Secondary school appeals help

[ForLilacSheep]

Hi, I am appealing for a place at our preferred school to start in year 7 2025. I have other questions regarding our specific appeal however what I would like to know in the first instance is this. I have contacted the LA (Lancashire county council) asking questions and for information. They are not willing to supply me with any answers at all to any of the questions related to PAN numbers, annual reviews of GPA, questions regarding how many applicants the school had this year, how many children from within the gpa who had this school as first preference were refused a place, how many children were admitted last year in year 7, the list goes on. I would like to go to the appeal hearing with a good knowledge of their case in advance so I can prepare sufficiently. I have done a freedom of information request but obviously this is a slow process. I feel they are not being transparent. Could anyone offer any advice or ideas of how else to obtain this information? I have also asked the school some questions and they have also failed to respond. Thanks in advance :)

Yes!

@crummydeal cool.

@PrettayGood thats amazing! I bet you were over the moon. I’m really getting tired of being told not to look into any data or find out any information. This is my child’s life, as if I’m going to treat it like I’m going for a little chat with some mates and not be prepared.

@RockyRogue1001 no it isn’t today.

well do you live on the doorstep of the school and expect to have got in? Does your child have a sibling there? Or is it a school that’s quite far away and was a bit of a pipe dream?

2.1 that: Admission authorities must set a timetable for organising and hearing appeals a) includes a deadline for lodging appeals which allows appellants at least 20 school days from the date of notification that their application was unsuccessful to prepare and lodge their written appeal;

From the Apoeals Code

@ForLilacSheep does this school have the initials BM?

If you got the current headcount number from national data, then that would be from the January 2024 census (i.e. very out of date)

@thismummydrinksgin Actually it is our nearest school by a long way compared to the others in our area, not even the best attainment wise in the area. We are located within the geographical priority area. No sibling, but children within the gpa have priority over children with siblings outside gpa in this school. It is the only school in our area that is within walking distance. ALL the other schools in our area require 2 seperate public buses (as there are no school services from where we live) so no, not a pipe dream.

@crummydeal it doesn’t have those initials no. And yes I realise the data is out of date. That is why I would like the current data. Which I cant get hold of.

The LA should publish the information about who got in on what criteria each year. Previous year’s info should be on their website. But, who has got in previously and why is not always relevant to your case.

Where did you get the 853 from?

This is what you need to do, explain that fully. Perhaps evidence the routes and describe the impact it would have on your child to get two buses - time, energy levels etc. it’s really likely everything’s been done properly, make sure your on the waiting list and remember the independent panel don’t want you to do their job for them they want to hear your story. They will question the school as to why this child dint get a place and decide if procedures have been followed. What they want from you is a good set of reasons they should let you in.

@thismummydrinksgin i appreciate that thank you.

@thismummydrinksgin i am certain everything has been done properly. I don’t dispute that. But I just think it’s important to be fully informed of the situation from all sides. It relieves my anxiety somewhat to feel like I have all the information before the hearing which is a long time away. It’s the main reason why I want to find things out. Because I’m about to have a nervous breakdown and being prepared and feeling informed in every way will help me get through the next few months.

@crummydeal gov.uk

You can check that the information they have used is accurate, that for example the correct postcode was used, and that your child was not considered under the wrong criteria. Mistakes are rare but they do happen. Have you had the information about why your application was refused?

@ForLilacSheep The PAN only applies to the year of entry, so in a secondary school with a sixth form in a two tier system, that will usually be Year 7 and Year 12. There is no whole school PAN - I think what you mean is the capacity of the school. As I mentioned upthread, you can check the PAN for Year 7 in the published admission policy for 25/26. You cannot assume unused capacity in other cohorts means the school can admit additional pupils in Year 7. The school will need to consider how it delivers the curriculum, e.g. if the IT suite or science lab can only safely accommodate a certain number of pupils, it may be an obstacle to the school taking additional pupils.

@LadyLapsang thank you, I think I will just give up on sourcing any data and concentrate on the reasons why my child needs to go to the school now and hope for the best. It’s all very overwhelming and upsetting and the repercussions for my child are immense so I’m not sure I can handle the battle to be honest.

Thank you for your help everyone. I’m done with this now, but I appreciate all the helpful information and will just see what happens.

Is it a school with initials AG?

If so, then it had 855 in Jan 2024, not 853, and 119 of those were in the sixth form, so there were 736 in the rest of the school. They will put the updated numbers in their case.

Their PAN was 145 in the determined 2025 admissions policy, and their year 12 PAN was 150.

If they admitted 150 in year 7 then that is 5 over PAN and they presumably have 5 full forms of 30.

They may have capacity in their sixth form, and possibly in some other year groups. However, the only thing that matters to your child is whether year 7 is full.

If their entire case is built around overcrowding in corridors then you can knock it down, but it is more likely to be based on having 5 full classes.

If it's not in their case already, the panel will probably ask the admissions authority rep what the classroom capacity is, and how many adults are in the room (more space may be needed for teaching assistants, wheelchairs etc). However, the basic case will be teacher-student ratio - anything over 30 is very unreasonable, and even 30 is well above average for a secondary school (they need spare capacity to accommodate options groups, low attainment groups etc, so tend to keep numbers lower than 30 unless really struggling for budget).

However, you may get lucky - concentrate on strengthening your own case. The school's case will probably be heard at a group hearing. If the panel decide they can admit one or two, your case will need to beat all the others.

My bad!

Sorry if I've caused any confusion

I have actually come across a local school in our LA stating (on national offer day - I haven't looked since) the 21st as the deadline. I can't remember whether they've done this before, so possibly someone new confusing '20 school days' with '20 calendar days', and forgetting that offer day was the 3rd this year, not the 1st, to boot.

Are you sure it wasn't 21st April? Some local authorities set the appeals deadline later because they know there will be a lot of movement in the second admissions round (after they've processed the acceptances and rejections and added in the late applicants). My local authority won't even tell anyone their waiting list position until then.

In any case, I expect the op has already lodged their appeal. You don't have to submit your full case on the day you lodge the appeal - you can add it later.

@crummydeal just looked again and yes, whereas the date for 'notifying' the school that you want to appeal is 21st March, the deadline for submission is later in April.