School appeals - help offered

thebaileys

Yes, I know you should'nt look too much into the Ofsted Report, the last two are on-line one from 2007 and the one from a couple of months back.

There doesn't seem to have been any improvement. It's not a bad school, there are far worse.

Hopefully once the admissions dept has all of the figures of who is going where, I will know where he can go.

SophiaW_2

We are preparing to appear infront of an appeals panel for a secondary school placement later in the year. I'm busy putting together all the evidence for our case. I hope you can all give me your thoughts about the following:

The published Sept 2010 intake from the school prospectus is 240 pupils. However, I phoned the admissions team and the actual intake has been 271 pupils. They must be adding an additional class to the Year 7 group. The school has a good Ofsted report from 2007 and achieves good exam results. Will the increase in intake work against or for me with regard to prejudice? Can I suggest that the school is doing very well and by increasing their intake this year beyond what they originally published in their 2009-2010 information booklet this can/must mean that the school is confident about accommodating additional pupils. It looks like the classes will comprise 30 students each, but one class will have 31 students. Can this work in my favour by suggesting that if one class can have 31 students then surely the others can too? Or will the fact that they've taken on 31 pupils more than published work against me?

I have some strong reasons why my son should attend this particular school. The reason I'm asking the above questions is in an attempt to undermine the Admission Authority's case that by taking on an additional pupil will create prejudice.

Liili

No the criteria is 1. Looked after children
2. catchment
3. sibling

dawnteabag

thebaileys wrote: »

Yes, I know you should'nt look too much into the Ofsted Report, the last two are on-line one from 2007 and the one from a couple of months back.

There doesn't seem to have been any improvement. It's not a bad school, there are far worse.

Hopefully once the admissions dept has all of the figures of who is going where, I will know where he can go.

Hi

KJust wanted to opo on and tell you not to give up - I've been in exactly the same situation with my son. We applied to 3 Christian schools and, despite strong supporting documentation from the vicar were offered a place at none of them. I had to chose which school my son went to on the day offers went out, over the phone without visiting any of the ones with places available etc as the place offered was at the catchment school for my address which was no good for me as a full-time working single-parent reliant on my parents for childcare support.
In the end I had to wait until he was in KS2 before appealing and then there was some skulduggery from the school - misinfomation provided to ma when I requested an update on progress led to 2 other children's appeals being heard before mine. They got in. Or appeal was rejected because they could only fit in those 2 despite what the appeals panel described as one of the strongest cases they had ever heard. My experiences during this process put me off that school altogether!

I then appealed to our second choice school and was again turned down
So...on to plan C which was a school which was not on our original list due to it being too far away for my son to travel to. However, by this time (mid Y3) he was far more capable of traveliing than he would have been at age 5. A place was available at the school and I couldn't be happier. In the end, it's worked out far better than I could have ever hoped for.

Kepp trying - you'll get there in the end and whilst things may not go as you originally planned I'm sure it will be for the best in the end.

I'm already starting to worry about the whole secondary school thing though - don;t know if I can go through that again.

helenhelen

Hi

I have only just found this thread and havent yet had the chance to read through it all, my son aged 4 has not been offered the infant school i wanted him to go to, i have popped him onto the school waiting list and will appeal.

How do waiting lists work though? Is it first come, first served? or do they use distance etc if any places come available?

Many thanks

Helen

thebaileys

Thanks Dawnteabag,

Well I have my appeal date, which is May 7th, so quite a while off.

There are quite a few other parents appealing too.

I have spoken to the LEA again, they must be sick of me now lol!

They are making the allocations on friday, so at some point next week I will know where my little boy has been offered a place.

Fingers crossed, and Thanks for everyone's advice

Savvy_Sue

helenhelen wrote: »

How do waiting lists work though? Is it first come, first served? or do they use distance etc if any places come available?

I believe that they use 'first come, first served', but there may be exceptions to that, and really it's only the school who can tell you that so I would ask!

bonty44

I think waiting lists operate on the same criteria as the schools' admissions policy.

silvercar

bonty44 wrote: »

I think waiting lists operate on the same criteria as the schools' admissions policy.

Depends on the school, some give some weight to how long you have been on the waiting list, though this may apply more to those hoping to join the school after the start date. The waiting list before the children start "should" be based on the admission criteria.

Some schools tell you initially where you are on the list. We were 64th on the list of our first choice school. When I phoned the school they said, based on past years, I should get an offer by the end of April! So many people used the schools entrance exam as a practice run for the private schools or sat for 3 other grammar schools as well and would be offered places at one or more of the others that they would choose.

This was a few years ago, and they were right, we did get our offer.

dawnteabag

bonty44 wrote: »

I think waiting lists operate on the same criteria as the schools' admissions policy.

I think this is generally how it works (although there will of couse be exceptions_
What this means in practice is that you can sit patiently on the waiting list for years but if someone with a higher priority joins the list they will jump over you and go to the head of the queue.