Secondary School Appeal help please

[Thischarmlessgirl]

I'd really appreciate some advice. My son was allocated a school today that was not any of his choices. Its 15 miles away (first choice school is 1.6 miles) and would require two buses to take him there. Not one of his year class mates was allocated the same school (we are a few hundred meters out of catchment for first choice school and on waiting lists for all chosen schools, accepted reluctantly the allocated school offer)

He has a IEP but not a EHCP (he has a formal diagnosis from a ED Psych at the British Dyslexia Association and primary school and SENCO are supportive) part of his Dyslexia includes a lack of being able to organise himself and plan well. DS suffers with anxiety and low self esteem due to his learning difficulty and see's a therapist, being around a small supportive friendship group is important to him, therapist will back this up. School will support and so will Ed Psych. GP too potentially. There are two schools we would be happy for him to attend and as are very local, he could travel there independently hence building self esteem, being with one or two friends would also greatly alleviate anxiety.

Our second choice is a catholic school, we aren't catholic but COE, however our baptism was in Europe and we attend remotely to our family church in Europe where I grew up, however the Catholic school will only accept a UK church supplementary form.

I have twins in year 4 at our local school and could not get them both to school with driving DS to allocated school.

I'm sorry if I am waffling I just feel so upset and overwhelmed for him, I've tried to be positive and matter of fact with him but I am genuinely worried about what the impact will be. I am meeting with his Ed psych on Wednesday and was really hoping for some tips and advice for this more familiar with the process.

Thank you in advance

Thank you everyone
48 hours later and I’m feeling a bit calmer!
The educational psychologist is going to write a letter to say that my child will be at a disadvantage if he does not go to the first choice school due to his SEN (including social needs) The GP and his counsellor plus SENCO plus Head of his primary will also write to back up the appeal.

Questions for those of you on panels

I can’t find the PAN number for the particular school that we are appealing for it is not published anywhere that I can see do I need to request this information from them directly? Ideally for the last couple of years.

The appeal will now be directly with the school as it’s an academy and not the local authority council. The meeting maybe via video conferencing and another person can attend, would having his current Head Teacher attend look provocative or supportive, or maybe it depends on the panel.

Thanks again

Yes the school (or the council) should be able to tell you the PAN.

But also ask how many pupils are actually on roll in each year group in the last 3 years or so. You need to know not only the number they admit, but the number they have actually had in recent years. Because you also need to chip away at the school's anticipated case of being too full to take more. If PAN gives (say) 120 (4x classes of 30) but the school actually has been running perfectly well on 4x 32 then that is a point that should be made

I’m surprised that the PAN isn’t in the school’s online admissions information, but you should be able to get it from the school. Also ask them for actual numbers in each year group, because if it turns out that they’ve actually gone over PAN in previous years and the sky hasn’t fallen in it helps you to argue that they could manage if your child was admitted too.

Most LEAs would not allow one of their headteachers to attend an appeal or even to express support, because they expect HTs to follow LEA policy which is usually (more or less) that all schools can cater for a wide range of needs and so they must remain impartial. Your HT may need to seek guidance from the LEA on this.

The current PAN will be in the information on the LA's website. If you can't find it, PM me the name of the LA and school. I will be happy to take a look for you.

If you want to know what PAN has been in the past you will have to ask the school.

Having the current head teacher attend can go either way. I've known panels that have refused to hear evidence from a teacher in this situation (wrongly in my view but that doesn't help when you are in the hearing). Other panels will listen to the evidence. But the only real reason to have the head there is so that they can be questioned. The safest thing would be to get the head teacher's evidence in writing and submit that.

@meditrina thank you, that’s useful
@PanelChair Thanks, makes sense, I’ll check with the current HT
@prh47bridge Thank you I’ve messaged you, HT is happy to craft a supporting letter so I’ll go down this route if safer and more appropriate.
You’ve all been so informative and helpful. I really appreciate it.

I've responded by PM. Pressed send by accident so apologies that the message is a little abrupt but it gives you the number.

More questions helpful experts!
So I am appealing the first choice school on criteria 5 which is SEN plus social and medical. We have evidence from DS’s Ed Psych, School SENCO, GP, Class Teacher and his counsellor all saying he will be at a disadvantage if he doesn’t go there due to his special educational needs. The Ed Psych’s letter says he has a need more than other children to be with a peer support system he is already familiar with, as well as how he will be at a social and SEN disadvantage etc.

However, SEN is low down on the appeals criteria, catchment is top and we are just outside. No appeal has been won on Criteria 5 last year (though I don’t know how many if any applied) Can I still have a good chance? I’ve done little else for the past week but work on building a strong case for him but am worried that SEN and social/medical is so low down 😞

There are no appeals criteria. There are admission criteria, but they are irrelevant at appeal.

If you can make the case that your son's SEN means he will be disadvantaged if he is not admitted to this school you will have a good chance. Simply showing that he has SEN is not enough. In theory, any school can cope with a child with SEN, so you need to show that this school has special provision for your son's SEN that is not available at other schools or there is some other reason why his SEN justifies admitting him to this school.

You need a cast iron letter from the ed psych's which very clearly says that in their opinion the mental issues are such that your son will be significantly disadvantaged by not going to the school. The school will argue that any school is capable of addressing your son's SEND and the letter must say why that is not the case.
If the letter says something like Mrs X tells me...... then the letter will have little or no value at the appeal as it is not specific enough. Panels are told to give such letters little weight in discussing whether to admit or not.

