Appeals - some questions

[Tink0605]

I am hoping for a little help from the very knowledgeable people on these threads.

I am gathering information after scouring these threads but could anyone point me in the right direction.

How do I find previous years PAN for a school? I have been on the LA websites but can't seem to find it. Do they have to release the figures or is it dependent on LA.

Is it possible to find out the last distance given for a child being admitted into the school in catchment. Does the LA have to give this info if asked?

Does it really matter how I lay out my appeals letter? Is there a set format or as long as I get the details in there, It's not going to matter too much. I have requested the appeals form but it just has a big box to fill in, nothing more.

The school can tell you the previous PANs. I believe they aren't supposed to hide information from you that it's reasonable to ask for.
As for laying it, no rules but remember to avoid going into emotional stuff, keep it factual, explain any acronyms etc and give detail without making it too long. The panel may have to read a lot of statements so don't write pages and pages.

The admission authority (the LA if it is a community or VC school, the school itself for other types of school) must answer any reasonable question you ask to help you prepare for your appeal.

There is no set format for an appeal letter. Some people write a long essay, others just give bullet points. It doesn't matter but, as the previous poster says, don't make it too long. At this stage, you don't have to set out your case in full. You can simply say that your detailed case will follow later.

Our PAN information is on the school admissions section of our county council website.

If you call the school and see if you can get speak to whoever leads appeals on thier side. For us it was the deputy head. I was asking reception various questions and they offered me a telephone appointment with him. Initially I turned it down (didn't want to waste his time) then I thought actually now is the one time in my life to be assertive. This was probably one of the most helpful things I did for the appeal. This dep head gave me an absolute wealth of information. He also had details specific to our case, like our distance to the school and by how many places we missed out by.

The second most important thing I did was to call my son's primary school head. He was incredibly supportive. Again, a mine of useful tips and he wrote a frankly stunning letter in support of our application.

Mumsnet, interestingly, was both incredibly supportive from some very knowledgeable posters and incredibly negative from others who were very quick to say that we had zero chance of getting in. We got in!

Best of luck.