School appeals - help offered

hayleyjg

Christmasshopper – Sorry this will be a bit long. All schools have a Published Admission Number (PAN) which is the number that they have to admit up at the time when pupils usually first join the school. In your case the PAN is 120 so 120 places should have been offered. However in other year groups it sounds that the school has lost some pupils and have not replaced them so some years are now below PAN. In these year groups there are places which parents could apply for and the school should not refuse. So there are 9 vacancies but they are in whichever year groups are below 120.

However this does mean that the school will not be its full Capacity which is a point to raise at stage one of the appeal (the stage where the school must prove that the school is full) particularly if the school is making arguments about communal facilities such as playground space, toilets, dining areas ect. Every local authority has to measure the capacity of all of the schools in their area (capacity is the number of pupils that the space can accommodate). We have to use a very complicated calculation from the Dept of Educ, We include a copy of the calculation called Net Capacity in our appeal papers and if it isn’t included in the papers you receive before the appeal, its worth asking for a copy. According the Dept of Educ the school you are appealing for has the space to accommodate 480 children in the school generally so if there are less in the school I don’t think the school can argue that the communal areas are under pressure.

Happysad - One of the things the panel will take into consideration when making their decision about your appeal is what alternative schools are available. In my experience where a panel believe that alternative school with spaces can meet the needs of the child as well as the appealed for school, they turn down the appeal. You need to convince them that only the school you are appealing for can meet your child’s particular needs. Concentrate on his non- educational needs as many panels take a view that “all school teach the national curriculum so all can meet educational needs”.

woohoo

Hi Hayley,
I have just seen your thread, and wondered if I could too 'pick your brains!?'. My daughter was not offered a place at our preferred primary school - and I feel really upset about it!! We are out of catchment slightly and I believe she is very high up on the waiting list (1st or 2nd). Foolishly I only put one school on the form believing (why??) that if she didn't get in, a place at our catchment school would be offered. It wasn't, and we ended up with an offer of a school I wasn't happy with. To cut a long story short, in the end there was space at a school I knew to be good but further away. We changed her offer to that school. One of the reasons I was keen on the preferred school was that they provide after school care (as well as being a really good school obviously!). This would be so helpful to our family - we are going to be struggling without it! I know that they are governed by class size and that appeals are hard to win. Also there is the issue of the primary school being further away and the fact that children my daughter gets to know will probably go to a different secondary school. Lastly where will I send my other child when it is time for them to start school - same school as my daughter - or try again for a nearer one?? This will be difficult whichever way! Do you think I may as well hope for a cancellation - I don't suppose I have grounds for appeal really?
Many thanks and thank you for taking your time to help out. It is much appreciated.

donny_osmonds_mad_fan

hi hayley..

just a long shot question really. My son sat entrance exams for a very very good school, one of the best state schools in the country, so good kids from abroad and far far away sit the exam and entry is purely on exam results...which means something like less than 25% of pupils are local authority ones and most kids have had extreme tutoring for months before.

My son, is extremely bright very very much so, at 7 had a reading age of 14, etc his primary school said he will ace the entry exam.

We have recently started to question that he may have aspergers/something on the autistic spectrum, and whilst he is super clever he can be very slow getting work on paper...when he does its genius lol..

he took the test and told me he found it very very easy but there was so much of it (indeed it used to be 2 sittings worth now it is 1) however he admitted he didnt have time to finish it...I wonder if he had day dreamed like he can do (and is the main cause of not getting work on paper)

when the results came through bearing in mind he missed the last section of a certain amount of questions and the fact he only just missed out score wise from entry anyways if he had finished it he would have indeed 'aced' it.

now what with what has become apparent recently, especially as we always kind of put it down to his quirks but his teacher only admitting me to recently he feels the same, his words were 'I would never have suggested it to you however I have certainly had ideas about it' (why wouldnt he tell is his worries for god sake?) but anyways its really only showing greatly more recently and we are in the process or finding out.

would an appeal be any worth in a school who admits from entrance exams but would anything like this make any difference?

I do feel that school would be better for him with children working hard and very educationally based children rather than the school he has a place at? I am happy with that, his older brother goes there and it is a good enough and local school but i worry he will suffer at the hands of the children for his quirks that may be more apparent I feel in that environment especially if his brother tells things he shouldnt etc.

....confusing stuff and unsure, so hard to decide what to do so would an appeal on this basis be in with a good chance? It isnt like he isnt clever enough to cope or mess their grades up especially if we can work on time management with him etc or find whatever causes him to space/dream out etc

many thanks

hayleyjg

Woohoo – If you are 1st or 2nd on the waiting list there is always a chance that a place will come up anyway. I assume that you are applying for a Reception class place and than any appeal would be under the Infant Class Size legislation – if that is the case then you would be very unlikely to win an appeal. If it was a normal appeal, then I would certainly say you would have grounds but as the grounds on which a panel can allow a Infant Class Size appeal are so narrow, all of what you say couldn’t be taken into consideration.

