Appealing - School Addmission

tomtontom

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

And I could be wrong, but I suspect that even if one child is offered a place on appeal, there won't necessarily be a place for both.

You are correct - each appeal would be considered on its own merits.

peterpan01 wrote: »

how can i get a CAF/Marf test done? do i contact CAMH?

Do you want your children/ family to have input from social services? Are you aware of the wider implications of this?

I sit on appeal panels and nothing you have said points to the new school being the only one that can meet the needs of your child. Even with social services input I would be asking what other schools you have considered and why you do not believe them to be adequate. I'd need a lot more than an OFSTED report to convince me.

FBaby

You say your son has been referred to CAHMS. That will trigger the rest of the referrals if they deem there is a need for it.

peterpan01

What could carry more weight would be your son's mental health issues and if the school has some sort of specialism in this area. For example in regard to councellors or pastoral care, that would set it apart from other schools. You would also most likely need this backed up by professional reports from CAHMS. However that would only apply to one of your children, so unlikely the other child will get a place.
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the school i want for my children has pastoral care and counselling.

If i can save/help one child i will do so.

peterpan01

tomtontom wrote: »

You are correct - each appeal would be considered on its own merits.

Do you want your children/ family to have input from social services? Are you aware of the wider implications of this?

Yes, thinking about it - i dont want soical services to be involved.

tomtontom

peterpan01 wrote: »

the school i want for my children has pastoral care and counselling.

If i can save/help one child i will do so.

Every school offers pastoral care, that is the role of the form tutor, head of year etc. Every school can access counselling where appropriate. These attributes are not going to be unique to one school.

Have you considered the implications of leaving one child in the present school whilst moving the other one? I can only see such a move causing more problems, both at home and in school.

peterpan01

I am still looking at other schools in my area. Moving house is not an option.

I am in contact with the current school re the bullying etc...

I would love them to go to the school i went to however it is an hour away.

I will still go through with the appeal but i now know not to get my hopes up too much.

Thank you for the replies, it was not the answers i wanted but it helps to know the reality of things.

susancs

peterpan01 wrote: »

how can i get a CAF/Marf test done? do i contact CAMH?

If it is required because of the different services needed to support a child or family, a Common Assessment framework will be set up to allow easier multi agency working and inforrmation sharing with the team around the child/family. A MARF is a multi agency referal form used to make a referal to social services, if there are concerns that a child's basic needs may be unmet or they are at significant risk of harm.
http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/healthsoc/childfam/cafinfo/

susancs

peterpan01 wrote: »

the school i want for my children has pastoral care and counselling.

If i can save/help one child i will do so.

As another poster has said all schools will have access to councellors and have to have pastoral care, however you would need to have researched the schools locally by asking questions and if the school you want goes beyond that of the other local schools you could use that. For example my children go to a voluntary aided faith based comprehensive secondary school where the daily tutor form time is longer than that of other local schools, because the school feels this allows for better pastoral care. They employ a full time school chaplain, the children can talk to, full time school based counsellor and a gifted and talented pupils councellor comes in one day a week. Other schools in the local area do not offer as much, so this sets the school apart in those areas.