Appeals Involving Infant Class Sizes (Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 Classes)
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There are separate and different rules of appeals which involve limiting infant class sizes to a maximum of 30 pupils. Apart from some very limited exceptions, no infant class may contain more than 30 pupils being taught by one teacher. Any admissions which would increase a class to more than 30 pupils would require what are called 'qualifying measures', such as organising an extra class, appointing an additional teacher, providing an additional classroom or introducing or extending mixed age group teaching.
When the Local Authority can show to an Appeals Panel that any further admissions would require qualifying measures the law does not allow Appeals Panels to balance your own arguments in support of a place for your child against the prejudice to class sizes which would be caused by further admissions. Your appeal could be upheld only if the appeals Panel decided either that a mistake had been made in the allocation of places according to the admissions criteria which had deprived your child of a place and if the criteria had been applied correctly your child would have received that place, or that the decision that qualifying measures would have to be taken was 'unreasonable' in the circumstances of the case. 'Unreasonable' as defined by the Courts is construed as being perverse or irrational and is a high threshold for an Appeals Panel to meet.
The circumstances to be considered include the admissions policy and the organisation of the school. The individual circumstances of your child can be considered and taken into account if there are very compelling circumstances but only if they show that the original decision of the Local Authority to refuse a place was unreasonable, but the structure of the appeal is different from a non infant class prejudice appeal. There is no second stage to the decision making process where your individual circumstances are balanced against the Local Authority's case.
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