School appeals - help offered

superflygal

Just bumping this! Got to do the appeal form asap. The 4 criteria for appeal have changed from those in Ben Rooney's book. Does anyone know please, if I have to outline reasons for appeal on the form? I thought I read I didn't somewhere.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thanks
SFG x

TeamLowe

You don't have to outline the reasons on the form no, but you'll need to check with the clerk when the deadline for submitting written information is. Anything submitted on the day will only be taken into consideration if the Panel agrees to.

Not sure what you mean by the four reasons in his book as I haven't read it and don't know which sort of appeal you'll be having but the statutory guidance is here: http://www.education.gov.uk/aboutdfe/statutory/g00213244/school-admission-appeals-code-2012

An admissions authority can not go above the published admissions number unless the child is in certain categories known as 'permitted exceptions' for example those put in by appeals panels, children who's statement of SEN names the school, or children in care.

superflygal

Thanks very much Team Lowe. Its a daunting prospect, but if it gets our little boy a place its worth thr stress of appeal.

SFG x

jason555

Hi, I'm looking for a little advice regarding applying.

I really want my daughter to go to an all girls school. There is only one in our area. When applying, we will obviously put this school as our first choice. My thoughts are for what we put for our second third and fourth choices.

I’m concerned that if we don’t get our first choice, (the all girls school) and we have to go to appeal, our grounds of appeal could be significantly reduced by our second third and fourth choices, by stating that we would accept a mixed schools for second third and fourth choices.

Therefore, the quandary I have is; should I still put down schools for our second third and fourth place or leave the second third and fourth place’s blank?

peachyprice

Only putting one choice in no way increases your chance of getting the school you want.

If you leave second, third and fourth blank they'll just put you wherever there is a place, which could be anywhere in your area as priority will be given to those who didn't get their first choice but did put other choices.

By restricting your daughter's choices to just one she will be at the bottom of the pile and will get what is left.

Stating you want her to go to an all girls school is not a reason for appeal unless you can show that there is an overwhelming need for her to go there that the school has not taken into account, you would not win an an appeal based on your want. You can only appeal on the grounds of the school not adhering their admissions criteria.

jason555

Thanks very much for your advice.

poet123

jason555 wrote: »

Thanks very much for your advice.

Do you meet the criteria for admission to the school of choice?

pinkpaisley

This is not directly related to school appeals but this does seem to be the best thread to post this on. I am sitting here totally distraught after having had feedback from my sons school teacher, any bit of advice will be gratefully appreciated.

Background: My 5-year old son is suspected to be on the autism spectrum and we are awaiting a letter from the pediatrician for assessment. We recently moved to UK and applied for admission to local schools sometime in July. In our previous country of residence my son had just progressed to Reception this school year and he had received above average ratings in academic performance in his previous years. He was born end of Aug and hence was eligible for Year1 in UK. However due to his low social maturity ( due to ASD ) and the fact that he should have naturally progressed to Reception I asked the council if I could apply for Reception and had the rule book of 31st Aug thrown at me. As a result my son has completely skipped Recepion. My son started Year 1 couple of weeks late due to the admission process. At the first meeting itself I mentioned my ASD concerns to the headteacher and she agreed with them based on her observations. I also mentioned how young my son was and the fact that he was ideally suited for Reception given his education till then. I provided records of what he had been taught till then and it was pretty obvious he was well short of Year 1 entry requirements. But the headteacher mentioned that he would have special classes to catch up with the rest of the class. She was still very concerned with his "lack of appropriate response". Its been 4 weeks he has been going to school and we've noticed an increase in his usage of english language. He understands much more english then he did. We use reading eggs and he does seem to be able to read most of the high frequency words, albiet letter by letter phonetically, and not as one word. He was always good at maths. But the feedback from his classteacher was all negative. He does not respond to her, is very stubborn. Gets distracted easily, does not contribute in group discussions, copies from partner and does not attempt to write. I attribute the above to being new to having english used this extensively, the accent difference, a new environment + ASD. I mentioned to his class teacher how stressful it had become for him, his teacher and us due to trying to get him up to his peers and how more suitable Reception would have been . She agreed and said I could have got it if I had pushed enough. She also appeared to be frustrated and annoyed at his lack of response and perhaps a little angry( and I understand that !). So Year 1 is not working for my son, if anything his already low confidence is sinking lower. His teacher is frustrated with having a child in class who is at a much lower level his peers. I believe he would perform much better and benefit much more from being at Reception than Year 1. He would get a chance to develop much needed social skills since that is one of the focus areas of Reception. I would rather he went to Reception this year and Year 1 next then repeat Year 1 again which is very likely to happen.

