URGENT Secondary School Appeal help - appeal tomorrow

[WeaselTrap]

We have a secondary school appeal for our child tomorrow and I wondered if anyone could advise me.
We are appealing for an in-year place at an out of borough but local school in London. We originally applied under Social/Medical criteria, as the school has an outstanding provision including a dedicated hub for autistic students and prides itself on its inclusivity for Neuro Divergence in general. Our child has Autism, Tourette’s and heightened anxiety, but no EHCP and no need of one if the school environment is correct. The panel sympathized but didn’t see a strong enough link between our child’s needs and the school. The year group is currently full and has a wait list. As we live 1.01 miles from the school we are 22nd on the list, behind 3 siblings. The school’s argument is that they are full, the panel has recently asked them to admit extra pupils through appeal in other year groups and there is already a waitlist with strict criteria.
The current school, despite its excellent reputation and outstanding OFSTED, is failing our child. We have had a 2 year battle to install basic adjustments to help our child cope, that would be standard at the school we are appealing. We have letters from GP, CAMHS and TCaPS charity all saying they believe this is the correct school to cater for our child and the damage the current school is doing to their mental health.
We wrote a statement linking our experience of visiting the school and the info we have found out from in-depth chats with teachers, parents and the SEN team as to why we believe it is the only place our child will be able to thrive, and emphasized why the current school is no longer an option. My child even wrote a statement themselves highlighting what it would mean to them to be at a school where they could feel welcomed, believed and safe.
My queries are:

• What other info can we possibly present to back up our case?
• How strong is the schools argument for overcrowding/resources being spread too thin?
• If they are at capacity for that year group, but over for years 7,8 and 10 does this show there IS some wiggle room? Or just back up their overcrowding argument?
• We actually had to appeal to get into the school they are currently attending – will this be a factor in this appeal?? Will it go against us? Should we mention it?

Thanks for reading if you got this far!!

Bumping for visibility!

You need @prh47bridge and the other appeal experts on MN.

If current school provided the adjustments would you stay? What are they?

The current adjustments are removal of late detention, a time out pass, a toilet pass, testing only in core subjects, any test has to be done in a separate room.
They can’t currently get this right, but even if they did, the amount of trust that has been lost between the school and my child, I don’t think we would stay.

I think you've got plenty of information to back up your case already. If the letters from your GP, CAMHS and TCaPS are clear that they are giving their professional opinion and not simply echoing your views, this is a very strong case.

I can't really comment on the strength of the school's case without seeing exactly what they say. Do you know the net capacity of the school and whether they are over or under that?

The fact they've gone over PAN for other year groups suggests they could cope with going over PAN in your child's year (assuming it isn't one of the years that is already over PAN). However, it could also get them closer to, or even over, their net capacity, which would be unhelpful to your case.

The fact you appealed for the school your child is currently attending should not be a factor. Unless you mention it, the panel shouldn't know. If I were you, I wouldn't mention it. It isn't relevant.

Good luck (and thanks to @Mipil for alerting me to this).

Thanks for this - much appreciated. We thought we had a strong case for Medical/Social and were shocked really when it was rejected.

@WeaselTrap Just be careful to explain why you want the appeal school. Try to avoid saying the current school is awful. Just answer factually if you are asked.

There will be no funding for another child until nearly a year later. If your child has additional needs, the school will have an additional burden to support your child without even the basic AWPU being in place. This will form part of their considerations.

Without the cohort information about their needs I can not add more

Thanks @cabbageking im sorry but I don’t quite understand your comment - is there more info I can give you?

The LA states the net capacity is 1381. The figures we have been given by the school for years 7-11 add up to 917. They do have a 6th form but it is a consortium so spread over different schools. They are not over for the year group we are appealing.

Does the school case mention stretched pastoral support and significant children with SEND already in the school, particularly with an EHCP? If there are significant issues then this will strengthen the school case, however if the level is close to the National/Local % then worth pointing that out.

How much extra support will your DC need? @cabbageking 's point is that the school funding is 'lagged' - it will not get any for your DC until April 2026 if a maintained school and Sept 25 if an academy.

Yes @Appealpanelist , unfortunately it does. They have positioned themselves as the best place for SEN support in the area, so have a large percentage of children with EHCP’s and have even had to reject some who they feel they were not able to support.

