Primary Schools Admissions

[Ric.ror]

Can you appeal if you do not get the school of your choice?

[bednobs]

yes

[Fibonacci]

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/admission-appeals-for-school-places/advice-for-parents-and-guardians-on-school-admission-appeals

 

[Ric.ror]

My grandson is just outside the catchment area of the preferred school but I am within and I will be doing most of the dropping off and collecting - surely that will make a difference 

[bednobs]

on the face of it it doesnt sound like a compelling reason tbh

[Ric.ror]

Who makes the decisions about who is accepted?

it's a catholic school and I am a practicing Catholic who attends the mother church of the school

[bednobs]

the school will have an admissions policy which will either be on their website or the council's website.

 Have they been declined already (it sems early to get the results yet)?  if so, the letter will tell you why.  are you saying that you want the school to go over capacity to accept your grandchild? or are you saying someone in catchment should not get the school so someone out of catchment can?  proximity is usually a higher priority than religion. but the dmissions policy will tell you.

for my local c of e infant school, the criteria are as follows (in this order) if there are too many appications

1 Looked after children including previously looked after

2exceptional social or medical needs

3 catchment area (PERMANENTLY residing there)

4 non catchment siblings

5 staff children

6 everyone else not in a category above.

You can appeal if you think the school have not applied that criteria correctly.

have you read the link from earler?  it gives a really good overview of how difficult it actually is to appeal.

I have a feeling that a poster on here has experience of appealing - barmaid perhaps?

[bednobs]

also, if i rcall correctly, they also told us in our letter how far away from the school the closest person who didnt get in under "catchment" lived and it was something like 0.2 miles.  so there were so many in catchment and the categories above catchment that someone in catchment who lived 0.2 miles away from the school didnt get in!

in some areas it's not possible to get in even in catchment, and some are so under subscribed they have spare places

[Barmaid]

It is an awfully long time since I did one of these and things have changed.  It certainly used to be the case that in respect of primary schools those appeals were significantly harder since as long as the admission criteria were correctly applied there is no discretion because of the infant class size criteria (ie the number of children in a class with a qualified teacher).  Secondary schools are not bound by such criteria.

You could try having a look at this:-

http://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6335a0c88fa8f506931f6d44/School_Admission_Appeals_Code_2022.pdf

[Barmaid]

Sorry, I meant that secondary schools are not bound by class size criteria and there is discretion.

[bednobs]

ah, there you go i was right - it WAS barmaid

[Ric.ror]

Thank you for your answers

[youngmafbog]

One of my grandchildren is in the system as we speak too.

My daughter who teaches in a primary has adised us to reapply after a few weeks as often people move and places become available.  Also if you dont mind the change of school you can apply later too - even more will have moved around.

You living close doesnt make a jot of differnce, I'm 2 doors up and nope.

[bednobs]

hope it works out for you ymb (and ric)

my daughter was kept on the waiting list for her preferred seconday, but we took her name off after a year as she seemed to have settled into her school now