School appeals - help offered

hayleyjg

Hi All. I’ve been away doing appeals and training panel members so I’ll try and answer you questions now:

Karrie – if you are basing your appeal on bullying at your allocated school, it may be an idea to included quotes from the Oftsed re bullying. Make sure they’re short and relevant. Also it would be good if you can get any evidence re the bullying your child is experiencing at present. Something like a letter from the current school would be good (some school’s won’t write letter fro appeals though). If you have had to involve the police or doctor, a letter from them would be good.

Suzannewhsiwyg – If doesn’t matter where you live, you can apply for a place at any school you want. You may have a lower priority if you don’t live in the catchment area but you still have the right to apply for a place or an appeal. Have you spoken to whoever deals with admissions in the borough where you live. If you get nowhere with them, let me know.

Lyndsay_21 – Are you asking about first admission to school? As scrimpandsaver says Key Stage 1 classes (Reception, Years 1 and 2) can be subject to very different rules for appeals which make very, very hard for a parent to win. Your local authority should tell you what type of appeal it should be.

Even if it a “normal” appeal you would have some difficulty as you have a place at your second choice school. You would need to produce evidence as why the first choice school would be so much better than the second for your daughter. Perhaps a letter from the nursery describing how well she is doing. Also you could argue the difficulties that will arise from having to get two children to two different places in the morning.

I don’t know how the waiting list would be ordered in your area. In mine we do it in accordance with the admission criteria (basically home to school distance).

LopezLopez A school must allocate places up to the schools Published Admission Number so if it is 30 then 30 places must be offered. Schools are not allowed by law to reserve places for anyone. Any children admitted by an appeal panel are above the number already in the school. Appeal panels can allow as many appeals as they feel are appropriate ands the school must admit the children. AS for boy and girls, there is no requirement for a school to balance the male/female ratio.

CharleneUK –you can put anything in an appeal case. An appeal panel can consider any reasons that apparent puts forward and are not bound by the admission criteria so the form is wrong to what you can and cannot put tin your appeal. If you tell me why you want the school you are appealing for I may be able to help further.

thewestfive

hello everyone

in this book is there any information about appeals for special schools. my son has a resourced provision placent in mainstream high school however he is not coping and we want him to go to a special school. i just wandered if the book would be any good for me. thanks

hayleyjg

The book does not cover appeals for special schools as they are not dealt with under this system. Does your son have a statement? If he does then you would need to challenge the placement named at Part 4 of the statement. Appeals in respect of statements are dealt with by the Special Edicationa Needs and Disability Tribunal. This is not my area but I may be offer some further advice.

Karrie

hayleyjg wrote: »

Hi All. I’ve been away doing appeals and training panel members so I’ll try and answer you questions now:

Karrie – if you are basing your appeal on bullying at your allocated school, it may be an idea to included quotes from the Oftsed re bullying. Make sure they’re short and relevant. Also it would be good if you can get any evidence re the bullying your child is experiencing at present. Something like a letter from the current school would be good (some school’s won’t write letter fro appeals though). If you have had to involve the police or doctor, a letter from them would be good.

Thanks Haley - it's not bully at his current school. He loves his current school. The bullies live near us and they hate my son and they are going to his allocated school. I had to involve a councellor and have got it in writing that he was able to assist me. His teacher feels that because ALL his friends are going to another school, this will affect my son but he won't put that in writing. He told me to be a "pushy parent" for a change! I suffer from depression which my son is not aware of and my gp has put this in writing for me. Being a pushy parent is not my style unless it is absolutely necessary and in this case I feel it is. Anyway I have finished my statement of appeal and can do no more. I have only quoted the bad ofsted report twice regarding the bad behaviour and it was in context with what I was try to put across. ie "We know that they are working hard to improve certain aspects but, at this period in time it is not the right environment for (my son)."

Anyway, thanks for all your advise and wish me luck.

Oh sorry just thought: my friends son lives 2 mins walk from our allocated school and he got into our choice school which is 1.5miles away from him. Just curious - how does that work. He walks past one school to get to another?

Lyndsay_21

well i've now had to in writing cancel my first 3 preferences i chose and choose 3 more to try and get her into my closest school which i hadn't originally put down, so i will be classed as a late applicant now i suppose as i'm re-applying.
It's almost definate i'll get into this new one as its always undersubscribed after having a bad ofsted 5yrs ago but the facitilties are fab and it had small class sizes.

Does anyone know how long it'll now take to find out about her place what with being a late applicant??

hayleyjg

Karrie - it sounds af if you are doing all the right things for your appeal i.e. getting evidnece in writing to support your case. If you want me to look at your statment of appeal before you submit it (removing any names or other personal details first) , I'd be happy to do so - just PM me. In respect of your friends child - it makes no difference if her has to walk past one school to get to another - parental prefernce means that a parents can pexpress a prefernce for any school even if there is one closer. Dosn't help you though - I know!

Karrie

I have pm'd you.

amberviolet

Hi, hayley jg,
I have put in an appeal for my daughter for a secondry school, I was just wondering if you could tell me is it just the facts the appeal panel are looking at or does your apperance/manners/attitude in general come in to it when they look at your case.

Thanks

Lyndsay_21

after all the stress of the past week we've been told after we had our mothers day assembly the 2 schools might be closing and being merged into one anyway next september ARGHHHH
So now the school i asked for as my first 1st preference may be merging into the school i've chosen as my second 1st preferance IYSWIM

HappySad

Thanks so much for offering your help to us parent in such a stressful time.

I am considering hoping to move very close to a very popular school but don't want to do this if the limited 30 places all get allocated to the siblings and there are no places for non siblings. Can you get this information about previous years so that you can get a rough idea of how many siblings have got places inthe previous years.

The school that I am keen for my son to attend are very much into being healthy and very much incorporate this into his everyday teaching. It also has an outstanding ofsted report & test results. I personally suffer from Bi-Polar (manic depression) and for me I want my child to go to a school that has good decipline along with a good teaching of health because this is very important for a child of a mental ill person to reduce his likely hood of getting something (depression/ maninc or whatever) himself.

I am not at the appeals state and am still at the application stage. Could mentioning the condition effect the application in my favour? The admission says something along the lines "...that Medical reason to parent(s) seeking place at their closest school must show with a medical letter from a consultant to show how the condition and why this child should attend the school".

Do you know what I can put to support my application. Can I mention my condition in anyway to support my application?

forgot the mention that I am looking for my son's first primary school.