To ask for secondary school appeal help, I am desperate.

[FluffyUnionSocks]

My youngest dd did not get a place at the same secondary school as her two siblings. Nor did she get her second or third choice school which were both within the catchment area. She was given a school 12.8 miles away which in my opinion is not walkable twice a day for the average 11 year old girl, there is not a foot paths the whole way and would mean walking down 60 mph A roads on the grass verge next to the hard shoulder. She could get the first bus in our village at 7:00am (bus runs every 2 hours) to the town centre where she would arrive at 8:30am, then get another bus to an Asda store 1 mile away from school arriving at 9:15am approx and then walk the last mile, she would arrive at school at 9:35-9:40am daily, the school starts at 8:20am so this is just not an option. I have heard that the appeal panel don’t care about transport issues but the local authority have given her an out of catchment school which she can not get to on time by public transport.

Secondly we have a safety plan put in place by the police (not for domestic violence but threats from outside the home) the local authority is aware of this as they recently chaired a multi agency meeting (ASBRAC) where the plan was was reviewed and renewed. Part of that plan along with lots of other things is the children aren’t to use public transport unaccompanied by an adult, left home alone or out in local area until the problem is resolved. My eldest child is 16 and the same rules apply to her, I take and collect my other two children to school, if the council do not budge one set of children will have to be late every day and one leave school early every day. They couldn’t do after school clubs as we are a one car family and dh needs to leave for work at 3:30pm and then isn’t home until 6:30am the following morning. If he gave up work to allow someone to do after school club we couldn’t afford our car pcp payment, mortgage or our life generally on universal credit.

Some one that knows about school appeals please tell me do I have a chance of winning this? Do I write all of this on the form? I have evidence of the safety plan/ASBRAC but I don’t necessarily want to hand that over as it has sensitive information and you never know who the panel knows, although I could photocopy and delete the offending parties details.

Why is your nearest school not in catchment? I don't understand.

I don't understand why she didnt get in if her siblings are at the school (though y13 might not apply as it usually isn't automatic that a pupil gets into sixth form). Unless it's an error, that would mean that virtually all places went to siblings (others to criteria above siblings) and that you happen to live further from the school than the rest of the allocated siblings. Seems unlikely unless this school is some distance from your home.

However, the safety angle would surely take precedence over all other considerations. You should definitely declare it if you're going to appeal. Can you not contact the organisation involved to let them know what has happened? They might be able to pull strings for you.

My dd would not be safe using the transport even if it was free from LA she is not allowed to use public transport unaccompanied or the local taxi firm as some of the drivers are involved in what we are being protected from

Surely if some of the drivers are involved in gangs/county lines, the LA shouldn't be using them at all? They've got a basic duty to keep all children safe, not just those they specifically know to be at risk.

OP, I know you have other priorities at the moment, but you might like to raise this with your local councillors.

Did you mention this on the school application?

"The LA" knowing about it is irrelevant if you didn't tell the school admissions team.

I think the LA only has to be able to show that had the applicant put it on their form there would have had a place there, and as such, they have exercised their choice not to.

e.g. applicant (any applicant,not OP, as whether school x would be the applicable school is under debate) has no sibling link and would only qualify on distance grounds. Applicant lives 1.8 miles from school X. Last admitted applicant lives 2.4 miles from school. If the applicant had put school X on their form they would have been admitted.

@Xol the police are aware the LA are aware but at the moment that’s not my fight, my dd is my fight.

@FluffyUnionSocks I've reported this thread so it gets moved to the secondary education forum

The ASBRAC plan is definitely your best route here. I can't imagine any panel wanting to go against that. The fact that it was reviewed very recently goes in your favour. The LA may argue that it wasn't in place at the time of application (was it?) but that doesn't matter because it is now and you're not really trying to show an error, as such, just a huge prejudice to your DD if she doesn't get the place.

So my approach would be:

1. There is an error because the sibling link wasn't applied (check there definitely is a sibling criteria and that your older children qualify)
2. Even if there wasn't an error, the ASBRAC makes clear that your DD would be in danger if she was not taken to school by you. This can only be achieved by going to school A.
3. Even if they don't accept 2, your DD would benefit by going to school A for the following reasons (including that school A are familiar with your situation and have a plan in place for her siblings).

My nearest school 2miles away is not in catchment as it is in another county. My nearest catchment school in my county is 10 miles away.

So I'd potentially have similar situation regards nearest vs catchment although LA operate a school bus from the village as all the kids are in this position.

If siblings are not the first oversubscription criteria and the school is out of catchment (which it sounds like it is) then it is quite possible that she didn't get a place. That has happened at my school this year.

@FluffyUnionSocks

You keep saying the 'LA are aware' but were the school admissions team aware? Local Authorities may not be great at communicating inter-departmentally?
Even in the 'Education department' - the admissions team may work completely separately and may not be aware of all these issues

Did you include your ASBRAC proof in your application?
Did you put your SEN documentation in your application?
Did you put siblings in your application? Is siblings priority in the admissions criteria?

