School appeals - help offered

busiscoming2

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/391020

TeamLowe

Please please please don't mention how terrible the allocated school is as all you'll be asked is why you didn't put more down in the forms when you had the chance. The panels usually have little sympathy for parents who only put down one school then complain about allocated school. Gives a good chance of the education officer to emphasise the pressures they're under and how hard their job is. Which it most definitely is.

The most likely scenario for why you didn't get a place is this- the school was oversubscribed and there was more children in your category (ie those at the feeder school) than there were places. Usually, the children in that category would be ordered by distance of home address from the school and places given to the closest within that category. The other way is a lottery, although that's unusual.

The panel, at the second stage of the appeal can decide if the personal circumstances of your case outweigh the prejudice that would be caused by admitting a further pupil. So please do gather as much evidence as possible regarding your daughters need for continuity and stability. The part about child are and distance won't weigh very heavily at all

Hope this helps.

I've clerked appeals for a year now and trust me,no one can say whether you'll win or lose your appeal, it really depends on the panel on the day

helphelphelphelp

Thanks again for all the advice

I have now toned down my appeal letter and made it less emotive, removed all reference to the other school and only made points as to why my daughter should attend the school we applied for and the reasons she did not change to the feeder school. I will also be supporting these reasons with letters from both her current school and counsellor who will be giving written statements that changing schools so soon after bereavements of two people close to her would have been detrimental to her mental wellbeing.

The preferred school also offers student counselling (not offered by allocated school) which I have put down as being prejudicial if she is not offered this place.

They also specialise in maths so am getting her sats scores for the past 18 months as I believe they have been quite high so am going to use that as part of the appeal.

Main part of the appeal though has to be her emotional well being, continuity of child care, support of friends etc.

Fingers crossed but a long wait ahead.

If anyone has anymore tips, they will be gratefully received. This is all new to me and I went into the application process with a very naive view!

Has anyone used the appeal consultants, or think they are worth the money they charge? Have read it is about £1000 and their success rates are around 80%.

Thank you.

JC9297

I'm a bit confused, you say she stayed at her old school so she was with her friends at that time, but you also say you want to appeal on the grounds that she needs the support of her friends. So did her friends who live further away (possibly out of catchment?) and don't attend the feeder school get into the school that you wanted for your daughter?

thegirlintheattic

helphelphelphelp wrote: »

I will also be supporting these reasons with letters from both her current school and counsellor who will be giving written statements that changing schools so soon after bereavements of two people close to her would have been detrimental to her mental wellbeing.

This won't help. Whatever happens, even if you get your choice, she will be changing schools. So this alone does not strengthen your appeal, and could weaken it as the argument doesn't make sense.

Ditto with the maths SATS, specialisms have little impact - particularly in a core subject so it will likely be ignored by the appeal. If your DD is G&T this would make more of an impact.

A successful appeal needs to be very focused with a clearly thought out, strong argument about why the benefits for your daughter being admitted to that particular school outweighs the problems that arise from adding an extra student.

So your appeal needs to focus on:
- The fact she is in catchment and this means she will be attending school in an area she knows and with people she is close to - and that not having this would be detrimental to your daughter because of her recent brievements.
- Your chosen school offers counselling services, which are not offered at the allocated school. Having these services on site will minimize disruption for your DD and the school over having your DD removed for regular off-site counselling.

I wouldn't pay for the consultants tbh - the appeals process is actually quite straight forward if you take a few hours to get your head around things.

As an aside, the school should give you the information about how many children they are taking under each criteria and distances from school. I can't remember the exact guidance but I'm sure if you have a google you will find it. So just call the school and ask them for the info, if they ask why explain you are appealing. Don't be fobbed off.

Remember you only have 14 days to get the appeal in.

helphelphelphelp

Hi

Yes, she stayed at her school for continuity but since living here she has made friends on the estate and they will be going to the preferred school so she will know people there (3 or 4 close friends).

peachyprice

helphelphelphelp wrote: »

How can I find out which children have been accepted under which criteria?

Presumably all her friend that you want her to stay with have been accepted. Do any of these live further from the school than you?

helphelphelphelp

They are in the feeder schools and one lives next door, and the others are pretty much the same distance.

But have looked at admission criteria for other over subscribed schools in the area and none of them mention feeder schools. Just LAC (looked after children as the first one) then children in the catchment. Would this be worth mentioning or would it make me look argumentative? I was thinking of using it as a prejudicial argument, though it is more on a group basis rather than an individual one.

