School appeal

[PrincessWellington]

Dsd has not got into the school of choice. Can anyone advise on grounds of appeal. In wales
Thanks

[prh47bridge]

You will get better answers if you post this in Education, Primary or Secondary. You will also need to give more details if you want a reasonable answer.

[PrincessWellington]

Ok will look thanks

[dizzyde]

Hi

I had to be quite horrible to admissions with my daughters schooling to get the results I wanted.
We moved from sussex to northampton (about a 2 hour drive) and I put in my 3 requests for my daughters school and I didn't get any. She got placed in a school that was half an hour away, so had to drive, I was heavily pregnant so how would she get there when baby was born? She was only 6 at the time so I wouldn't let her get a bus on her own. Also, this school had a terrible reputation for bullying and had a bad offstead report. After my many emails and phone calls being ignored I went to the office. Eventually saw someone and I just refused to send her to that school. I said I would home school her until a more appropriate school came up. I had to keep on at them but within 3 weeks she ended up in her 1st school choice!

I don't know what the rules are in Wales but in my experience, stand your ground and nag nag nag every day! :)

[prh47bridge]

That doesn't work. There are strict rules about how places are allocated and laws about class sizes in infants. The LA has to follow them. They will not allocate you a place at your preferred school because you refuse to send your child to the allocated school nor will they allocate you a place just to make you go away. They are used to parents trying to bully them and simply ignore them.

In every case I know of parents who think they have bullied the LA into giving them a place at their preferred school are wrong. They have actually got the place because they were at the head of the waiting list when a place became available. In that situation the LA would prefer to give the place to someone further down the list so that parents don't end up thinking they can force the LA to give them their preferred school, but they have to follow the rules.

Similarly appeal panels hate being faced with parents who are trying to bully them into giving a place. They have to look at the case on its merits and sometimes that means they will award a place, but they are much less likely to give the parents the benefit of any doubt if they think the parent is trying to bully them.

If there is no place at the school no amount of chasing the LA will result in them creating a place. And if a place is available it must be awarded in line with the school's admission criteria.

By the way, if you reject the offered place the LA is under no obligation to find another one for you. If they do it will usually be even further away from home than the one offered initially.

[dizzyde]

I didn't bully them at all. In fact I was extremely nice and understanding for a very long time. I found that admissions in my area ignored me even When I was being understanding and patient! I had to put my foot down as a last resort because I was fed up with the whole thing. It worked eventually. My situation wasn't quite as black and white as that anyway.

Do you work for council / admissions?

[prh47bridge]

Didn't mean to offend you. Sorry.

No, I don't work directly in admissions but if you look over on the education-related forums you will see that I am one of the experts that provide advice along with various people who serve as appeal panel members.

Admissions ignoring you is unjustifiable.