In Year Secondary Admission Appeal

[ShelleyAS]

I don't even know if it is possible to appeal at this stage but this is my situation.

My DS didn't get any of his choices for school. However, we were not unduly concerned and didn't appeal any of the choices.

He is doing fine and has made friends. The problem isn't the school he is at.

Our problem is that i have some very serious health issues that will require months (at least) of hospital treatments. I will be unable to drive for some of the time. We are very rural. My husband leaves the house at 6am for work every day and my treatment plan means i may not be at home as i will require overnight hospital stays and also i will have periods of being ill and not capable of childcare.

We have very little extended family but DH mum is available to offer over night care. she is within our borough but a long way from the school that DS currently attends.

There is a school very near to her that was one of our original choices.

Do i have any grounds to appeal? and is it even possible to appeal at this stage?

Our situation is quite urgent and i don't know how we will cope with our current arrangements but i don't know if this is even a grounds for an appeal

Any help or advise appreciated

You might not even need to appeal. Phone and ask if there are spaces. If there are (and no waiting list) they have to offer it to you. If there isn’t, ask to be out on it.

It might also be worth a call to the current school and local authority to see if any support is available with transport rather than disrupt his schooling.

I hope it all works out

There is nothing stopping you applying for a place at the school you would like your son to go to. Assuming it is full then you will be told that there are no places but that you can appeal.
You can then try to appeal. The first issue assuming son is in year 7 is that the admission authority may quibble over you trying to appeal as there is a rule which says only one appeal for a school per academic year. However most LAs would see your predicament as a significant change in circumstances and allow an appeal.
The bigger problem is whether anything you can say will have sufficient strength to get an offer of a place from the appeal. What you are saying is that you will have significant issues which if it was a permanent situation would quite possibly give a positive response but when you are saying there will be issues for months then I am afraid that your appeal is quite limited.
The other issues is that an appeal would not be for about a month at least, when you are saying this is situation is urgent. I think you need to be considering other ways of resolving the issue, whilst trying to get an appeal arranged.

As you didn't appeal in the first place, it's fine to appeal, but all of the issues that Admission raises remain. I'm sorry your health is not good.

Admission, Thank you for your detailed reply. I haven’t appealed previously so I assume the rule of only one appeal for a school per year wouldn’t apply.

I have been diagnosed with cancer and I am estimating my treatment with a positive view of continuing for several months. Of course this may play out very differently. I am delaying treatment at the moment as I am unable to undergo treatment and look after my son so whilst it is urgent it is to some degree within my control

I have assumed the school is full as we had the school down as a choice but didn’t get a place. I have tried to phone but they are currently in half term so no answer

It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind in the last few days so just trying to figure out what to do for the best

It would make more sense for your mum to stay at your home when help is needed. Then he can continue at his usual school.
Your husband could also take some holiday, parental leave, speak to his employer about a change in working patterns for a while. These would be reasonable options rather than trying to win an appeal on your situation.

Don't delay your treatment!
I wouldn't bother with changing schools. Tell his school the situation. Advertise for help with school runs, or see if either the LA or a charity can help. If you were offered the "nearest available" school the LA may well have a legal responsibility to provide transport.

I would also suggest you talk to someone like MacMillan - to help you sort things out.

OP I feel for you. Can your DH not get compassionate or parental leave from work? My work did that for a team member whose DH needed cancer treatment. I think he needs to step up at this time and not leave all the worry to you. For a neighbour we did meals for them - it is amazing about when you ask for help how many people will pitch in. Think about yourself and the rest will follow.

Unfortunately we don't have room for DH mum to move in with us. Help with transport really doesn't help much as DS would be home alone every morning from 5:50am

DH work is not proving to be very compassionate. They have a fixed holiday system and are running on a minimum staff level. We are already worried about possible redundancy and as we are my wage down we really need to protect DH income.

Putting DH on parental leave would most likely be the best protection. If they picked him for redundancy you’d have good ground for unfair dismissal. They’d be less likely to dismiss him if he applied for parental leave imo. This is going on DH who applied for flexible working at a time of staff reductions, he stayed on for two more years compared to his co-workers. When he did leave he got a big payout as they’d singled him out. Worked out for the whole family. Think about what you need now - not what might happen. Otherwise you might not get the treatment and peace of mind you need.

I strongly suggest you talk to McMillan and get proper advice.
You really shouldn't think of delaying treatment. To be blunt just about anything if preferable to your DS not having a Mothet.