What are the chances of winning appeal on these ground

[Salpal9]

Secondary school appeal - Single parent, school appealing to is a 5 minute walk away, allocated school almost 4 miles away. Have a child in primary school, impossible to get to allocated school and pick primary child up. Child's cousin lives next door and has a place in appeal school and child's parents would help with child care as still have to pick primary child up.

What are the chances on appeal with the above?

Thanks in advance.

OP and the child's father put his address down on the form because that was closest to their first preference school. What they didn't think about was that this meant that if they didn't get that school, they were out of catchment for what sounds like their second choice (if they indeed put it on the form), the school five minutes from OP's address, where child actually lives most of the time and which almost certainly should have been the address on the form (we don't know exactly what her LA's rules were). As a result they were allocated a school four miles away from where child actually lives, with OP.

Their appeal chances are not good, but their chances of getting a place off the waiting list at the school five minutes away from OP's/child's primary address are excellent, if they make an application from the right address. But this will mean they definitely won't get a place at the original first choice school, because child will be way down the waiting list once registered at the correct address - which they knew, and is why they used dad's address in the first place.

FAFO

Hang on in there

There is often quite a bit of movement so hopefully they’ll get a place

It sounds like you might need to get the primary school child into after school club. You can then pick your older child up first and then collect the younger one a little later.

Surely even the youngest secondary aged children (leaving aside those with any special needs that are relevant) should be capable of waiting for a few minutes outside school to be picked up by a parent or (preferably) of getting themselves to school independently.

My daughter (born in the second half of July) was at secondary school 14 miles away from our house. From day one, she was perfectly capable of walking to the station, catching a train, walking to a different platform, catching another train, and then walking to school - and of doing the same thing in reverse on the way home. We practised the journey in advance so that she was confident enough to do it alone.