Appeal

[SchoolConfusionMum]

I have twins.

One was allocated a school based on ECHP, as fine and good.

Her twin has been allocated a different school. When we applied, I had filled in the sibling criteria as their own policy states "enrolled as of September 2024" Which twin one will be.

I understand that the SEN places were only confirmed 2 weeks ago, So they may not have been able to take this into consideration previously.

How should I approach this? Do I email admissions and ask if they can apply the sibling criteria (As per their own admissions crieria) which would put twin 2 at the top of the waiting list?

OR do I look to appeal as they were aware of twin 1 being accepted prior to the release of allocations on March 1st?

Perhaps both?

Any advice gratefully accepted x

I don't think that applies until dt1 starts in September. Most siblings will not be in same year group.

Thanks, the actual wording says

"For an applicant to be given priority as a brother or sister, the the brother or sister already attending XXX must be in years 7 to 11 in September 2024"

Twin 1 will be year 7 so I think fits the criteria? The school starts at year 7, so if they wanted siblings to be previously enrolled surely that needs to be year 8 to 11?

No, because you could have, for example, moved to the area, got a child into Year 7 mid-year, which would give you priority for older children so the policy has to include Year 7 to allow for that.

As of now, you have no children actually "enrolled" in the school, technically - they are not "already attending". Sometimes policies are explicit in saying "attending or expected to be" or "already enrolled" - I assume not in this case. I would have said the policy isn't as explicit as it should be.

That said, assuming the child with the EHCP has been admitted as part of the normal PAN (and not into a separate SEN unit with a separate PAN), then you may be able to argue that as twins, the normal situation would be that if one was allocated a place (for example as the last allocated place, or from the top of the waiting list) then the other would be too, even if it took the school over PAN. So you would expect your twins to be treated the same, which would mean immediate allocation of a place.

You would need to check the admissions policies on this though - it's standard at primary, but may not apply at secondary; if the school does have a sibling policy it's quite likely. Many LAs do have it as a principle.

If they don't, then I would try to get in writing exactly when they would consider Twin 2 to be a sibling. This might galvanise them.

Thank you.

I suspected as much, but I'm clutching at any flaws...

They do have a twin policy, which states if one is accepted under random allocation criteria the other would be given preference automatically. I think the assumption is if one twin meets a higher criteria then the other will also meet the higher criteria but obviously this is not the case for us!

I'm just drained!

Actually that's helpful.

I would email them and say that you expect your second twin to be treated the same as any other set of twins that apply, and that given one twin has been allocated a place, you expect the other to be.

They may reply that that doesn't apply when a child gets in on an EHCP, if the clause explicitly says "under the random allocation criteria", but it's definitely worth arguing - if they consider a twin link important enough to have for non-SEN children, surely it's more important for those with extra needs.

Totally agree with@PatriciaHolm twin link should be upheld but they might fight back, meaning you having to appeal
I was on an appeal panel with exactly the same scenario and we upheld the appeal giving a place to the second twin.

Hi everyone
my son didn’t get his first choice of high school
i have put an appeal in but I feel I have rushed it and not worded it right and may of missed details I should of put in the appeal
i think I just panicked
im worried now that that they won’t take the appeal serious
he has attended primary school in the same area as the high school all his life my youngest also attends in year 4. Their clubs friends family are all in the area . We was living in the area until not so long we had to move through no fault of my own
the council offered us a house and I had no choice but to except it
the house is less than 10 mins from the area Less than 3 miles away
i have no support network where we live no friends
the school they offered would be two bus rides away which means getting the same buses as the kids that have bullied my boys where we live I have police reports to support this

our first choice school is one bus ride the school they offered would be two bus rides
and to be fair I would be taking him as
my other son school start times are the same and both schools are close to each other

im a single parent already struggling I work part and their primary school is my work base school
iam doing my best to try and move us back to the area but it’s proving hard .
is there anything else other than the submitted appeal form i can do to help us

i would appreciate any help information that I could do to help support our appeal
many thanks

@SchoolConfusionMum the first thing to do is to check the admissions policy to see if it says anything about multiple births.

If not, then email the school's admissions officer and ask them whether child 2 is now eligible for the sibling criterion. I think you do have a chance of that, but obviously there is no guarantee that your EHCP child will start in September, so the school might reasonably say the criterion won't apply until then.

Thirdly, if the school has an Exceptional Social Circumstances criterion, ask to be considered for that. The circumstances may be exceptional enough to qualify.

Fourthly, consider an appeal - you may have a good case.

Finally, don't panic, because the sibling criterion will apply in September, and there is often a lot of waiting list movement in the first few weeks of the new school year.

I'm so grateful! I'm actually in tears today.

There is hope!

To be honest, I'm just trying to keep the emotional knee jerk out of it and look for something concrete. He also has ASD but not impaired enough for an ECHP.

In the first instance I will email the admissions team at the school pointing out the above, and take it from there.

Thank you

@Mams76 you need to start your own thread for your appeal.

@Mams76 Might be better to start your own thread, but to answer one of your points, you can send in extra information and evidence prior to your appeal date, what I strongly advise against is to take that extra information on the appeal day. Most panels will refuse to consider evidence they haven't had time to read in advance.

My apologies
i thought I had
did t realise so sorry
I hope you get yours sorted x

thankyou
and apologies for jumping on your post x

Oh my!

I've already had a response!

I'm hoping this is positive, that they've not just dismissed my points.

The say it was was the Local City Council that allocated DT1 a place and that they will get in touch with them regarding a place for DT2...fingers crossed!

Blimey! Impressed you got a response today! fingers crossed they can sort it asap.

They are honouring his place!

@PatriciaHolm and @tripz Thank you so much for all your advice and support it really helped me to structure my email to the relevant points.

It's the most over subscribed school in the city, and well versed in defending appeals and I am 100% certain you helped me avoid that!

Oh that's great. Very pleased for you! (And your boys)

Ah, sorry, boy and girl! Anyway, great for them ;-)