Possible primary school appeal

nsp1274

OK, this may end up a long winded one as not sure how to explain it.

I have 1 child at our closest school. I have applied for my 2nd child to start at this school in September - however, this is not our catchment school.
I have spoken to our closest school and they have said there are 39 kids in catchment area and their PAN is 30. Obviously not all the children in catchment may apply to this school, but there would have to be a huge amount not to for it to have an effect on us. So I am expecting to be allocated our catchment school which is further away, therefore I am thinking about ideas for an appeal. I have got very confused regarding the reasons you can appeal, especially if this happens as it will be do with class size?

I suffer from Epilepsy, although I can drive and haven't had any seizures for ages. I have however had to go the doctors a couple of times recently as I have 'not been feeling right' (basically can feel the start of a seizure coming on). I have had my meds increased and both times have mentioned the worry of this admission.

I really can't see how I can get 2 children to 2 different primarys, and the stress/worry of having to get from 1 school to another may have a detrimental effect on my health.

So basically what I am asking is if anyone has any ideas, advise on if I would have a chance of an appeal?

Voyager2002

Under normal circumstances, if you already have one child at a school then you have a stronger claim on a place there than do people who live in the catchment area. Check their admission criteria carefully, and you may well find that you have nothing to worry about.

nsp1274

Thanks for you reply Voyager2002.

Sadly we come in the 4th category on the admission criteria! 1. SEN 2. In catchment with sibling 3. In catchment and then 4th outside catchment with sibling at school. :mad:

divadee

the class size can not be more than 30 by law in an infant school.

could you not move your eldest child to be in the same school that is in your catchment? I know its not the nicest thing and a lot of upheavel for the child, but you obviously cant be in 2 places at the same time, so you might have to move the eldest one.

You might not have anything to worry about you might get a place at your preferred school.

There have been many threads on school appeals before, have a search on here for them.

Hope it works out ok for you, let us know what happens.

bestpud

Are you very close to the non-catchment school? If so then you may be first on the sibling non-catchment list, which may mean you are ok.

The trouble with you saying about it being two different schools is that they could argue you made the choice to send your eldest out of catchment.

I'm not sure how far you can go on the health grounds but I'd have thought you would need a very good reason why you need your child to go to that particular school and distance is unlikely to be good enough - expecially since you drive.

Is your catchment school within walking distance, even if it is further than the non-catchment school?

The other problem is they cannot stretch reception class sizes. I'm wondering if you may have a better chance of getting him in next year, if you do get turned down? Not ideal by any means though.

What are your reasons for rejecting your catchment school?

As you are just below catchment children, you will need to argue why your child needs a place above a child who is in the catchment area. I don't know if your health will come into that because it was your choice to send your eldest to that school iyswim?

I hope you can come up with something though - been there myself with school choices and it's a horrible situation.

Best wishes.

hobo28

The issue here is that their criteria puts you at a disadvantage. You can only appeal if you believe they have made a mistake in following their criteria or you think their rules are unreasonable.

In your case it doesn't sound like this is true. The rules just are not advantageous to your circumstance and the rules do not seem unreasonable.

But far more importantly, for your child the infant class size rules apply. So whats more likely to happen is the school/LEA will simply fight the appeal on that and say they denied you a place because they have 30 kids. Successful appeals against infant class sizes are incredibly rare.

There are specialist companies out there who know the procedure and law inside out that might be able to help you but they are not cheap. My friend used one and there is no chance he would have won without even though he had a very strong case and the infant class size rules did not apply. Its worth considering.

nsp1274

Thank you all for your replies.

You have all said pretty much the things that I have been thinking, so at least I know I'm not missing anything.

I will not be moving my oldest child as she has already moved school twice in the past year, so don't want to disrupt her anymore.

I have "got my head" around the idea of the youngest going to a different school, so am not overly worrying about it now.

Thanks for you help.

hobo28

Perhaps a one option is to speak to the head once the lists are done and see how far you missed out by. If it wasn't many then ask if he/she will let you know if someone doesn't take the spot on perhaps decides to move.

Gingham_Ribbon

nsp1274 wrote: »

Thanks for you reply Voyager2002.

Sadly we come in the 4th category on the admission criteria! 1. SEN 2. In catchment with sibling 3. In catchment and then 4th outside catchment with sibling at school. :mad:

:eek: Their criteria need looking at. I had no idea some schools put siblings anywhere other than top of the pile. That's ridiculous. You need someone on your side for the appeal. Can you ask your doctor to make some sort of statement for medical grounds?

Krystaltips

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

:eek: Their criteria need looking at. I had no idea some schools put siblings anywhere other than top of the pile. That's ridiculous. You need someone on your side for the appeal. Can you ask your doctor to make some sort of statement for medical grounds?

IMHO I think it's only fair that people in the catchment area get priority over people out of catchment with siblings. My DD's nursery is highly oversubscribed and there are a number of children with older siblings in the school who live way out of catchment. I don't drive, I have chosen a school within walking distance of my house. It would grieve me beyond words if my daughter got offered a place at a school we had to catch a bus to so these other parents could drive from the next town over to take my daughters place at my local school!:mad:

poet123

It is entirely fair that someone who chooses to send their child to a school not in their catchment area is not guaranteed a place for subsequent children.

It could lead to a situation where a child in the catchment area with a sibling but just slightly further away from the school did not get a place.

In the event of a tie in criteria matching i.e all things being equal the child nearest to the school would get the place.

When you choose to go out of area you KNOW you are taking a chance on places for children that come after.