@prh47bridge and @admission Thank you, this seems misleading then? See attached from school appeals policy, your appeal will not be successful if you don’t live in the catchment area?
Would either or both of you be willing to read the educational psychologist letter and tell me your thoughts on whether it demonstrates the need enough?
Thank you

I haven't seen that on their website but it is clearly wrong. The third and fourth bullets are reasonable advice, but the first two bullets are wrong and the whole thing should not be phrased like this. Admission authorities are not allowed to limit the grounds on which appeals can be made.

I will be happy to read the letter and give an opinion.

@prh47bridge I’ve messaged you, thanks again.
This worries me as it is on their appeal process document which I received by email today!

I've got your PM. I will respond when I've had a chance to read it properly.

If the appeal panel reject your appeal on either of the first two points you will have a strong case to take to the ESFA and ask for a fresh hearing. I would also suggest forwarding this document to the Schools Adjudicator and the ESFA in the hope that one of them will do something about it.

As PRH says the first two statements are so clearly incorrect and not as per the admission appeal guidance. It is obviously intended to put people off from appealing and should be challenged as being inappropriate.

@prh47bridge and @admission Thank you, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your expertise and generosity in sharing information.

The school have sent me a flow chart which makes it very difficult to get to the appeal part, there is also no guidance on what they actually need, just an email address of the chair of governors for me to send documents to but no format or guidance. I’ve never done this before so not sure what’s usual or appropriate. I’m now concerned the school aren’t upholding the correct processes, is there somewhere I can see admission appeal guidance?

This is on the Bucks CC website, is this accurate? It feels very much like they don't want parents to try!

1. Appeal success rate

Last year, 9% of appeals were successful.

Most appeals fail because the school is already full and does not have the resources to admit additional children without harming the education of the existing pupils.

So please think carefully before making your appeal - they are time-consuming and stressful for parents and expensive for schools.

You are unlikely to be successful where you:

are appealing for a place in Reception, Years 1 or 2 (due to the law that applies)
do not live in the school’s catchment area
have been allocated a place at another school (even if it is not one of your preferred schools) at a reasonable distance from home
do not have evidenced strong medical, social or educational reasons for your appeal
want the school place to make it easier for you to get to work/ transport children to school
do not submit strong academic evidence for an unqualified grammar school appeal
are appealing for a grammar school and live outside the county
are appealing for one grammar school and have been allocated a place at another grammar
are appealing for a grammar school and have been allocated a place at another all-ability (non-grammar) school at a reasonable distance from your home, even if it isn’t one of your preferred schools.

and further on there is this

You have been refused a place because there were more applicants than places available.
Places have been allocated prioritising applicants according to the school's oversubscription criteria (published on their websites). The Appeal Panel will consider if your reasons for wanting the school place are stronger than the school's argument that the admission of the extra child would cause harm to the education of the existing pupils.

We receive a very large number of appeals. You will need to provide very strong educational, social or medical reasons for wanting a place at the particular school, supported by evidence.
You are unlikely to be successful if the school’s case is strong (because the year group is already large and there are staff shortages and health and safety concerns, for example) and:

• you live outside of the school’s catchment area, or
• you want the school place because it would be more convenient for your work or family, or
• you want the school place because it would be more convenient for getting your child/children to school, or
• you have been allocated another school place at a reasonable distance from your home, even if it is not on your preference list, or
• you want the school place as you / your child is disappointed they will not be with their friends.

just an email address of the chair of governors for me to send documents to

More alarm bells. It isn't directly stated in the Appeals Code but normally documents would go to the clerk. It would be a serious breach if the chair of the governors is acting as clerk. The clerk must be independent and impartial.

is there somewhere I can see admission appeal guidance?

Yes. The Admission Appeals Code is at assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/275897/school_admission_appeals_code_1_february_2012.pdf.

Last year, 9% of appeals were successful.

That is true. The success rate for appeals in Buckinghamshire is less than half the national average. That is probably largely due to the fact they have grammar schools - appeals for grammar schools are very difficult to win.

Most appeals fail because the school is already full and does not have the resources to admit additional children without harming the education of the existing pupils.

Not entirely accurate. It would be more accurate to say that most appeals fail because the problems the school will face from having to cope with an additional child outweigh the disadvantage to the appellant's child from not being admitted.

So please think carefully before making your appeal - they are time-consuming and stressful for parents and expensive for schools.

They shouldn't be trying to put people off appealing.

do not live in the school’s catchment area

Wrong. That has no imp0act on the likelihood of success.

have been allocated a place at another school (even if it is not one of your preferred schools) at a reasonable distance from home

Wrong. That has no impact on the likelihood of success.

do not have evidenced strong medical, social or educational reasons for your appeal

An appeal is more likely to succeed if you do have this evidence but that doesn't mean an appeal without it will fail. However, if they said that arguing medical, social or educational reasons without strong evidence was unlikely to work, they would be correct.

are appealing for a grammar school and live outside the county

Have they never heard of the Greenwich judgement? They really shouldn't say this.

are appealing for one grammar school and have been allocated a place at another grammar

Wrong. That has no impact on the likelihood of success.

are appealing for a grammar school and have been allocated a place at another all-ability (non-grammar) school at a reasonable distance from your home, even if it isn’t one of your preferred schools.

Wrong. That has no impact on the likelihood of success.

The Appeal Panel will consider if your reasons for wanting the school place are stronger than the school's argument that the admission of the extra child would cause harm to the education of the existing pupils.

Finally, they get it right! But they then ruin it by again trying to put people off and listing factors that have no bearing on an appeal.

As this comes from the council, please forward this to the Local Government Ombudsman and complain. This document is unacceptable.