Is this grounds for appeal - missed out on a place because of bursary list

ernestmoss · 2019-03-21 11:22:28

Hi, I'd be massively grateful if anyone can help me out with a question, will try to keep it as brief as possible....My daughter applied to a South East London school which has a bursary system. (not a financial bursary, granted to kids who have an aptitude for visual arts, music or drama). She succeeded in getting a visual arts bursary, so we were all very chuffed. We were told that the bursary gave us no guarantee of a place at the school. But we also weren't told, at any point, that applying for a bursary could disadvantage our daughter in getting a place. The school also has banding tests - 5 bands, kids scores divided equally, and the criterion for offering places within those bands is the usual system: first children in care, then siblings, then distance. My daughter sat the banding test, as well as applying for the bursary. She missed out on a place on offer day. So I rang both the school and the LA admissions team to try and figure out why. To cut a long story short, I have now discovered that, having been granted a bursary, she went into a 'bursary' waiting list of 42 kids and was excluded from all of the banding waiting lists. The bursary list operates the same way as the banding lists described above. The council published a document on how they offered places this year. We missed out on the bursary list place on distance. She's currently no.3 on that waiting list. However, the council have told me that, had she been put into a banding waiting list, it would've been band 1. We are comfortably within the furthest distance offered to band 1. In other words, had we not applied for the bursary, she would've got a place. I am absolutely livid, and feel like I have inadvertently, and totally unknowingly, disadvantaged my daughter from getting the best school for her, because I put her in for a bursary - thinking that that would give her the best chance! In fact, it has denied her a place! Is this grounds for appeal? I can also appeal on the fact that she does have an aptitude for art, has regularly attended art clubs, and the school she has been offered has no specialism in art. Whereas the school we want is a performing and visual arts college. The school have acknowledged that the system is unfair, but claim that they have no sway over it, and admissions are entirely controlled by the council. The school's admissions officer told me this morning that they tell the council every year that this is unfair, and ask them to change, so that those on the bursary list are moved into the banding lists should they miss out on the first round of offers, but so far without success. She has also advised me to badger the council to get her moved to the band 1 waiting list. Appreciate any help anyone can give - thank you!

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