only is enough to meet the pupils' need.

E.g. They were bullied at primary and so need this school out of catchment, which happens to be better than in catchment, to be happier is unlikely to be a strong case, even if it's written up in language of mental distress with a GP letter saying they are worried about secondary school.

But

E.g2. My child has a complex medical problem (medical evidence provided) where they require X Y Z on a daily/fortnightly basis and the school support based as appropriate facilities for this. In the event of an emergency A B C needs to occur. I'm a stay at home parent due to time required for my child's medical condition and appointments. My child needs to be in the catchment school as I'm close on hand to administer medication and take them to hospital in the event of an issue.

probably would be stronger grounds.

I wouldn't advise you share too much on here for obvious reasons.

Re the waiver. The Admissions Authority have the right to ask you and you have the right to refuse. It is not uncommon particularly at this time of year when the appeal organisers are dealing with a lot of appeals.

As an experienced Panel Chair I would always try to accommodate a change of slot though I have never had a request due the waiver issue. I would suggest that you ask if you can submit your information less than five days before , in my experience we often get information a few days before which we accept unless it is dozens of pages.

You can query the processing of your DD's application at appeal and
ask about the process for determining the Medical and Social need. As Lola says, it is a high threshold. Panel will be looking at the process and whether it has been fairly applied.

On the issues for the school it is fine to ask questions about the Net Capacity and to clarify any apparent inconsistencies. You will need to phrase them as questions .

On the waiting list, I would ask - have any places been filled from the waiting list (from which category/distance) and on what dates. Places come up at different times and that can mean the offers can look odd but mistakes also happen. This is only relevant to your appeal if you can show your DD has lost a out on place.

These general queries would need to be asked at the Stage 1 if the appeal is grouped ie when all the parents are present. Stage 2 is only for the issues concerning your DD.

A few things going on here-

• they can ask you to waive your right to 7 days, it's not ideal but this is a very busy season for appeals (and busier every year it seems). I would take the agreed date, you can submit information now. You can submit at appeal itself, panel would have to decide whether or not to allow it but as long as it's only a couple of pages they should. If you turn down the appeal now you may struggle to get another date before the end of term.

• medical/social - unfortunately schools seem to be very bad at communication on this. Ideally they would consider your application and tell you whether they accept it under these grounds as soon as they make their decision, but so many don't. Did you supply all the required proof at time of application? It's entirely possible they considered you but rejected it under those grounds, but you need to enquire to the admissions authority to be sure.

The appeals panel won't have the proof you submitted at that application point, they will only have what you send now.

You can question the decision not to grant the medical grounds at appeal; it's always worth asking who makes the decision as often you will find it's governors who have no medical knowledge. You can then push back on their ability to actually decide whether or not your grounds are adequate if they have no medical qualifications.

• net capacity and ofsted roll numbers are different - sorry what do you mean they don't add up? You can ask in part one of the appeal for details of current school roll, and numbers offers for Sept. definitely ask if they have taken over PAN before, why, and how the school coped.

• waiting lists must be administered by admissions criteria. It's possible the child living closer didn't request to be on the list until after the previous child had beeny given a place though. You can ask at part one of details of places that have been offered, including the greatest distance that a place has been offered so far.