School appeals - help offered

hayleyjg

It sounds as if you have a good case. The GPs letter is good evidence. Have you got or can you get an documentary evidence of the bullying. Don't worry if you have already sent in your appeal papers. You can send in extra papers at any time up and including the day of the appeal.

bsnw22

hi hayley the g.p has mentioned the bullying from the local boys in his letter. we also have attended the local childrens hospital today to see the child psycologist with regards to our.daughter. we have also more references from her drama teacher, maths tutor and swimming instructor recomending that she would do well in a single sex school. we also believe the admission authority has not stuck to its published admission procedures in our daughters case because they have scrapped the waiting list that they published because the school is full. are they right to change the published admission procedures? the admission authority have sent us their statement but has not produced any evedence regarding class sizes ect. could you shed any light on this thanks.

Rainbow_Sunbeam

Hi, My daughter has been turned down for a place at her preferred 6th Form because of mileage criteria. It is a state school but takes boarders as well as day pupils. We want to appeal and our letter has to be in by Friday 27th April. This is the first year they haven't interviewed for places for day pupils. They only interviewed for boarders. She has been predicted A* and A grades for GCSE's and has already got 1 A* Gcse early last year. She is also deputy Head girl and is involved in many extra-curriculum activites such as sporting teams and the school band and choir and her Bronze D of E. However the school don't seem interested in all this, only how far she lives away. She meets the schools minimum requirements for GCSE's. Do you think that we stand a chance of appealing with this as to how much she has to offer the school. She has also been registered by her current school as Gifted and Talented and has applied for membership of NAGTY. This has happened since she sent her application form in to the school. Will this help us in our appeal as can we say she has special needs. The school has a very high academic rating and is one of the top schools in the Country. The Head teacher has told us we will only stand a chance of winning if we have exceptional circumstances. What else could these be? Do you have any ideas on how else we appeal or how to structure our appeal? Her school are convinced if she had of been interviewed she would of got in but don't feel it would do any good if they supplied a letter stating why she would suit the school. Please can you help us and send any suggestions. She is so disappointed and says what is the need to work hard for her exams if it doesn't get her anywhere! Many Thanks.

Karrie

Hi again Hayley

My son was 3rd on the reserve list. He moved to 2nd and now I've been told he's 4th. The reason is that two applications came in with "higher criteria". Can I find out what criteria is? If I can, how do go about finding it?

Thanks

hayleyjg

Karrie – have you asked the school and the local authority Admissions department? Although they will be anxious not to reveal any confidential information about other applicants, they should be able to say what criteria they others on the list are in. In my area people usually move up or down a waiting list based on home to school distance so I would say that another family ahs moved into the area closer to the school.

Rainbow Sunbeam – before I offer any advice it would be enormously helpful to know which school you are appealing for so I look at their criteria. If you don’t want to post it, PM me.

bsnw22 - the School Admissions Code of Practice does not specify what the school should put in their written case but I would always include details of class sizes for the year group a=that was at appeal. In the case of a transfer group I would explain how that year group would be organised, what the tutor group sizes will be, if the classes are set by ability and what the size of those classes will be. If they haven’t included this information, you can ask for it at Stage One of the appeal. If they won’t answer or the panel won’t consider it, keep notes for a possible Ombudsman challenge afterwards.
I don’t really understand the bit about the waiting list – the school should have published their admission arrangements and if it is an appeal for high school transfer, the local authority should have a co-ordination scheme stating how they will be co-ordinating the process. School do not have to keep waiting lists but if the co-ordination scheme says a waiting list will be kept (our does) then the scheme should be followed. If you tell me what school and local authority you are in I will look in it further.

H

hayleyjg

Just to let wveryone know that I am now going into a really busy time at work as I have to prepare and then attend all of our school appeals so I will away for the office much of the next 10 weeks and will not be able to respond to requests for help very quickly. You are still welcome to post any requests for help, but please note that it may take some time for me to get back to you.

Rainbow_Sunbeam

Hi Hayley,

I have sent name of school as a PM to you. Hope you received it OK, only this is all new to me!! If not let me know.

Many Thanks,

RS

Karrie

hayleyjg wrote: »

Just to let wveryone know that I am now going into a really busy time at work as I have to prepare and then attend all of our school appeals so I will away for the office much of the next 10 weeks and will not be able to respond to requests for help very quickly. You are still welcome to post any requests for help, but please note that it may take some time for me to get back to you.

Thanks for all your help over the last month or so. :beer:

Mel_B_7

I am currently in the process of appealing to get my daughter into a Catholic School. She has done fantastically well at a small local Primary Catholic School and we put the local Catholic School as our first choice (although we are not Catholics). She was not allocated a place and has been offered a place at a school which was not a choice at all, a school where no-one we know attends and which appears to be the school which people have been offered if they have not got a place at any of the schools requested. We can understand why she has not initially got a place being from a non-Catholic family, however, she is the only pupil in her entire class who has not got a place. This is from a class mixed of both Catholic and non Catholic families. She is now first on the list but I cannot get any information from either the school or local authority as to when we may expect a date for the hearing. There appears to be no set timetable for the hearing of appeals so we have no date that we can at least aim towards. Do you have any idea when the appeal dates may be?

I cannot believe how stressful this is and how inadequate as a parent I feel that I am struggling to get my daughter a place. An appeal letter has been submitted but I have heard nothing further. I have phoned but no-one knows of any dates.

Is there anything else I can do or do I now have to sit and wait? I hate this feeling of having my hands tied and someone else makes a decision about my familys future. Surely some of this system is wrong!!!

Any help much appreciated.

CharleneUK

I purchased an E-book from ebay to help with appeals, it's very good and includes the actual appeal statement the owner used