Help! How do I appeal?

[tp81]

My son currently attends a school under the Worcestershire education authority. The School has got a foundation unit where nursery and reception children are in 3 mixed classes but are taught numeracy and literacy separately. The school is form and a half entry. We found out this morning he has not got a place for this September.

We also had to apply for Birmingham schools, because we live in birmingham and are out of catchment for the school he attends.
We had the news that he did not get into any of his birmingham choices and have been offered a school that is completely unaceptable, it is further away than the worcs school and is under special measures! I have declined this offer and registered for appeal.

We have not been offered another school under worcs.

We have rung Worcs authority and made them aware of our intention to appeal and we have to put this in a formal e-mail to them.

I had spoken to my Sons teachers and they have said they will help where they are allowed with the appeal, basing this on the facts that firstly it took him a long time to settle and form bonds with other children and that now he has he shouldn't have to leave to go to a new school. Also that he is doing extremely well with his literacy. He has been put into the reception group and is already reading. They have said it would be in his best interest to stay and come Septmeber they would be aware of what work he has already done and would be able to progress from there.

The school intake for september is 45 places, they were oversubscribed by 3.
The year six group that left last summer was oversubscribed by 12 children, 12 appealed and they all won.

As far as I am aware these are all the facts. I am desperate for him to continue going to the school he is at. Can anybody advise me how I go about forming my appeal or give me any other advise please.

Thanks in advance x

[Bessie123]

I think the Children's Legal Centre can give you free advice on what to do, you should contact them.

[tp81]

Do you have a number? And is this a free service? I have googled advise on appeals and it seems to buy that you can hire a solicitor, or buy a book. I just need some free advice.

[Bessie123]

education law page

free advice line

[prh47bridge]

I would have recommended accepting the offer so that you have a place somewhere. Declining will not help your chances at appeal. If you lose the appeal you may end up somewhere even worse.

It isn't clear from your post how many infant classes this school operates. However, given that the admission number is 45 there is a good chance this will be an infant class size appeal. If it is you will only succeed if you can show that the LA has made a mistake. You should ask the LA why your child was refused admission. That will tell you if he has been placed in the wrong admission category or if they have got the wrong distance from home to school (assuming they use that as a tie breaker).

If it is not an infant class size appeal your chances of success are much better. You will need to give reasons why this is the only school for your son. Don't refer to the allocated school being in special measures or, indeed, anything else about the quality of education there. The panel aren't allowed to take this into account. Concentrate on things specific to your child.

I would not hire a solicitor. Some are good at school appeals but many end up alienating the panel. I would always advocate representing yourself, even though it is a little scary.

You can get a lot of good advice here. Some of us are real experts on the process, in my own case from experience winning appeals. I am happy for people to contact me directly if they want free advice.

[tp81]

Hi Prh47bridge. Sorry, it was at the top of my post , but I should have made it clearer. The school is form and a half entry. So 45 per year and the nursery and reception children are mixed and split into 3 classes. Each child has a teacher and a key worker.

Since I put my first post the letter has come in the post. It has said the reason for the decision is because the school exceeded the published number of places.

[tp81]

I forgot to say before, the reason I declined the school Birmingham offered isn't because I want to put pressure on the panel. It is because of my sons personality and the issues I outlined in my first post. I feel it would be detremental for him to attend this school.

[prh47bridge]

It will therefore be an infant class size case.

They should give more details than that on the reasons for refusal if you ask. They should be able to tell you which admission category your child was placed in, how far you are from the school by the shortest available walking route, what that route is, which admission category the last child admitted fell into and how far that child is from the school by the shortest available walking route. That will tell us whether or not a mistake was made.

Looking at Worcestershire's admission criteria (assuming this isn't a faith school), did you submit any evidence that there was a "significant reason" for admitting your son? If so, what evidence did you submit?

[tp81]

The reason we put on the application was that he is already at the school, that he has difficulty forming bonds but has started to and about his accademic acheivments so far. (its not a faith school)

[Bessie123]

contact the clc then, they will be able to advise you.

[tp81]

clc?

[ajandjjmum]

Can't help, but Good Luck - must be horrible situation.

[Bessie123]

Jeebus, you don't make things easy. Children's legal centre.

[ajandjjmum]

I didn't know that either Bessie.

[Bessie123]

well if you were the op you would already have responded to my post suggesting she contact it and asking for a link (don't know why google only works for me). Anyway, I am obviously v irritable today so will stay away for now. Good luck, tp81

[tp81]

Yes, Its hard enough reading the documents that are read in double dutch without all these abbreviations aswell! lol

[tp81]

thanks anyway ajandjjmum x

[prh47bridge]

If you submitted some documentation to support what you said about your son you may be able to argue that he should have been placed in the "significant reason" category. You can try that tack anyway but it stands less chance if the LA only had your statements on the application form.

[tp81]

So can I go into appeal only giving one arguement?

[prh47bridge]

You can give as many or as few arguments as you want (as long as you give at least one!). If you can prove that the LA made a mistake and your son should have been admitted that's all you need.

