School appeals - help offered

leannerenaud

hello
thank you for the reply
this is for secondary school and there PAN is 210.

when i asked where she was on the waiting list they told me i have no chance

leannerenaud

Hi thank you for the reply.
the school offered is in a different town. for my daughter to attend she would need to leave home at 6.30am and walk alone for 30 mins along busy roads with no pedestrian crossings then a 30 min train ride then a 30 min bus. the return journey being the same but due to train times she would not get home until 5.30pm.
With out going into to much detail, our first school choice meets her emotional needs. she is not a confident child and if she was to attend then she would be with her cousins and closest friends. there is also more suitable clubs at our first choice that are not on offer at the other schools. When in the right emotional state of mind my daughter can and will excel with great results. But when in the wrong frame of mine she is the opposite and struggles and this is reflected in her work.

susancs

leannerenaud wrote: »

Hi thank you for the reply.
the school offered is in a different town. for my daughter to attend she would need to leave home at 6.30am and walk alone for 30 mins along busy roads with no pedestrian crossings then a 30 min train ride then a 30 min bus. the return journey being the same but due to train times she would not get home until 5.30pm.
With out going into to much detail, our first school choice meets her emotional needs. she is not a confident child and if she was to attend then she would be with her cousins and closest friends. there is also more suitable clubs at our first choice that are not on offer at the other schools. When in the right emotional state of mind my daughter can and will excel with great results. But when in the wrong frame of mine she is the opposite and struggles and this is reflected in her work.

It does sound as if the offered school is a long journey using public transport. I wonder if there is a school bus or any other pupils parents doing the journey that your daughter could get a lift with (for a contrubution towards petrol costs)? As another poster has said it would also be worth checking if you could go on the waiting list for a place at another school that is nearer home. If nearer the top of the list she may well get a place there.

As you are no doubt aware, only a small number of appeals are successful in most LEAs and winning appeals are usually on the basis that the admissions criteria has not been applied correctly. If you are going the expectional needs appeal route, then this will usually need to be backed up by professional reports that support the claim that a particular school is the only school that can meet your daughter's needs. All schools will have pastoral care, anti bullying policies and procedures in place, usually offer extra curriculur activities etc. so you need reasons why the appeal school is significantly different and most suitable. For example a parent won a place for her son who had hyper mobility syndrome with toileting issues at a school that had modular units in the grounds for different subjects and signifcantly more toilets nearer classrooms, than other schools in the area. His physio report recommended a good walk between lessons, this school fitted the bill better than any other school in the area, as he had to walk to different buildings. He had a consultants letter stating the need for quick and easy access to toilets during all lessons and the parents had done their research and provided evidence of less toilets, further away from classrooms at the other schools in the area, plus plans of the other school buildings, showing less walking involved.

Good luck with your appeal.

silvercar

leannerenaud wrote: »

Hi thank you for the reply.
the school offered is in a different town. for my daughter to attend she would need to leave home at 6.30am and walk alone for 30 mins along busy roads with no pedestrian crossings then a 30 min train ride then a 30 min bus. the return journey being the same but due to train times she would not get home until 5.30pm.
With out going into to much detail, our first school choice meets her emotional needs. she is not a confident child and if she was to attend then she would be with her cousins and closest friends. there is also more suitable clubs at our first choice that are not on offer at the other schools. When in the right emotional state of mind my daughter can and will excel with great results. But when in the wrong frame of mine she is the opposite and struggles and this is reflected in her work.

If this is the nearest suitable school that has been offered and is over 3 miles from home, she would be entitled to paid transport. This may be in the form of a bus & train pass. It may be a taxi if there is no other means of getting to school or it could be an allowance for you to drive her to and from school. Phone the council's school transport team and ask what provision is in place to get from your home area to the school. If there is no one else on this route ie no one from your area attends this school, very occasionally this can have an influence. I wouldn't hold out hope on this, but if it is to influence you need to alert the school transport team that they have a provision to meet at an early stage.

silvercar

....but i don’t know what else to do.
it has caused so much stress and upset for my daughter that she has needed to be refereed for counselling via our GP.

I didn't pick up on this earlier.

