School appeals - help offered

Spendless

flea72 wrote: »

hence why i asked if the school operates separate infant and junior schools - not all schools are linked, alot are run as stand alone units

one word of caution though, i have known people who have got caught out when the youngest child is due to move to juniors. their eldest child has moved onto secondary, and they are then refused a place in the junior school, as they no can longer use the sibling rule

F

What do you mean by 'stand alone'? The schools my kids went to are seperate as in they each have their own head, staff, school uniform etc. They both stand on the same grounds though fenced off with land belonging some to Juniors, some to Infants. There are others in the town where the infant school is in a different place to the junior school, even one where 2 infant schools feed into one junior, but there's nowhere that's just an infant school with nowhere for them to go afterwards or just a junior school that isn't going to have kids moving up from a nearby infants.

poet123

Spendless wrote: »

What do you mean by 'stand alone'? The schools my kids went to are seperate as in they each have their own head, staff, school uniform etc. They both stand on the same grounds though fenced off with land belonging some to Juniors, some to Infants. There are others in the town where the infant school is in a different place to the junior school, even one where 2 infant schools feed into one junior, but there's nowhere that's just an infant school with nowhere for them to go afterwards or just a junior school that isn't going to have kids moving up from a nearby infants.

I suspect she means stand alone "entities" with their own policies which operate without reference to the policies of the other affiliated school. Although I have to say I suspect this is rare, and would be interested to hear of examples.

MadDogWoman_2

Re Faith Schools, you need to read the selection criteria, as some schools require a reference from the minister.

The criteria at my first choice school (CofE) was a letter from the Rector and to get this letter you have to be involved with the Church not just attend, and be on the Electoral Roll for the Church - a letter guarantees a place.

flea72

poet123 wrote: »

I suspect she means stand alone "entities" with their own policies which operate without reference to the policies of the other affiliated school. Although I have to say I suspect this is rare, and would be interested to hear of examples.

yes, as in the primary and junior schools have their own selection criteria, and just because you have a place at infant school, doesnt mean you automatically get a place in the junior school, you have to go through the same form filling as you did for infant enrolment

in the area i live we have had alot of new housing go up and people who have moved to the area after allocation, cant attend their local infant school, due to them being full. so when they get the chance to apply for a place at junior school, they are then ahead of people who already have children at the primary, but live further away

i think you will find that alot of junior schools dont offer an automatic entry from infants. however in reality, due to class sizes not being so staid at junior level most schools can accommodate all children from the feeder school, and parents are lulled into a sense of security because the schools are assuring parents of places, because up until now, they havent been put in a position where they have had to resort to the selection criteria - but with so many people not getting their choice of infant school, they will be looking to the KS2 allocations to try and still get into the school they want, and you will start to see the oversubscriptions that you currently get for infant and secondary schools

F

Spendless

flea72 wrote: »

yes, as in the primary and junior schools have their own selection criteria, and just because you have a place at infant school, doesnt mean you automatically get a place in the junior school, you have to go through the same form filling as you did for infant enrolment

in the area i live we have had alot of new housing go up and people who have moved to the area after allocation, cant attend their local infant school, due to them being full. so when they get the chance to apply for a place at junior school, they are then ahead of people who already have children at the primary, but live further away

i think you will find that alot of junior schools dont offer an automatic entry from infants. however in reality, due to class sizes not being so staid at junior level most schools can accommodate all children from the feeder school, and parents are lulled into a sense of security because the schools are assuring parents of places, because up until now, they havent been put in a position where they have had to resort to the selection criteria - but with so many people not getting their choice of infant school, they will be looking to the KS2 allocations to try and still get into the school they want, and you will start to see the oversubscriptions that you currently get for infant and secondary schools

F

Yes that's the same process I've gone through each time, but my reply was about sibling criteria and sibling criteria for me even counts if you are applying for a an Infant place and your older child is already in the seperate Junior school.

FBaby

flea72 wrote: »

in the area i live we have had alot of new housing go up and people who have moved to the area after allocation, cant attend their local infant school, due to them being full. so when they get the chance to apply for a place at junior school, they are then ahead of people who already have children at the primary, but live further away

I wish it was the case in my local area! We've just moved to a new area, but my son won't be able to attend the local junior school (only .5 miles away) because they allocate all their places (35 per class) to the feeder infant schools. In the past few years, one of the other junior schools got bad results, prompting local parents to try to get a place to one of the feeder schools which they were able to do as three feed into the junior school. It now means pupils living miles away get priority over those living next door to the school. Despite the closeness, my son is 9th on the waiting list, meaning there are 8 children living less than .5 miles away from the school who can't get in. This is absolutely ridiculous. Thankfully, the other junior school after being on remedial measures has really picked itself up and got a good ofsted report last year, so I don't mind my son going there from an educational view, but from a logistic point of view, it will be a nightmare.

Charlie23

Hi I've been really stupid. I'm appealing as i got my second choice but want to accept it. Just going through all the forms tonight (didn't want to rush them wanted to think it all through) and i see that the acceptence was due in today. My hubby's going to drop it off tomorrow before they open but i'm not sure he'll be in time. I'm going to loose my place arnt i? Sorry i'm currently crying because i can't believe i've been so stupid and missed the bit that said accpetences have to be in within 14 days. i was working to the appeals date. i'm so scared as everyone close to me has been given REALLY crap schools.
Any advice please. sorry

go_cat

Charlie23 wrote: »

Hi I've been really stupid. I'm appealing as i got my second choice but want to accept it. Just going through all the forms tonight (didn't want to rush them wanted to think it all through) and i see that the acceptence was due in today. My hubby's going to drop it off tomorrow before they open but i'm not sure he'll be in time. I'm going to loose my place arnt i? Sorry i'm currently crying because i can't believe i've been so stupid and missed the bit that said accpetences have to be in within 14 days. i was working to the appeals date. i'm so scared as everyone close to me has been given REALLY crap schools.
Any advice please. sorry

My letter said if you didn't reply in time your place may given to another child.
Why don't you email acceptance tonight so technically you haven't missed deadline

Charlie23

can't email as i've only got my second place school. has to be the letter. Can't believe how stupid i am. am soooo gutted.

go_cat

Ring them first thing tomorrow and tell them what has happened and tell them hubby is dropping letter in good luck