The schools statement also says it believes our child will need support beyond quality first teaching, which we agree with, but our argument is they will only need it until adjustments are established, and they will not be a long term drain on resources.

I'm not sure this is acceptable on the school's part. The appeals process is about whether they have space for 'a child'. They can't say that they don't want this child, except that children who have been twice excluded have a special procedure.

They can't argue, effectively, that your child will be too much work for them.

Do your letters state that this school specifically will meet his needs, in the opinion of the professional, rather than "parents feel...."?

As an aside, have you considered applying for an EHCP?

I checked the letters last night after looking on here @Lougle
The CAMHS letter is a bit ‘parents feel’, the GP letter says that but follows with ‘and I wholeheartedly support this’. TCaPS are more explicit in their support.

"I'm not sure this is acceptable on the school's part. The appeals process is about whether they have space for 'a child'. They can't say that they don't want this child"

Disagree with this. They have already explained why the exceptional circumstances application was rejected, but are likely to be questioned by the panel about this, so will need to include relevant information in their appeal statement. They also have the right to respond to any statements in the appellant's case.

Appeals panels do not necessarily have SEN expertise. If this case hinges on the technicalities of whether specific needs can be provided for then the panel may take the view that an EHCP should be applied for. After all, that is the purpose of the EHCP process. Have you applied for one?

but no EHCP and no need of one if the school environment is correct.

Then they will not skip the queue, I am afraid.

The school environment isn’t right for some children regardless of the schools claims. You appear to be hinging on the school being the perfect cure for your child.

Teachers are human - they forget things. Having a specialist centre does not make the school the right fit however much they advertise this.

If this was a specialist school that only dealt with X conditions then you might have a chance.

You are saying your child would be better if x y z was in place - but even if that was in place I think you would still have issues.

I have worked with ASD for 10 years the only thing that really makes a difference is 121 support full time until they can cope.

@patchwerkquilt are you able to point me to the section of the appeals code that allows schools to argue against admission of a particular child, rather than against the admission of any child? I don't think you'll find one. Because they aren't allowed to discriminate.

In fact, I'd go further to say that if I was on an appeals panel where a parent is appealing on the basis of SEN, and a school was arguing that they clearly had SEN, I'd see that as a point in the appellant's favour.

Clause 2.9: "The admission authority must supply the clerk to the appeal panel with all relevant documents needed to conduct the hearing in a fair and transparent manner and in accordance with the specified timetable. This must include details of how the admission arrangements and the co-ordinated admissions scheme apply to the appellant’s application, the reasons for the decision to refuse admission and an explanation as to how admission of an additional child would cause prejudice to the provision of efficient education or efficient use of resources."

The school refused the op's application for exceptional circumstances. The panel will need to be satisfied that the decision was made correctly, in line with the school's admissions criteria.

I represent my school at appeals, and if exceptional circumstances have been rejected then that decision is always examined by the panel. I would include the rejection letter in the evidence pack and expect to be asked questions about it. They also usually want to know what evidence was provided at that stage (often it is much less than what was provided to the appeal), and who was on the decision-making committee. They need to be satisfied that the decision was made in line with the admissions code.

no EHCP and no need of one if the school environment is correct

One of the things an EHCP can do is get your child the correct school. EHCP admissions are entirely separate and have priority. Please do consider applying for one if you haven’t already.

The code talks about efficient use of resources.It’s pretty much silent on anything else. So the “cost” of a sen child with no EHCP is relevant. There’s no extra money and will inevitably cost the school in terms of resources. The panel should not be biased in favour, or against, a child with Sen but this child has no funding. So efficient use of resources is fundamental here.

Hmm I state ‘has been no need for an EHCP’ because CAMHS don’t believe we would be able to get one. The last time an EP came into school to assess was yr5, and they concluded not needed. School did not pursue and advised us that without LA support we would not get one.
The school has a specialist centre for Autism, which is one of my child’s diagnoses, but without an EHCP access to these facilities would be limited.

@patchwerkquilt it wasn’t the school that refused the Social/Medical - it was the LA panel. It would have put us at the top of the list after siblings (of which there are 3 since the intake in Sept).

We were told we couldn’t appeal the Social/Medical rejection and the only option left was to appeal the school….