School appeals - help offered

sal-ad_daze

If you have accepted the place at the other school then he has a school to go to and should officially attend, however I can see why you would feel justified in not sending him.
If you haven't accepted the place and are appealing for the preffered school then he has not yet got a place in a school in your authority.

hoochi

no i havnt accepted the place at the other school i didnt know if i had to

sal-ad_daze

hoochi wrote: »

no i havnt accepted the place at the other school i didnt know if i had to

If you have't accepted the place then your son doesn't have to attend. If it's not the school you want don't accept wait for your appeal.

travellingwithoutmoving

Obviously there's lots of people interested in the process of appeal. There are commercial organisations out there offering support with the process as well as the charities. Some of the lawyers out there, etc seem to charge just crazy amounts (£3-500 per appeal) and it's a flat rate! We're appealing, and found a lady who used to be in school admissions and has a legal / government background. She's offering a discounted service at the moment. Check her out maybe? http://www.admissions-explained.co.uk/

needtogetfit

travellingwithoutmoving wrote: »

Obviously there's lots of people interested in the process of appeal. There are commercial organisations out there offering support with the process as well as the charities. Some of the lawyers out there, etc seem to charge just crazy amounts (£3-500 per appeal) and it's a flat rate! We're appealing, and found a lady who used to be in school admissions and has a legal / government background. She's offering a discounted service at the moment. Check her out maybe? http://www.admissions-explained.co.uk/

Thanks for the link. Is it really worth using this sort of service though? I don't see what you could get for your money that you couldn't get from ACE which is free. I'm always wary about forking out for something that won't necessarily get me any further than I could have done on my own (being all MSE now!). How much did you have to pay and was it for a voluntary aided school appeal as round our way they seem to be more difficult than the council ones.

Lynn_of_Tawa

Hi All,
We are in the unfortunate position of missing out on all three preferences for our ( gifted) son's secondary school. The offered school is the other side of town and has low academic results.
We are looking to appeal but because the system is random and one of the schools is unwilling to release any information , it is hard to build an argument.
Has anyone any experience of tussling with the fair shares method? Our best argument so far is that since one school has instigated a sibling link this year my son's chances have diminished to 1 in 18. Because he is bright, his ability level is only allocated 6 places, but these places were mostly swallowed up by siblings.
I can't believe that I have to fight a school to get such an obviously clever ( county chess team, music exam passes) boy a place. he is likely to get level 6's in his SATs. Gifted children do have special needs.He will just coast and get bored and then naughty in a poor school. I need to be able to prove this somehow.
Any suggestions would be most warmly welcomed.
Lynn of Tawa

silvercar

Lynn_of_Tawa wrote: »

Hi All,
We are in the unfortunate position of missing out on all three preferences for our ( gifted) son's secondary school. The offered school is the other side of town and has low academic results.
We are looking to appeal but because the system is random and one of the schools is unwilling to release any information , it is hard to build an argument.
Has anyone any experience of tussling with the fair shares method? Our best argument so far is that since one school has instigated a sibling link this year my son's chances have diminished to 1 in 18. Because he is bright, his ability level is only allocated 6 places, but these places were mostly swallowed up by siblings.
I can't believe that I have to fight a school to get such an obviously clever ( county chess team, music exam passes) boy a place. he is likely to get level 6's in his SATs. Gifted children do have special needs.He will just coast and get bored and then naughty in a poor school. I need to be able to prove this somehow.
Any suggestions would be most warmly welcomed.
Lynn of Tawa

You could look at whether the school allocated offers a "gifted and talented" programme. If it didn't and the school you want does, that could help.

I'm guessing there are no grammer schools in your area, but could you stretch financially and look at private schools?

sal-ad_daze

travellingwithoutmoving wrote: »

Obviously there's lots of people interested in the process of appeal. There are commercial organisations out there offering support with the process as well as the charities. Some of the lawyers out there, etc seem to charge just crazy amounts (£3-500 per appeal) and it's a flat rate! We're appealing, and found a lady who used to be in school admissions and has a legal / government background. She's offering a discounted service at the moment. Check her out maybe? http://www.admissions-explained.co.uk/

Please be careful if you look to 'proffessional' help, just because people have a legal background they're actually of no help in an Admissions appeal!
I have sat on a number of appeals where parents had employed a so called expert solicitor who actually did more harm than good!
There are also people who worked in the education sector who will say they are experts but you need to look into their background, if they come from an area where the system is different they won't be of much help.
For example if I decided to resign from the Appeals Panels and set myself up as an advisor, I would be pretty useless down in Brighton with the 'lottery' system or Kent because I don't know anything about the 'Kent Test' - do you see what I mean?
I can offer you general advice here but if you come from an area who's system I don't know, for example, Lyn's 'fair share' system I can't in all honesty offer any advice as I may be doing more harm than good.
Just please be careful!

travellingwithoutmoving

needtogetfit wrote: »

Thanks for the link. Is it really worth using this sort of service though? I don't see what you could get for your money that you couldn't get from ACE which is free. I'm always wary about forking out for something that won't necessarily get me any further than I could have done on my own (being all MSE now!). How much did you have to pay and was it for a voluntary aided school appeal as round our way they seem to be more difficult than the council ones.

We decided to use this service based on feeling comfortable with the person we were dealing with and value for money (30/hour, over 50% cheaper than competitors - the low rate because they are a new business with no track record). It was a council appeal.
We really wanted the extra help preparing the appeal statement. She will not be coming with us to the panel, as she did not think it would help us.
You can find info about appeals consultants through google and many of them give a brief phone consultation for free. I guess you can go it alone, but we wanted the support and decided it would be worth the money.

yus786

We are preparing our appeal and I've been recommended 2 books by friends.

1. Your School Your Choice by John Chard
2. How To Win Your School Appeal by Ben Rooney

Brilliant read and very informative. I have prepared our case using these books and am very hopeful.