If you supported your assertions about your son with documentation you have a possible case, although I wouldn't put it any stronger than that. It would be worth asking the nursery if they know of any cases where children were admitted as "significant reason" on the same or a similar basis. If they do that will help you as it shows the LA acting inconsistently, especially if it happened this year. The nursery won't be able to identify the pupils involved for privacy reasons but it gives you a start.

Having said that, if the school was full before they got as far as the "significant reason" admissions category I'm afraid none of this helps, although it might get your son higher up the waiting list. Have you checked that you are on the waiting list for this school?

[tp81]

Well they only sent notification for Worcs schools today, but we rang and said we want to appeal and we want to be on the list. We have to put this formally as an e-mail.

What kind of documentation would surfice for the significant reason, culd this be something from his teacher? (we didn't submit any with the application form)

Also to clarify, can you put it in laymans terms how I find out if the la has made a mistake (and what does la stand for)?

[BetsyBoop]

LA = local authority

To find out if the LA have made a mistake, as prh47 explained further down, you need to confirm what oversubscription criteria you were placed in - and then check that this is correct - eg if they say you are in category x and the last admitted child under category x lives 1.3km away & we calculate that you live 1.4km away, did they correctly put you in category x & is 1.4km the correct distance? (check how the LA measure it, they don't all do it the same way, some use crow flies/straight line, "safe walking route", or use a GIS etc)

The admissions and appeals codes are here if you want to get into the nitty-gritty - click on the links on the LHS.

You can try with just a letter from a teacher (if they are allowed to do one, often school poloicy is they don't get involved with appeals), but it would be better if the evidence came from an independent professional - have you been involved with the SENCO & other professionals via them? You need to try & persuade the appeals panel that it would be unreasonable not to put you in the "Pupils who have a significant reason for admission" category, so the stronger the supporting evidence you can provide the better. If I'm being honest, it will be very difficult to win an infant class sise appeal just on the basis of your DS takes a long time to settle, you need to put together a "stronger" case.

You might win the appeal, you might get a place from the waiting list (check you are on it & the LA should be able to tell you your place once they get all the yes/no's back from the initial allocations), but you also need to be thinking about a fall back position as you have turned down the allocated school. Do you want to appeal for any of the Birmingham schools you applied for? It's definitely worth making sure you are on the waiting list for them. It's also worth contacting both LAs to see what other schools have spaces - you can apply for other schools now too. As you have turned down the allocated school your home LA don't have to offer anything else, so you are left with either home educating or going private as they will expect your DS to be in school by the term after his 5th birthday.

Hope that helps. I'm sure prh47 & admission (the resident mumsnet school admission gurus) will be along again shortly to offer even more things to think about.

[prh47bridge]

If you didn't submit any supporting evidence with your original application your chances of success at appeal are low. Even if you had submitted evidence it would be a long shot - as BetsyBoop says, the fact that your child takes a long time to settle and make friends is unlikely to be enough on its own. However, I would still try. You never know how the panel will react.

As BetsyBoop says, since you have rejected the place you were allocated you need to figure out what you will do if your appeal fails. The place you were offered may have been offered to someone else by now and your choice may be very limited. See if you can find a place (the LA should be able to tell you which schools still have places) and make sure you are on the waiting list for any school you would consider.

[tp81]

Thanks BetsyBoop,

We have already lodged an appeal with Birmingham and we are waiting to hear. We are currently 17th and 10th on the 2 schools waiting lists under Birmingham.

I spoke to the head of the foundation unit when I picked my son up earlier. She has now more or less refused to help with the appeal, even though last time I spoke to them they said they would help in any way they could. Its very hard not to feel discouraged : (

[tp81]

Re the school I declined, It currently is only half full, nobody sends their children there. I would rather home school than him go to that school!

[admission]

I know that you said that the nursery and reception children are split into 3 classes but to be sure that it is an infant class size appeal, can you establish what the class structure is for years 1 and 2. I would guess that you have 3 classes of 30 for nursery and reception and then 3 classes of 30 for years 1 and 2, but can you confirm this?

As you have found out being in a nursery does not give you any advantage when applying for a school place. I am afraid to say that what the situation is in year 6 will have no direct bearing at all on the admissions to reception year. There could have been a very specific reason why the school had so many over the PAN of 45.

I would also be wary of the assumption that the teachers will support your appeal. They should not do so, because the admission appeal code says that they should not help, though sometimes the school staff do not seem to know the rules!

You need to get on the waiting list for the school as i would suggest that assuming that any appeal is an infant class size appeal, the most likely way of getting a place is off the waiting list. Also put your name down for any schools in Birmingham which you think are appropriate.

As far as saying you want to appeal, just say that you believe that as your child is already in the foundation stage, mixing with both reception and foundation pupils, it would be inappropriate for them not to be given a place at the school. You do need to put together a stronger case in writing but as far as getting an email to them, this is more than adequate.