School appeals - help offered

brighterfuture_2

We're in the process of appealing for a year 8 place for my DD. We have moved areas due to threats and violence directed towards my DD by a gang in our previous area.
There are 4 schools in our area, two have places (though we are aware that members of the gang go to these schools) and two are over subscribed, so we have an appeal in place to for these schools.
The school is over subscribed by 2, though we have heard from the ewo that one of these is leaving, so a place will be opening up.
Any advice would be very much appreciated

susanbevan

sal-ad_daze wrote: »

Hi guys,
Sorry I've not been around for a while, been sitting on appeals panels here in my LA!
I'll read through your posts again and hopefully be able to give some advice in a little while!
S x

Lost my appeal think it went against us as we moved to the area end of last summer kids who got in been here and gone through primary school but all church friends have got in daughter won't stop crying fear of going to new school again and making new friends. Someone said you can appeal in the next school year she will start new school sept so when can we appeal again and is it worth it?

sal-ad_daze

susanbevan wrote: »

Lost my appeal think it went against us as we moved to the area end of last summer kids who got in been here and gone through primary school but all church friends have got in daughter won't stop crying fear of going to new school again and making new friends. Someone said you can appeal in the next school year she will start new school sept so when can we appeal again and is it worth it?

In my Authority (don't know about elsewhere) you can ask for a new appeal in extenuating circumstances. If you can prove that the allocation is making your daughter ill, emphasise the fact that you have moved into a completely new area and your daughter has had to make a whole new set of friends (was that difficult for her?), highlight the fact that she is having to do this all over again within a matter of months.
Unfortunatley she will have to start at the new school as you won't get a new appeal in time but monitor her closely and make notes of how she is and how she is getting on, if you have to see the doctor get a letter from him as evidence.
Sorry I can't be more help.

sal-ad_daze

brighterfuture wrote: »

We're in the process of appealing for a year 8 place for my DD. We have moved areas due to threats and violence directed towards my DD by a gang in our previous area.
There are 4 schools in our area, two have places (though we are aware that members of the gang go to these schools) and two are over subscribed, so we have an appeal in place to for these schools.
The school is over subscribed by 2, though we have heard from the ewo that one of these is leaving, so a place will be opening up.
Any advice would be very much appreciated

Hi brighterfuture,
So sorry your daughter has been having a rough time.
I'm sorry to have to tell you that your ewo is misinformed about places becoming available. The LA cannot offer a place at the school until numbers go below the planned admission number; for example if a PAN is 180 and an appeal panel allows 2 appeals that takes the number to 182, the LA cannot offer a place until the number on role goes to 179, they cannot allocate over the PAN of 180.
As far as your daughter is concerned, you need to furnish as much evidence as you can about the bullying and intimidation your daughter has suffered at the hands of these people (have the police/ASBO teams/social workers etc) been involved)and proof if you have any that they attend the two schools in question, is the ewo on your side would he/she furnish evidence to support you?
That's about all the advice I can give.
Hope it helps.
Sal

sal-ad_daze

SusanBevan,
Can you enable your private message button please?
I've tried to reply but you're not accepting private messages!
sal

Sandgrown

My daughter's appeal hearing to secondary school is on Wednesday. My wife thinks it a good idea that our daughter and her older sister attend the hearing, whereas I think it would be better if just my wife and I went. Does anyone have any thoughts and/or experiences of attending hearings with the child concerned?

Savvy_Sue

We didn't take DS1 with us when we went to the hearing. Honestly, what good is the child going to be able to do there? It's not an emotional "look at me, please give me a place" competition. And presumably both she and her sister would have to be taken out of school to attend?

Sorry to be blunt, but ...

Sandgrown

Thanks for the response, Savvy Sue. Just as I thought but my dearly beloved wasn't convinced.

modgit

Sandgrown wrote: »

My daughter's appeal hearing to secondary school is on Wednesday. My wife thinks it a good idea that our daughter and her older sister attend the hearing, whereas I think it would be better if just my wife and I went. Does anyone have any thoughts and/or experiences of attending hearings with the child concerned?

We've actually been told that children are not welcome at the appeal, don't expect it to be the nicest of experiences

Hope it goes well, ours is next week!

modgit

can anyone give me any ideas about what the appeals panel may ask us? Should we have pre prepared questions for them?
Thanks