School appeals - help offered

russco_pico · 10 November 2010 at 11:55AM

congratulations to you to loveandlight!! i must say it was a great feeling to win our appeal!! we still discuss it between ourselves now!!(re-living the dream/nightmare!!)

we found a similar experience at the appeal and due to our appeal being of high quality we were not asked many questions but on the other hand the LEA was bombarded with questions first and then the panel started to go through his statments with a fine tooth comb which found he had not done his research for example he didnt know the exact numbers of the school intake but came out with a statment on how the the other classrooms were over crowded and that the school had a high proportion of special needs which again he failed miserably on his research because he was asked a simple question of how many children with special needs are starting in reception this year to which he grunted none with that the panel asked why he (LEA)thought it was necessary to submitt that statment!!! he he it was as if he was just digging his own grave slowly and couldnt wait to get out of there!!

woodcraft · 16 November 2010 at 5:50PM

Well done on your appeal, I'm just starting on for my son and would be interested in reading yours. Thanks in advance.

loveandlight wrote: »

Well done russco pico. I know the euphoria you are feeling as I too won an appeal in May this year and I just wish that every parent could have their children go to a good school. It just isn't fair at all.

Unfortunately we didn't have any money to spend on getting any help and to be honest I would say if you have the money definitely spend it on getting help as it is worth it but if you don't then it really doesn't matter as you can still win by submitting a well thought out written statement. Both the appeal panel and the LEA all congratulated me on the written statement I gave them and they said how well thought out it was and they wished other parents would present their statements the same way. It was that that won it as the spotlight remained firmly on the LEA then and I was hardly asked any questions at all.

I don't know whether you are allowed to do this but if anyone wants a copy of my statement you can just pm me and I'll send you a copy so at least you'll have the framework and you'll just need to make it your own. I know what its like to have no money to get appeal help and how bad that makes you feel as a parent especially as you feel bad enough at having to fight to get them into a good school in the first place.

jeanettethree · 25 November 2010 at 1:41PM

:j Just wanted to tell someone !! anyone !!! :j we have won our school appeal to get our 13 yr old son moved from his current school to another school due to constant bullying and the school doing nothing whatsoever to help the matter !
The appeal panel were very understanding and friendly it wasnt as scary and daunting as we were made to think, plus we were told it would be highly unlikely that we would win our appeal, I gathered as much info as I could and I spoke from the heart, I cannot believe we won due to the school already being oversubscribed by 1 place in that year already and places avaliable at other schools. I cant tell you how happy we are and I cant wait for my son to come home from school so I can tell him !!!

zaman1234 · 1 March 2011 at 8:20PM

hayleyjg wrote: »

I work for an local authority in the school admissions team and have many years experience of school appeals (both admissions and exclusions) so if anyone has any questions I would be happy to help.

Hi I have received by sons selection for secondary school and he has been given his 4th choice, which I was not happy putting in the first place. Can I still appeal?

dawnteabag · 1 March 2011 at 8:51PM

zaman1234 wrote: »

Hi I have received by sons selection for secondary school and he has been given his 4th choice, which I was not happy putting in the first place. Can I still appeal?

I'm sure someone with more knowledge and experience will be along shortly but I belive the quick answer is yes you can,

Fingers crossed all goes well - I suspect I'll be in the same position next year

Savvy_Sue · 1 March 2011 at 9:12PM

but you need to appeal on the right grounds, "I didn't want to put that school down in the first place" isn't one of them!

Have the school / LEA followed the correct procedures, fairly, for all children? Were any special needs your child has declared on the original application? (adding them now won't help, AFAIK). And so on.

JC9297 · 1 March 2011 at 9:29PM

As Savvy_Sue says you can't just say you don't like the school, you have to have grounds for appeal such as the allocation procedures weren't followed correctly or come up with very strong reasons for why your son needs to go to the school you want (not it's a good school or that's where his friends are going). Remember you appeal for the school or schools you want not against the allocated school.

Isobel99 · 3 March 2011 at 1:52PM

It would be tremendous if anyone has any advice for us as we are feeling very emotionally drained by the whole process of mounting an appeal - we're in the process of putting it together at the moment.

Our daughter has been bullied at the high school where she started in year seven since about the second week of the autumn term. Despite endless correspondence, phone conversations and meetings with the head and other relevant staff, the school has spectacularly failed to do anything other than make the problem worse. They have refused to confront the girls who are doing the bullying and warn them that there will be sanctions if they continue. They told us they were worried the bullies might start truanting if they are disciplined. They have suggested, instead, that our daughter should "not talk about it at home" and try and ignore it. Difficult when it is happening to her every day.

Not surprisingly she is displaying severe signs of stress and has lost all confidence in the school and the teachers to support her, as well a confidence in herself. We have come to the conclusion that the only good solution would be for her to move schools.

We would like her to go to a school nearby which is a faith school and which is full. The head teacher of that school has been very sympathetic and said he would like to have our daughter but has explained that we will have to go through the appeal process.

We want her to go to this school for three main reasons:
She has several very good friends there
It is renowned for its caring ethos
It has outstanding provision for music.

Part of the reason for her being bullied is that she is very musical - sings in a choir and plays two instruments. This is considered nerdy at the school she currently attends. They have no extra curricular music opportunities and music is not nurtured in any way.

We have statements supporting our case from her instrument teacher and choir leader, saying that she would flourish at this school. The musical opportunities available to her there would be many and varied.

We also have supporting statements from our local priest, our doctor (saying that she exhibiting severe signs of stress as a result of being bullied), and from her primary school head teacher (stating what sort of girl she is and how she would thrive at the school we are aiming for).

Although the school is full we are hoping to be able to find some evidence that it is well equipped to accommodate an extra pupil - based on student numbers, grades etc.

Is there anything more we could do and have we overlooked anything vital? Do we have a reasonable case? It's easy to lose perspective when you're in the middle of the whole mess so any comments very greatly appreciated.

Thanks x

sueeve · 3 March 2011 at 5:34PM

While you wait to see if she has got into the school you hope for, look at the bullying policy of the school (it should be on line and in the prospectus) and work out which past of it hasn't been adhered to. Then write to the head with the information, copying to the chair of governors, and to any governor that you know has some particular involvement in, concern with pastoral issues. Often governors each have attachments to different areas of school activities. Record all past communications, and the advice you have had, and send it to these people. Local authority governors would be particularly concerned, so perhaps you could send for the attention of all governors. Hopefully your appeal will be successful, but the school appears to have a lot to answer for and should not be allowed to get away with this neglect of you daughter's emotional welfare and safety. Even if you daughter leaves soon, action is needed.

bromleymum · 3 March 2011 at 6:05PM

After feeling very safe for the last couple of years that our eldest, currently year 5, would get into the school of our choice, when the results came out yesterday our neighbours daughter did not get a place!!!

This is the first time my street has failed to get a place. Apparently the catchment area shrank by 500m and that's us wiped out.

It's very upsetting as he's in a little gang of four and the other three all have siblings in the popular school.

There is absolutely no way we can move.

What a horrible system and there will always be winners and losers.

School appeals - help offered

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