6th form admission

[marcoe]

Has anyone had any experience with appeals against London Oratory school's 6th form? Got a letter from them saying my daughter's application was unsuccessful. According to their admissions criteria, they give priority to students who have / had siblings studying there. My son is a former student, and my daughter's predicted grades are above their requested minimum grades, I was almost sure that she would get a place there, got a shock when I opened the letter. They don't even talk about waiting lists like other schools. I am thinking of appealing their decision. Has anyone had any experience with this?

[admission]

When looking at the admission criteria for LOS, then the admission criteria order is looked after children and then those with a sibling currently at the school. It is then correct that the next subcategory is "Candidates from practising Catholic families with a Certificate of Catholic Practice who have had a sibling at the school previously."
You do however need to look at the facts. They only offer 40 external place and last year they had 240 applicants for the places.

You need to check the letter because it should say under which category you were considered. You need to then check that you have furnished proof that you are a practising catholic. If you are convinced that you have done this, then I would appeal by email that you believe they have made a mistake in not giving your application priority under the siblings rule. It could be that they have had more than 40 applicants under the rule in which case there will be a tie break and you might not have been successful, but the school should be informing you why you were not successful.

[marcoe]

The letter does not give the reason for not accepting my daughter. It says that "all 348 applicants were first carefully considered in accordance with School's admissions arrangements. Then, given that pupil demand for places outstripped school supply of places, the school applied the published over-subscription criteria. Offers have been made in the first instance to those candidates who have best met the criteria. Regrettably, at this stage, we could not go wider than this on our offers, given the constraints of staffing and resources."
And then it goes on about the right to appeal and that we need to obtain an appeal form in writing (not by telephone) to the Clerk to the Appeal panel at the school address. I have sent the letter last Friday evening and still have not heard from them.

We have also applied to another school and we received a letter telling us on how the places were filled, also giving priority to siblings of students or former students. We were told that out of the 80 places, 41 were for internal candidates, 28 were siblings and 11 were other candidates with a certificate of catholic practice. This school used a ballot to give random number to applicants, my daughter's number is over 250, the last offer was made to number 44, therefore, even though they offer to have her on a waiting list, I am not hopeful at all. They mentioned twice that my daughter's predicted GCSE grades met the minimum level of attainment but they could not offer a place because of oversubscription.

The London Oratory does not tell us how they allocated the 40 places. They did not ask for predicted grades as they would contact secondary school and also did not ask for the certificate of catholic practice. They do not give us the reason she was not accepted. I am sure that her school would give them her predicted grades the same as they gave to us, and in regards to practice catholic, all they asked was the name of Priest and church that we attend Mass. If my son got a place there, that should already tell them that we are practising Catholics. I have been a catechist for 12 years, my daughter is also a catechist, she's been an altar server at church and at school and is now an Eucharistic Minister at her school.

And then there's a girl who my daughter knows from another school who has a conditional place to both schools, including LO. She has an older sister who did not attend LO. So if she got a place without being a sibling, why didn't my daughter get an offer?

[admission]

There are always reasons why somebody else may have got a place at the school and you need to concentrate on your daughter not others.
If they asked for where you worship, one would assume that they were accepting that you were of the catholic faith. So for me the key question is whether they acknowledged that your son had been at the school and therefore placed your daughter in the right admission criteria category.

I think that you need to go back to the LOS in writing and ask them to confirm what admission category your daughter was in. If they say it was in siblings then the likelihood is that they have got it right and there were just too many in this admission category. If you do not get that answer then the school have made a mistake and they need to review whether if she was in the right category she would have been offered a place.

[marcoe]

Thank you very much for your advice. I will do that and hope they will reply. I struggle to sleep at night thinking about this and what reason they have not to offer her a place. It would be easier if they tell you what went wrong or why there is no place for her. As I mentioned before their letter states that all 348 candidates were first carefully considered. If their priority goes to looked after children and then siblings; obviously they should be the ones to be considered first; unless all 348 have or had brothers in that school.

[HotpotLawyer]

You say your son was a former student? If he would no longer be in tne school when you Dd would start the sibling policy does not apply.

[HotpotLawyer]

On tne other hand the LOS have a long history of .... disputed admissions procedures.

[marcoe]

My son left LOS 3 years ago. Their admissions criteria is
A - looked after children,
B.1 - candidates with a sibling at school,
B.2 - candidates who are siblings of a former LOS student,
C - other Catholics

So as you can see we should have been placed at B.2 and should have had priority over category C.

Do you think we have a good reason to appeal?

[prh47bridge]

If they didn't put you in B2 you definitely have a case for appeal and should win on the information you have posted here. Even if they got it right you can still try appealing. You won't lose anything by doing so and might get a place.