Advice needed on School Admission Appeal

cookie54

have you tried to get an earlier appeal because with my son i rang up and thay "found" an appeal date in november not january or feb. also some do have a waiting list so if someone canx their meeting you might get it at short notice. also beware that once they make the decision it still takes a long time to get the statement in writing so with the school hoilday in july it might be until september . so be lots of phone calls may be required. have you got a name of the person in charge of your case as it may be worth ringing them too . hope this helps

quietheart

Savvy_Sue wrote:

Oh what a bummer. I'm sure you don't lose your place at the 2nd choice school by making an appeal so do that. And the LEA would say that, wouldn't they? As troo said, you're appealing against their decision, it's hardly in their interests to encourage appeals.

Meanwhile, is there a 3rd option out there anywhere? A school you didn't consider at the time but which might be better for your son than choice no. 2? And which might have spaces? I know this isn't always an option but sometimes we have to think laterally!
And yes, hassle the SEN people as well, it's appalling that we have to fight like this for our children with SEN but there it is!
Oh, and have you found a support group for children with your son's problem? You might find someone there who will give advice on what to do where SEN assessment is late in coming.

I have accepted the place offered though the form gave the option of refusal it didn't explain that you'd be left with no school.... As for trying a 3rd option, all the schools near here are 90 intakes and all are over-subcribed so there isn't much room for thinking out of the box!
There is a support group and I've posted on various other sites but this one's the best funnily enough.
Cookie54, that's good to know, I'm now worrying about the summer break, I keep being told our LEA are getting statements through' quickly' so I'll see what we can achieve there.
Thanks again for everyone's interest, it's heartwarming!

jellyhead

hello, i asked around but it seems that schools don't have any control if the LEA has taken over the allocation of places. apparently we lost lots of kids last year when the LEA took over ours, there were children already at the school who had to leave because their younger sibling didn't get in, they were too young to make their own way to school so they had to move to whichever school the younger one got into :-( oddly my nephew got in despite living 2 miles away and having a school on the street he lives on! my other nephew goes to our school already and both went to the nursery attatched to the school but it still seems a bit random as to who gets a place out of those who are in the same situation :-(

do you know how many hours the statement will give your son? maybe he'll get enough time with a TA to overcome the manic atmosphere. can you request that he's helped during break and lunchtimes? it would make sense if he has communication problems, a helper would facilitate friendships for him in the playground.

quietheart

Thanks Jellyhead.
I've been trying my named officer at the LEA for a week now but she is never available, I've waited all day for her to call me back so tomorrow I'm going to have to be a bit more demanding. I've been advised by AFASIC to get councillors/mp involved to pressurise the LEA to name the school on the statement so that's our next avenue.
It's lucky I haven't got a job that's all I can say!

Poppy9

Rovers

Ring and ask to speak to the Director of Education. Tell him/her that you have been trying to contact Ms X for over a week and received no response. You will probably only get the secretary but at least the matter will get some attention.

Else you could email them. Most local authorities are staff name like:

[email="poppy.flower@councilname.gov.uk"]poppy.flower@councilname.gov.uk[/email]

Also look on your local authority website for the name of the complaint officer.

quietheart

My husband went to see the Head today who will write and support any appeal, she's desperate to get 3 kids in and luckily one of them is our boy so we're hoping this is a good sign.....Wait and see I guess!

quietheart

A little update: it's our MPs policy not to get involved in school admission appeals but she has made an exception in our case and has written a strong letter of support to our LEA. We're really pleased as she feels it will add weight that she very rarely offers support in this field.
Here's hoping!

jellyhead

that's good news :-)
fingers crossed!