Appealing daughters first school place - any tips?

hjb123

Its probably an idea to find out how many admissions they have let into the school - could you possibly ring the school and say that you are appealing your daughter not being allowed in and were just wanting to know the admissions criteria and how many they let in - perhaps they could give you some insight into the situation?

bestpud

Perhaps you could try quizzing the nursery staff for possible things to say etc? As already said, get your hands on a copy of the admissions policy, they should have sent you one with the application form.

With regard to good/bad schools - I used to think it was more the child than the school and allowed my older two to trundle off to our local primary and secondary school, although I knew both schools have more than their fair share of problems. My third child is starting primary school in September and I will not make the same mistake again! It does matter - pure and simple! We were lucky as dd got a place at our chosen school despite us being out of the catchment area. Had she not we'd have appealed and failing that, I was prepared to give up our housing Association house and rent privately, a huge financial burden to us, on a low income, but necessary imo.

Good luck with your appeal.

brummiebird443

just to put my 2 penneth in the mix. we were told that there is no point in appealling a primary school place as we would be unsuccessful!!! apparentley the only way u can win an appeal is if it was aclerical/administartice error on the part of the local authority. i was very rudely told that if a class has a maximum capacity of 30 children, they were not going to employ extra staff just for my child (that put me in my place!!)
We've been given a school with no after school provision, we both work, have no family within the area and are at our wits end. Dont want to leave our DD with a babysitter so we're banging our heads against a brick wall!
i hope it all goes well, lets us know how u get on.
chin up XXXXX

salli9

Yes, maximum of 30 in a class, and schools can't afford extra staff for a few children, especially if there are places at other local schools.

bestpud

The school my dd has got into managed to up their intake when they realised they'd be way oversubscribed, although there were still some that didn't get a place. Also, our second choice are taking steps to take the two applicants that didn't get in. It obviously depends on the size of the school (these are both fairly small) but it can be done so don't give up hope. There is a long list of schools with places, some with as many as 30 (including our catchment school) so they haven't done it because every school is full.

We were sent a list of schools with places and those with a waiting list, giving the number of children in each case, with the decision letter. Might be worth asking your LEA for this info as you could possibly find a different school altogether - dependent on your reasons for choice obviously?

silvercar

You can (and people do) win appeals for a variety of reasons. If information (eg medical, social services etc) wasn't taken into account when it should have been. If the rules weren't applied correctly in your case (eg distance from school wasn't measured accurately - you'd be surprised how many times the admin people will just look at your road on a map and won't measure properly from your house etc).

If you can identify someone that got a place when they should have been further down the waiting list than you, you could very well be let in rather than expose a !!!!-up.

Also, places do come up between now and September; people move out of the area people decide on a different school, people applied for your choice as a back-up to a private school place etc. Keep in touch with the school and let them know you are keen to take up a vacant place.

salli9

I work in a school, the LEA make decisions, nothing to do with the school. We are just given a list of children.

fannyadams

missimaxo wrote:

Hi
She already goes to the nursery at the school we would like her to attend, but we do live outside the catchment area.

Tina

there's yer answer right there!
I assume that you PAY money for DD to go to the nursery?
If you do then this means that it is a private nursery, despite beign within the schools grounds, and does not 'feed into' the school.

In DS#1 class at our popular local BEACON C of E school the head capped the limit at 29 children but 5 got in on appeal and ALL did not live within the catchment area, this meant that there were 34 children in his class - 34!!!! 2 lived in the next village along and could have walked to the local school in their village but the fact that their siblings were already at out local school meant that they got in. one childs mummy used her mums address (my neighbour) to get her child in, and it was a good 20 minute drive past 4 perfectly good schools for her to get to ours. the other two I can't recall how they got in but when the mummies appealed to the LEA against the HT the LEA caved and in they went. Am I bitter - you bet, my son's education jeopardised because someone thought our Beacon school was better.

DS#2 is now in a non denominational combined school, he has just 23 in his class and he is doing fantastically well. now he's getting the attention he deserves. The class achieve more coz the ratio of pupils to teacher is fair.

I know you really want your DD to go to this school but have you thought about the consequences of an oversubscribed class?

bestpud

I realise this is a very subjective issue but, as a parent, I know the consequences of poor schools. In an ideal world, education would be equal wherever our children go but it isn't. I have to say I'd choose a large class in an achieving school over a small class in an under achieveing one any day.

Did you think to report the lady who have a false address? I thought there are strict guidelines on teacher-pupil ratios for reception classes so did nobody question this? I certainly would have as 34 children is way too many, but then 29 is too, I believe - was that just one teacher?

The nursery at my dd's new school (seperate but in the grounds) is taken into account but after everything else.

bestpud

salli9 wrote:

I work in a school, the LEA make decisions, nothing to do with the school. We are just given a list of children.

The two schools in my area have taken more than their PAN in response to the number of applicants so schools aren't completely tied. I realise there must be lots of factors which affect this, of course. I know the one is taking extra because small numbers in recent years mean they can accomodate the higher number and they are both small schools with two year groups to a classroom - I guess that had some impact.