A lot of time, children pick up on the stress of parents. Unless you have a Plan B up your sleeve (home educating/ moving town/ private school) it is foolish to let your concerns have an effect on your child. If there is a possibility that your child will end up at this school, you should be putting a positive spin on things and letting your daughter feel she is capable of settling in and overcoming obstacles. However distraught you feel in private.

leannerenaud

hi thanks she will not be going to the offered school it just is not suitable or practical in any way for her for many reasons. and i could go on and on abut them all day long, what i am struggling with is knowing how to back up what i am saying about her emotional needs etc.. and why i feel that the school we want is the most suited. i feel very intimated going up against a school. i know in my heart that this is where she will do best. and i know this because i am her mum and i just know. its my gut instinct if you like and hers. but this is obviously not going to be acceptable to an appeal panel?

RE my daughters stress etc it has not come from me i am generally a positive person and continuously reassure her as dose her father and other family friends and teachers. its just the way she is as i said before she is very emotional and worry about everything

sylwia_brzozowska

Hi There, We are on continiung interst list, and we schould find by 15th May which school they would offer us. The cut off date for an appeal is 19th May. I am not sure what I can do for an appeal to be succesfful. It is reception class. I know about 30 children per class. Maybe someone of you have any tios for the appeal. I tried to buy book How to win your school appeal,
but looks like it is out of order at the moment.

Maight someone of you has this book.
Thank you for your help.

FBaby

its my gut instinct if you like and hers. but this is obviously not going to be acceptable to an appeal panel?

The problem is that I can imagine most of the parents of the children on the waiting list would say exactly the same. The reality is you want that school because you know your child would do better there, but so would all the other kids who picked it as first choice. Alone as a reason, this is bound to fail.

What about the nearest one? You've dismissed it because of the bullying, but things change so much from primary to secondary. My DD came home one day after starting Y7 because this girl was bullying her. Of course it was heartbreaking as a mum, however it got resolved quickly (mainly by DD ignoring her), and 3 years on, they are now best friends and about to go on holiday together!

I certainly wouldn't dismiss this school if it is the one she has the best chance to have a place to as although there are no appeals that have chances from the start, yours as you've presented it here is not looking good.

susancs

sylwia_brzozowska wrote: »

Hi There, We are on continiung interst list, and we schould find by 15th May which school they would offer us. The cut off date for an appeal is 19th May. I am not sure what I can do for an appeal to be succesfful. It is reception class. I know about 30 children per class. Maybe someone of you have any tios for the appeal. I tried to buy book How to win your school appeal,
but looks like it is out of order at the moment.

Maight someone of you has this book.
Thank you for your help.

The older version is currently available used on Amazon.co.uk for 1p plus £2.80 postage (only 1 copy so hopefully it will still be available when you see this).
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/0713672196/ref=tmm_pap_used_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=used&sr=1-4&qid=1431369466

Also recent publication here for £15.20 here:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Win-Your-School-Appeal/dp/B00LLOHVFG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1431369466&sr=1-1&keywords=How+to+Win+Your+School+Appeal

If these are sold out, try your local library for a copy.

Christabelicus

This is my first visit so apologies if this appears in the wrong place. 2 years ago my son was not allocated any of our 5 preferred choices for primary school. The one we were given was completely inadequate for him and we lost all 5 appeals therefore we chose to send him to a fee-paying faith school. Our daughter has been offered one of our choices to start in September and we obviously want our son to be at the same school. We are now appealing once again for a place for him (currently Yr1, due to start Yr2 in September) - it was one of our choices first time around so the LEA will know that we have previously applied and appealed for it.
How do we go about this?
The school has 2 Yr1 classes, both with 33 pupils. It is my understanding that they have to have 2 teachers in these circumstances, so we thought we could argue that the teacher is already there and could they not just accommodate our son. I have checked on the school's web site and both of these classes have one teacher and one teaching assistant. Surely this is not allowed?
The LEA have also told us that we would have to wait for 7 to leave (ie to get the class back to 30) but we know of another school in the same LEA that has a class of 33 and they replace as soon as one has left and they also do not have an extra teacher.
Any help for points of appeal would be gratefully received, we just don't know where to start with it. We have a book with all the jargon in (John Chard I think) and it is really useful but we just don't know which bits to appeal on.. Please help!!