If you don’t mind the idea of moving your child after they start school you could ask to be kept on the waiting list to see if place become available at some point. You also have the right to appeal each school year although the first three school years are covered by the Infant Class Size legislation. Other than athat I’m afraid I can’t really give any positive advice. I know that It is difficult if your child lives some distance from their friends as my daughter goes to school where her friends are scattered all over the county. AS you say the real problem will come if your child is unable to get into the same secondary school as her friends. But you have to balance that against getting your child the right school for them.

Donny Osmonds Mad Fan ( I just love your user name!) In order to give you sensible advice It would be really helpful to see the admission criteria of the school. If you don’t know what they are, could you tell me the name of the school and I can look them up. (if you don’t want to reveal the name publicly, PM me).

Christmasshopper

Further to my question about whether the school is actually full... I have just been looking on the school's website and the school had a new music suite built last October. The PAN has not changed since the music suite was built. I have been in the music suite and it is a big room (bigger than a classroom). Do you think having this building work completed would have increased the capacity of the school?
Also my daughter has been going to the school for one afternoon a week to do gymnastics. The idea is to get the children used to the school so that when they move there in September it won't feel so strange to them. Do you think that if the school has the capacity to take my daughter's class for one afternoon a week I would be able to argue that there must be available capacity?

woohoo

Hi Hayley,
I thought that appealing would be waste of time when I read the guidance!! Thank you very much for your response though. Much appreciated.

donny_osmonds_mad_fan

hayley thanks...do you like donny? poor guy sees me and starts running...not really but after i went to vegas twice, australia and new zealand last year he should lol

anyways thanks for that, it is tiffin boys school in kingston upon thames surrey.
many thanks

donny_osmonds_mad_fan

ps last year 4 appeals were won apparently...wonder what for lol...

Karrie

Hi Hayley

I have unfortunately received confirmation of my hearing today. I am slightly confused because I thought they had to put in writing why my son wasn't allocated a place at this first choice school. The letter says:

"I am writing to inform you that the Panel considering your appeal will meet at 9.30 on Wed 23rd May blah blah blah. All parents have been invited to attend this time and hear the schools case."

Then it goes on to say:

"Your individual hearing for you to present your case will be held at 11.15 on Thurs 24th May etc etc."

I am so upset. For one, I thought they had to put the LEA's reason in writing prior to the hearing. And two, this means I have to take 2 days off work to attend both days. I don't have any holiday left what with school holidays and had allowed for just one day. Now I feel I HAVE to attend both days. I am finding all this such a strain. Yesterday, the boys that give my son a hard time surrounded him and asked him for money. They are the reason he can't go to his allocated school. All his friends are going to his school of choice. My worry is that once I go off to work every morning that he just won't go to school. He loves school at the moment but I guarantee this will change when he has to go to this other school.

On another note, I had to go to the docs last week with regards to my depression and she was great. She also said if there was anything she could do with regards to the appeal just to let her know. Whilst I am finding it difficult at the moment, I hate asking for help but I know I need it right now. In your opinion, should I go back and ask for their help with regards to the appeal.

hayleyjg

4.65 Panels may take account of parents’ arguments as to why their child did not
perform their best on the day of the test, or of any evidence to support their
36
contention that the child is suitable for admission to a grammar school or to a 6th
form. However, the panel’s role, as for appeals to other schools, is to consider an
appeal against the decision to refuse admission and to determine whether the child
should be admitted to the school. The panel should not attempt to make its own
assessment of a child’s ability, but may need to decide whether the original
decision that the child was not of the required standard was reasonable. In doing
so, it may want to consider whether any review process (see paragraph 4.62) was
carried out in a consistent and objective way, and whether testing arrangements
were fair e.g. reasonable adjustments made for children with disabilities (see
paragraph 2.13).
Casual applications for grammar schools and 6th forms
4.66 Admission authorities for wholly selective schools and 6th forms are bound by
the same duty as those for other maintained schools. In effect, this means that they
must consider applications made at any time (but see paragraph 4.83 for repeat
applications within the same academic year) and, if they refuse admission, must
offer a right of appeal. Many selective schools do not offer a facility for testing
applicants for admission outside the normal admission round. In that situation,
if the admission authority is not willing to accept that such a casual applicant is
of the required academic ability for admission, it must make arrangements for an
appropriate assessment of the child’s ability to be made if their parent lodges an
appeal. If this is not done, the panel must work on the assumption that the child
is of the required academic standard, and should follow the two-stage process
described in paragraph 4.61.