I hope the proper experts come along soon but does the school have a social/medical priority criterion? Because regardless of siblings in my authority that would outweigh almost everything else. The fact that you weren’t advised by the LA to apply on that ground even with the sibling priority is quite surprising. I think there must be a high chance that they’ve made a mistake on the sibling qualification though unless it’s been removed.

Have a look at the admissions criteria for your other DC's school. Are siblings priority or is it in catchment siblings? Is there an admissions ground covering an specific social or welfare reason.

Remember that in your appeal you are not appealing against the school you have been given but rather arguing why the school you want is more appropriate for you child. Just saying the other school is rubbish (even if it is true) will not help. Why are the schools you are appealing for the right school e.g. cannot use public transport / taxi firm, need to be with siblings due to disruption to family life? Specific resources to deal with your DC's SEN?

I guess it depends where in the list of priorities siblings are and perhaps it's a cohort with a high number of either siblings or the children prioritised above siblings. Is their school a faith school? Sometimes their admissions are quite complex and the priority lists long.

My DCs school is their closest but doesn't actually have a catchment area therefore is not our catchment school - they just work by straight line distance - and no feeder schools or anything. This was the same as their primary which was a VA faith school with no catchment.

I hope you manage to get it sorted OP - you have a good case.

This is correct. When we applied for secondary schools there is 1 school 8 miles away thats the closest its on another LEA so our "catchment" school is the one in our LEA. But you do not get free transport to that one.

Stupidly the one you do get free transport too you rarely get your child into due to their admission policy. However as long as you have it on the form you are eligible for free transport if they send you further afield.

Op I agree get this sent to secondary education board. Listen to what @Lougle has said as they have it correctly as far as I am aware.

Check out posts by the 3 expert mentioned on this thread. They are all very helpful and knowledgeable.

Imo first port of contact is finding out where your daughter was allocated according to the schools admission criteria and check this was correctly applied. It appears it has not been. As I understand it if it has been incorrectly applied the LEA should give you a place with no appeal.

@Pipsquiggle no the ASBRAC information was not put on the school application form, it is a digital form and you can not upload documents.

Siblings were on the form.

SEN was on the form.

The reason given for all 3 schools on our application was “did not meet the admissions criteria.”

Have you spoken to your police liason officer? Given the circumstances and the fact it would be safest for all your children to travel together with you perhaps they could put this in writing or speak to the LA.

@Coffeeandnaps I think I need to do this I will make contact with CID department via email now and then call Monday morning.

They have to give a reason so you can appeal. They can't just say 'didn't meet the admissions criteria". If you were allowed to apply for the schools, then you met the criteria, even if your location put you beyond the limit of the last place offered.

You need to contact the LA and ask them which oversubscription category your child was placed in, and on what grounds your place was refused, for each school.

Nearest school isn’t always the catchment school. I think London goes by a distance policy from what I see here but many LA don’t. Round here, there is a primary where the houses opposite the school isn’t in catchment of that school.

Also, was there no free text type box for you to type in? The Code says:

2.1 Local authorities must provide a common application form (CAF) that enables parents to express their preference for a place at any state funded school, with a minimum of 3 preferences in rank order, allowing them to give reasons for their preferences.

I was going to ask if she has an EHCP ? Presumably not or this would have helped you get your chosen school. Consider starting the process of getting one, and mention in your appeal you intend to do so.
Submit any additional information and evidence you can such as the official documents surrounding your situation. It sounds to me as though you have strong grounds for appeal- I would site the impact this is going to have on your family's well being and the emotional stress it will put upon you all if she attends this other school.

Don't wait 28 days for the LA to respond - contact your older daughters' school on Monday, by telephone, first thing, to ascertain why this child was not allocated a place. Hopefully it's a mistake (assuming this school has a sibling link in its oversubscription criteria) but if not, then don't mess about, just find out how to appeal, and do so. It sounds to me like you have a very good case and any appeal panel would uphold your appeal purely on the safeguarding grounds alone.

I'm assuming you weren't in the catchment for your first choice where the siblings attend. I'm surprised even with sibling rights they encouraged you to apply there, knowing this could occur.
The same happened to Dd's best friend. Her mum assumed she'd get a place at choices 2or3 purely because she was in the catchment area for those schools. Choice 1 was vastly oversubscribed so even though her siblings attended there, the children within the catchment were obviously above her priority as a sibling. She tried to appeal but nothing made a difference. She has to drive thirty minutes each way to get her to the allotted school.
I think parents should be told that even a place within catchment is only guaranteed if you put it as your first choice and that catchment areas can move after applications are received. I know one parent who bought purely based on what the catchment had been for years. It moved about 100m meaning her DC was sent to a failing school. It's an absolute minefield.