My friend won.....

kateab · 30 June 2009 at 11:48PM

Some of you may remember my mentioning my friend not getting a school place for her daughter on this thread here:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1538031

Well, she took it to appeal and heard today she'd won! Basically, what we found out that the council when measuring distance via a walking route didn't take into account a path opposite her estate which took a mile off the distance compared to the route going via the road. She asked the council to reassess the route and they said it was too "lonely". THEN we found out that they state in their transport policy that a path being "lonely" doesn't make it unsuitable if they are measuring distance for giving financial help in getting to school!

So, she appealed. She found out at the appeal that her daughter would have been .02 miles nearer than the furthest child that was given a place. In addition, the impression she gained from the appeal panel that the council couldn't decide it was an unsuitable path on that basis.

So the letter arrived and her daughter has been allowed a place there. She had found her a place at a different school and had started the induction there but this one will have several children she already knows from nursery in the same class.

We are all so pleased. Just goes to show - have a decent case, and you will win your appeal. Bizarrely, I have a friend who did exactly the same thing several years back for the same school and had found her daughter a place at the same school as they had and she also won so it looks like the council haven't learned their lesson.

kateab