Possible primary school appeal

Savvy_Sue

One problem is that the catchment areas change from year to year! In fact here they don't call them 'catchment' but 'areas of priority admission'.

For that reason, it would be worth checking at the 'catchment' school whether they are also oversubscribed.

However, the reason for putting siblings lower down the 'list' is that some schools were full of younger siblings who no longer lived close to the school. Rent a house in the 'right' area, get the eldest in, job done. As long as the children are close enough in age, at any rate.

hobo28

Gingham_Ribbon wrote: »

...Can you ask your doctor to make some sort of statement for medical grounds?

I think its a case of any medical reasons affecting the child which means they need to be at a particular school rather than the parent. Even if not, since the parent already takes the eldest child to this school which is further away it could be hard to argue there are medical reasons which mean you can get to a school further away but not one closer.

poet123

Similarly some parents were giving the address of grandparents to get into a school outside their own area. Medical reasons do need to affect the child not the parent and in the OP's case if she is allowed to drive with her condition(which is usually not the case)that would not be seen as relevant anyway.

Mumstheword

We have a local primary which is about 9 years old. Even now the school does not reflect the area it is in. When it opened, they needed to fill up every class, so of course they had to accept pupils from well out of area. Here the criteria are SEN first, siblings 2nd, so the school still has a large number of pupils from out of the area. 8 yrs ago when DS was starting school, of the 30 places, around 4 were available to pupils without a sibling already there. And even in recent years, I've heard of people living on the same road as the school being refused a place.

Having said that, to ask parents to get kids to 2 diff primary schools is going to cause problems.

1 point in the OP is that this school is the closest. So it isnt unreasonable to choose that one.

If...she chose that school for her eldest, knowing that the criteria would mean her youngest wouldnt automatically get a place, then thats a risk she took, and the gamble may not pay off.

Maybe that wasnt the case and it was just an oversight in which case i sympathise.

As for the epilepsy...I would stress to the LEA that you currently have a .....year licence, but that you have to re-apply for this and it is dependent on your condition. I would also let them know that your condition has been less stable recently. And explain to them that you can walk to the nearest school, but that to get the children to different schools, esp without a car, would be nearly impossible.

You can hope that they are sympathetic, but rules is rules...whatever criteria they adopt will suit some people (those who get a place) and not others.

One particular bug bear of mine (bit off topic) is faith schools being allowed to select their pupils on anything other than the recognised SEN, distance, siblings etc criteria. Any school which makes itself unavailable to the general public and selects its students based on faith, intelligence, whatever, should NOT be paid for by my taxes!!

poet123

Faith schools are not paid for by your taxes they are Voluntary Aided schools which means they are paid for largely from the church funds. Also all faith schools accept and welcome kids from every and no denomination if there are places avaiailable. The criteria is children in public care/disability first regardless of faith,then children of the faith living in the parish etc etc. So even in a VA funded school special needs takes priority over faith.

It is interesting though that all the top primary schools are faith schools. They also seem to produce kids who are less precocious,less selfish and more amenable to authority. In my experience from teaching in a college which gets its intake across the board from secondary schools. I can tell quite early on which kids come from faith schools. I would guess it is something to do with the ethos and community feel of faith schools.

hobo28

Mumstheword wrote: »

One particular bug bear of mine (bit off topic) is faith schools being allowed to select their pupils on anything other than the recognised SEN, distance, siblings etc criteria. Any school which makes itself unavailable to the general public and selects its students based on faith, intelligence, whatever, should NOT be paid for by my taxes!!

On this one I agree with you. In this modern age, should we really be having schools based upon religion? I think its something they should teach but if it is illegal for state schools to select based on race, intelligence etc then i think selection based upon religion should also be banned.

nsp1274

I totally agree that children in catchment area should get places above children outside catchment, even if they do have older siblings at the school (like mine). It would very unfair if people living close to the school had to take their children to a school further away just so that people can drive their kids in from further afield.

My oldest child goes to this school as it is the closest, and when we moved here I didn't have a car. I was also informed that the school hadn't been over-subscribed for the past 10 years "so it should be a mere formality" for my youngest to get a place there. However in hindsight I should have looked into this further; but then hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I am very pleased with my oldest child's school, and even if my youngest has to go to a different school I keep her at the school.

As I have said I am OK with idea of them going to 2 different schools, and was just wondering if anyone had any ideas incase of an appeal (when there will be other parents in the same position as me aswell as others who live outside catchment without older siblings at the school.) I would not expect to be allocated a place over a child in catchment. Getting them to different school is workable. It may not be ideal, but then what in life is?

I do think that all councils, should regulate their admissions criteria tho. Seems very strange that there are so many different ways of doing this.

full-time-mum

nsp1274 wrote: »

I am very pleased with my oldest child's school, and even if my youngest has to go to a different school I keep her at the school.

If youir youngest doesn't get in and you are prepared to move her then you may find that you can get a place at your closest school at a later date. Keep your ear to the (play) and the minute you hear of someone in reception moving get in a request the place. Some schools seem to actively call their lists when a place is available and some just wait to be asked!

Gingham_Ribbon

hobo28 wrote: »

I think its a case of any medical reasons affecting the child which means they need to be at a particular school rather than the parent. Even if not, since the parent already takes the eldest child to this school which is further away it could be hard to argue there are medical reasons which mean you can get to a school further away but not one closer.

nsp wrote:

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.

The OP said that her catchment school is not the one nearest her house. She currently takes her child to her NEAREST school. Another reason i think the way this is worked out is so wrong.

morganb

I would definitely get a statement from your doctor which you can send in as further support of your application. I have previously, as Head of Year at a Secondary School, written a letter in support of a child's move to another school and this letter was used to their benefit in their appeal. (Having said that, I do feel that children in catchment should be given priority ...)