Has anyone had to appeal for a school placement?

[Ineedchocolate]

Hi! It is my first time so please be gentle with me! I have recently received notification that I haven't been offered a place for my eldest daughter at any of my ranked schools. I am so upset as, like any parent, I really want her to have a good education and I am worried that this is no longer going to happen. She has just started nursery at an excellent school but hasn't been offered a place at the school itself. There is a school just round the corner from me which is also good but we haven't got in there either. My other choice was the local Catholic school but although my husband and children are Catholics, as we don't attend regular Mass, I knew we stood very little chance of getting in there! Instead we have been offered a place at a school that is quite a way away - it doesn't have a very good reputation at all and has poor results. Furthermore, it is an infant school only and the Junior school it is linked with has got terrible results and is the last place I would want my child to go to! She doesn't mix, or settle, very well which is one reason why I applied for the schools I did as they go through from 4 to 11 and would give her some sort of continuity and stability. As it stands, she will have moved from a playgroup to a nursery, to a different infant school, to a dfferent junior school before she even reaches senior school. I am so worried about it all. I have just got my pack to appeal but it frequently says that the chance of any success is highly unlikely. Has anyone had any experience of this? Is there any point appealing against this or would they just be going through the motions? I would be really grateful for any advice. Sorry I have rambled on so much!

[SoupDragon]

You can ask to be put on the school's waiting list, I do know people who have got in that way.

You certainly have nothing to lose by appealing so I'd go for it. You seem to have good reasons - distance alone is quite a good one. Reputation and results are not valid reasons for an appeal (they are from a mother's point of view though!) as not all children will be able to go to the "good" schools.

We've got this to come yet - DS1s application has just gone in but we don't find out til April.

And I need chocolate too...

[Ineedchocolate]

Thanks for that SoupDragon. I have put her name on the continuing interest list so I will just have to keep my fingers crossed for that. I will try to appeal anyway - like you say, I have got nothing to lose. It's just such a worry isn't it, we all want the best for our children. I really hope you have better luck with yours! Fingers crossed for you too.

[Ineedchocolate]

Thank you Batters - I don't hold out a huge amount of hope with the appeal as I don't think there was anything wrong with the placement procedure. I will just have to hope that something comes up from the waiting list. I have made an appointment to look round the school on Thursday so I might feel better after that - hopefully. To be honest, I am more concerned about the linked junior school as the Ofsted report was really bad! Thanks again.

[titchy]

Might be worht finding out where you are on the waiting lists. If you are in the top few you are likely to get a place as usually a few children who have places drop out.

You can ask your council/authority how many children on the waiting list last year and the year before actually got offered places in the end which might help. You never know you might be first on the waiting list!

[Ineedchocolate]

That's a great idea - thanks titchy! I will give that a try.

[Ineedchocolate]

That's a great idea - thanks titchy! I will give that a try.

[tallulah]

Ineedchocolate, you don't have to send her to the linked junior school, if she ends up at this infants. It is more common now for people to move children around & it gives you 3 years to find somewhere else to send her, or to get to the top of a waiting list.

I moved 2 of mine after year2 (2 years apart & to 2 different schools) just because I wasn't happy with the school they were at. Neither of them wanted to move but both settled really quickly. My one regret is that I didn't move the other 2.

A word of caution about waiting lists. When we moved house in 1997 I put my children down for the school at the bottom of our road. They had no room but put us on the list. My youngest was 5. Every September they rang us to confirm we still wanted a place & to say we were still on the list but that was as far as it got. We moved the little one in Sept 99 to a completely different school & finally took his name off the list last year because he was settled.
I've since heard that several children my son's age have left and joined that school while we've been on the list, yet we've never been contacted. Children in the village where he goes to school have been turned away since he started there.
My friend's little girl was turned down by every school in the area, and it took her mother ringing the headmistress of one school every week-in tears- before she got a place! The last time she rang, someone had just let the school know they'd moved out of the area & didn't need the place. Might be a tactic to try!

[Tortington]

i went to an appeal over the placement of our twins. they were turned down at the school of choice becuase we were out o the area - however we did have our eldest at the school. they didnt break any placement rules and we could have just put up wih what we got - however my argument at the time was that i couldnt get one son to one school and twins to another, and we were both working and went on about how they went to nursery there and had already made friends and played ont he social side.

the appeals panel were friendly but it was a daunting experience, however we won. so try it, focus on the positive arguments.

[SoupDragon]

In our area, the waiting lists aren't set things. From what I understand, if you're at the top and another child comes onto the list with a better case than yours, they will be at the top and you'll move down a spot. The lists work in the same way as the croterea for allocating initial spcaes - siblings, special needs, proximity to this school in relation to other schools etc.

[Bekki]

It is quite likely that I will have to go through this placement problem. Our catchment area is linked to a terrible school and I have found a school that I like but it is quite out of our area. A friend of mine appealed for a place for her son and was turned down. So she shouted a little louder and acted horrified and what do you know she got her son a place. Her son decided on the start date that he didn't want to go that school after all and she started the whole procedure over again with another school. Don't give up.