Thanks

FBaby

The exact same thing happened to me, although with infant/senior school.

It really infuriates me that feeder schools could take precedence over catchment area. This opens up to total manipuation of the system and should not be allowed.

Same situation than yours. We used to live 30 minutes away and moved in January. My DD was in Y6 desperate to finish the school year and DS was in Y3. The catchment area is only a senior school, so this way they would both be starting a new school along with the pupils in their class. All issues taken together, moving school half way through the year, to a new town, a new house (they've always lived in the same house), with my new partner (although they get along brilliantly, it was still a significant change, it seemed the best for them, despite my having to commute 3 hours every day (45 minutes to take them to school, 45 minutes then to work....). It didn't cross my mind that attending the local schools in September (by requesting a move in June) would be a problem, the local senior school being one of the biggest in the country with a very large intake... well I was wrong. It is a Osted 1 school and is very popular, and only had enough space for all feeder infant schools. Not ONE extra place but for children with disabilities. I soon discovered why... the 2nd closest senior school (but not in catchment area) was on remedial measures. This prompted parents of kids living in the catchment area of the bad school to request places in the infant schools in our area, filling them all up and then giving them priority to the local senior school. My son was unsurprinsgly offered a place at the struggling school. I was furious and found it very unfair....My son was assessed as G&T and was very concerned how he would be challenged appropriately in the other school. However, having spoken to a number of expert, I knew that i had no chance whatsoever to win an appeal. I knew he had no chance to get in as they were 8 people on the waiting list before him (started at 5 and went down to 8 after only a few weeks, clearly all local kids!)

Thankfully, things turned out well for us. Those people I had received advice from told that the school on remedial measure was actually a very good school, but had just suffered from very poor management. Being on remedial measures meant that they were able to get rid of the headmaster and provide extra support to the school. I was advised to go and visit it. I relunctantly did, and was very positively surprised all around. I then received the reassurance that 6 months after the school was put on remedial measures, it had been re-inspected and given a 2.

My boy started there last September, and I couldn't praise the school any better. It is fantastic. The kids are lovely, the teachers fantastic, the headmaster great. Most importantly, my son is challenged like he wasn't at his previous school (which i was delighted with). He is now in Y4 and continuously working at level 5 in maths. It will ended up for the best for us, but I am still angry with the system. Because parents tried to manipulate the system, you have kids travelling further away, meaning most parents taking cars to drop their kids when all this was unecessary. I have to drive 25 minutes out of my way every mornings and evenings to drop my boy because of not getting a place in our local school.

Local kids should get priority to access to their schools, or at least there should be a quota for feeder schools that allow for an acceptanle proportion of local kids accessing their local school.

I am not very positive for your chance at appeal, especially if many children were turned down. I think your only chance is that the school provides counselling when the other doesn't, but I would expect you would have to show evidence that your child requires school counselling rather than NHS counselling, ie, was she receiving this before, or is there any recommendation that it should be in school?

Do try to see what is happening with the other school though. It might very well be that like in my situation, the poor status is temporary, that the school is going through a difficult time rather than a bad school overall.

Ironically, the best secondary school in my town (Ofted 1) used to be the worse school in the area 6 years ago, the one everyone tried to get out of (and is in one of the worse area of town!!). They got a new Headmaster and the school has progressed year on year, so much that 5 of my DD friends from her previous school (1/2 hour away) are now travelling to our town every day (managed to get in as it is a church of England school).

FBaby

helphelphelphelp wrote: »

They are in the feeder schools and one lives next door, and the others are pretty much the same distance.

I very much doubt this would hold up. Same situation then mine, all the kids on our close go to the local school...but my son...who has struggle to make close friends at his old school, which brought quite a few tears (heartbreaking), but we are getting there and he is much happier since January.

helphelphelphelp wrote: »

But have looked at admission criteria for other over subscribed schools in the area and none of them mention feeder schools. Just LAC (looked after children as the first one) then children in the catchment. Would this be worth mentioning or would it make me look argumentative? I was thinking of using it as a prejudicial argument, though it is more on a group basis rather than an individual one.

Whether other oversubscribed schools have feeder schools or not is irrelevant (also the case in my town). If it is part of the criteria for your local school, then that's how it is. I should have added that in my situation, not only were ALL places offered at the senior school a feeder school allocated place (besides LAC and disabled children), they didn't just allocate the normal 30 places per class BUT 35, leaving absolutely no flexibility for appeal. Because of the above, some classes do have 36 kids....against 25 in my son's class.....