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!!

@WeaselTrap CAMHS aren't the authority on EHCPs. The test for an EHC Needs Assessment is that the child has/may have SEN, and that provision 'may' be needed from a plan. It's a pretty low bar.

As an example, at the time of request, my year 10 DD3 didn't have any diagnosis and was just 'finding it hard to go to school'. She actually has OCD, anxiety, and was assessed for ASD this week, but nothing on paper. She did get an EHCP and now has a specialist independent school named on it.

They can say that any additional child would prejudice them. I don't think they can say that this child would, which is what their comment about the child's needs is saying.

So presumably it is a maintained school (not an Academy) and the LA is the admissions authority?

Either way, the decision will need to be explained by the admission authority's representative, and it's not possible to do that without referring to the child's specific needs.

"They can say that any additional child would prejudice them. I don't think they can say that this child would, which is what their comment about the child's needs is saying."

@Lougle , the comment was paraphrased by the op. Unless you've seen the full statement, you don't know the context. It is likely to be in the "why the exceptional circumstance application was rejected" context rather than the "prejudice" context.

Appeals are considered in two stages - stage one is whether there was an admissions error. If there was an admissions error then you get a place. Few appeals succeed at this stage these days as errors are rare.

It might be possible to show that not giving you a place on medical/social needs was an error but you’d need a strong argument, eg if it looks like the LA ignored evidence of your son’s needs. If they considered your application properly but just didn’t agree the need was strong enough, that’s not an error.

Most appeals rest on the second stage which is weighing up the child’s level of need for this particular school vs the detriment to the school in accepting another child.

Sounds like you have a reasonable second stage case but it is going to come down to exactly what those professionals’ letters say (how explicitly do they say that in their opinion your child needs this school) and also how strong the school’s case is about being overfull. If they’ve gone higher in other years but not your year, I do think that is helpful to you as suggests they can manage a bigger year - esp as they are not near net capacity.

Good luck

@Lougle is correct.

There are only two situations in which a school can object to the admission of a specific pupil. One is where a pupil has been permanently excluded twice and the most recent exclusion was within the last two years. The other is where the LA is drawing up an EHCP for the child and the parents want the school named. Neither of those applies here.

Think about this logically. If OP's child was at the head of the waiting list and a place became available, the school would have to offer it. They could not refuse to do so on the grounds of SEN and either not offer it at all or offer it to someone else. That would be unlawful.

Similarly, if OP's child qualified for a place in the normal admissions round despite not being given medical priority, the school would have had to admit. Refusing to do so would be unlawful.

It would not make sense for the school to be able to argue against admitting the child on grounds that would not be permitted in the above situations.

There is no problem with the school arguing that OP's child does not qualify for inclusion in the medical needs category. However, an argument that the child should not be admitted because their needs mean they will need additional support is, in my view, disability discrimination in breach of the Equality Act. I hope the appeal panel will understand this and disregard any such arguments from the school.

The argument is that the child would need support that goes beyond quality teaching. That is not a valid argument regardless of whether they are advancing it as justification for not giving priority on medical grounds, or as showing that admitting an additional pupil will cause prejudice. It is far more likely to be in the latter context, but the context is irrelevant. This argument is in breach of the Equality Act.

Whether your appeal is successful or not, you should request an EHCNA. Unfortunately, CAMHS often incorrectly tell parents their DC don’t need or won’t get an EHCP.

@WeaselTrap just adding that although there is a gap between Quality First Teaching and EHCP, the very fact that the appeal pack mentions the fact that your DS needs provision above QFT is evidence that he stands out to them as a child who needs provision. That, along with the fact that you feel his current school can't meet his needs, would indicate to me that at the very least, the LA should be accepting an application for a Needs Assessment, whether or not they then go on to issue an EHCP.

We won.

Well done!

Fabulous

The school representative didn’t turn up? I don’t know if that was a sign, or if they really had an emergency. Panel seemed as though they had made their mind up already, the letters from the medical professionals were the most compelling part of the pack I believe. The questions they had around school overcrowding etc couldn’t be answered by the LA rep so it swung heavily in our favour.

I can’t tell you the relief I am currently feeling

Brilliant - hope the school is all you hope for

That excellent news! Hope it all goes well now.

Congratulations! Hope your DS flourishes in his new school.

@WeaselTrap I'm so very pleased for you.

Good news.

Congratulations!

@Appealpanelist @Lougle @prh47bridge do you know how long it will take for the move to happen? The appeal clerk just said the school will be in touch and that was it…..

Great news. School should be in touch soon but if they don't within a week then I would contact them.

There is no fixed timetable. The Appeals Code says your child must be admitted "without unnecessary delay" but doesn't define what that means. However, I agree with @Appealpanelist that you should contact them if you haven't heard anything by this time next week.

We haven’t even told DC that the appeal was happening today, so need to manage the transition as sensitively as we can. If we told them, there would be no chance of getting them into school before the switch!

How bizzare that they already told you. Normally they discuss it after the meeting and provide response in few days