School appeals - help offered

kair2754

His SEND was only recently and so wasnt added as didnt realise it was relevant. My mistake i guess. There was nothing on the form to say this was relevant to the application. Only children in care on the LA are 1st on the list. No reference for SEN or LSA.

kair2754

Ok so according to the local council, if your child's needs are supported at SEND level 1or 2 your preference for school place will be treated in the same way as all other applications and you will make a standard application to the School Admission Team

Spendless

silvercar wrote: »

Round here for primary schools, siblings are higher up the list than catchment because of the difficulty for families getting kids to different schools at the same time!

Here, catchment is above siblings and tbh it's a policy I agree with. Those who live locally should be able to get a place at the nearby school.

If you've chosen to send your older child/ren to somewhere out of catchment you should be aware that the younger ones may not get in.

Sorry this doesn't help the posters predicament, but always worth reading what the admission criteria is, not just for the child you're sending but any brothers and sisters who may need to join them.

Savvy_Sue

kair2754 wrote: »

Ok so according to the local council, if your child's needs are supported at SEND level 1or 2 your preference for school place will be treated in the same way as all other applications and you will make a standard application to the School Admission Team

I don't know if 1 and 2 are higher level needs than 3 onwards, I'm guessing it's the other way round.

Do you know what level your son's needs have been assessed at?

If they have applied the admissions policy correctly it is still worth making an appeal and adding his SEN.

However if he is currently 2nd on the list it's worth asking the school how many people don't take up the place, in their experience. It's not a guarantee, but they may already know of children moving over the summer, or know that they have a transient population.

silvercar

Spendless wrote: »

Here, catchment is above siblings and tbh it's a policy I agree with. Those who live locally should be able to get a place at the nearby school.

If you've chosen to send your older child/ren to somewhere out of catchment you should be aware that the younger ones may not get in.

Sorry this doesn't help the posters predicament, but always worth reading what the admission criteria is, not just for the child you're sending but any brothers and sisters who may need to join them.

Quite often people move house and keep their child at the same school to avoid further disruption. So it isn't that they have chosen somewhere out of catchment, but that they no longer live in the the catchment area. Or catchment areas change. Round here we don't have defined catchment areas, but measure by distance from the school. It used to be measured by straight line distance but then was changed to "safe walking route". So even with the best of intentions, you can find younger siblings excluded.

Spendless

silvercar wrote: »

Quite often people move house and keep their child at the same school to avoid further disruption. So it isn't that they have chosen somewhere out of catchment, but that they no longer live in the the catchment area. Or catchment areas change. Round here we don't have defined catchment areas, but measure by distance from the school. It used to be measured by straight line distance but then was changed to "safe walking route". So even with the best of intentions, you can find younger siblings excluded.

But that needs taking into account at the point you move - I accept it's not everyone's personal decision to move away, but if you have a sibling where there's going to potentially be an issue, sort out what plan B is going to be.

Catchment areas changing is a different matter and not something that's happened where I live.

LIllylid

Hi
Got my appeal date through and just putting everything together .... I've just had a huge panic.
In the Appeal I've stated that exam results have not faultered over the past 5 years - where they have accepted many over the PAN. However, do I need to work it out .... eg if they started in year 7 in 2012 (with 5 over the PAN) should look at the exam results for 2017 or just "general" exam results for the past five years would suffice?
I hope that makes sense to someone .... it's difficult to explain.
Thanks in advance.
:eek:

Savvy_Sue

Just checking: your argument is that accepting over the PAN has not adversely affected exam results? I don't know what you mean by 'general' exam results. I'd keep it simple, because ...

Also just checking: what other grounds for appeal do you have? This does not seem like strong grounds. What reasons are there that YOUR child should be given a place at THIS school? "I want them to go to a school which gets good exam results" isn't really the answer.

LIllylid

Hi Savvy_Sue
Thanks for response. Other reasons I have is:-
*Offered school 1 hour on 2 buses - my son witnessed a gang fight on a bus (with knives) last December and is terrified to get on a bus ....never mind 2 buses alone for an hour each way (I was with him at the time of fight). Appeal school 15 mins walk.
*Distance - I have O.S. map that they have not done the correct route to school and reduce mileage significantly
*Offered school does not do DofE - he is training for this already and something he always wanted to do (climbs Snowdon etc)
*My son attends animal care days at a North Shropshire College ... something he is very interested in and wishes to have career .... offered school offers nothing on this ... appeal school has a farm / agriculture
*Keen and top 6% in country in maths (SATS) and offered school better for him to continue this.
In short, although I can't say it ... his offered school is dreadful and takes on other pupils who have been expelled with no other school to go to. Has awful attendance and sends pupils to off site venues due to behaviour to continue their work. My son is extremely quiet and bright with 100% attendance throughout primary school - never been off, never been late .... but all the above also... thanks.

silvercar

Distance - I have O.S. map that they have not done the correct route to school and reduce mileage significantly

To my mind this is your best argument. Though check the criteria, some use crow flight distance, some use roads and some use safe walking route.