My head is a complete mess but I know that inaction and allowing this problem to fester is not an option. I plan to speak to the council to convince them to move him to Reception( in another school if need be ). I want to be my child's best advocate but not be impractical with what I propose. Appreciate any bit of advice, I am very very desperate.:(

Thanks

emmmski

Hi,

Was wondering if anyone was able to advise me please:-

We moved in Aug 13, I have 2 children at school (yr 1&3). We live 0.1 mile from our local school. However when we moved we were told it was full and that the only school with places was 7 miles away. They started there is Sept but it does take its toll, extra 140 miles travelling per week etc etc. plus the school they are at now, because of the distance pupils from there will go on to a different secondary school from my children, this is a worry for me, I'd like them to be at primary school with at least some of the children they will go on to secondary with. They don't know any children locally which is a real shame.
I have contacted the admissions, and been told that they have a place in year 3 but not one in year 1 :-( , they have put my dd on year one waiting list and she's top.
I'm now left in a real problem. And this is where I hoping I might get some guidance. If I accept the year 3 place , they will go to 2 different schools. I cannot physically be in 2 places at one at the start and end of school day and cannot afford to pay for childcare for one while I pick up the other. Will this issue have any weight with admissions?
Also when they told me my daughter will be top of year one waiting list. They said the year group is currently one over capacity so would not offer any places until it was reduced to normal numbers. Does this seems strange? I ask because its a yr one group so I thought class size rules applied ? And as they had already gone one over, they appear to have set a precedent, does this add strengthen any appeal I could possibly submit?
I'm so worried that if I don't accept the place, a year one place will come up next week, next month etc and the year 3 place will have gone. It stands to reason that the chances of the two places coming up together will be slim but feel like I'm stuffed as if I do accept the place, logistically I just couldn't do it.
Have I got a leg to stand on, appealing to get my dd into year one?

Thank you in advance.

Emmmski.

TeamLowe

just a few points, Emmmski

1) an admission authority can not put a child into a school over its Published Admission Number unless the child is a permitted exception - for example a child in the care of the local authority or with a statement of special educational needs naming the school. so the admissions authority are correct, if the school year is over numbers then they can't offer you a place until the number reduces to below the published admission number. it doesn't matter if this number is the legal maximum for an infant class size (30) or not. So if the year has a published admission number of 25, and there's 26, you'll have to wait until there's 24 in the class for a place to be offered.
Having permitted exceptions does not create a precedent - the school is forced by law to take the extra children above what it has the space and resources for.

2) i'm very suprised to hear that the nearest school is 7 miles away. you local authority has a statutory duty to find any children who live in the borough a place at a school which is a reasonable walking distance from their house - in my authority this is 2 miles. If there is no school with places within a reasonable walking distance then your child could be admitted to a school that is as a permitted exception. this would not mean that you'd get a place at your chosen school, it would be the school that could 'cope' best with the extra student(s)

3) The kind of appeal you will have will depend on the size of the classes in Y1. The legal maximum for an infant class size is 30. if the class(es) are smaller than 30 then you will get a two stage appeal. at the first stage, the panel must decide whether the authority has proved that the school is full- that admitting your child would prejudice the provision of education and efficient use of resources. if they don't, you can be granted a place then. if they do decide the school is full then the second stage is balancing the weight of your case against the fact that the school is full. your chances of success with this type of appeal really does depend on circumstances of both your case and the school

If there is 30 the y1 class or classes then this is an appeal based on what is known as Infant Class Size Prejudice. for these cases there are basically two ways which you can win your appeal a) if the Panel feel that your application was in some way maladministered and had this error not been made you would have been granted a place or b) it was unreasonable to refuse your child a place at the school. 'unreasonable' is in the judicial sense which is that the decision was found to be beyond the range of responses open to a reasonable decision maker and that no moral and sound minded person considering the decision could have come it.

As you can probably tell, it's very hard to win an infant class size prejudice appeal and in my opinion/experience distance from your house and your other child attending are not strong enough arguments for unreasonableness.