Hi, I'm looking for some advice on the secondary school in-year appeal process.
Ds13 is in year 8 at an all boys school (the school most local to us) where he is very unhappy - it's rough and the behaviour is appalling. When he joined in year 7 he had major problems settling in due to the atmosphere and disruptive behaviour that is the norm in most lessons. He was so anxious about being there that the school had to give him an Exit Card to use in lessons if he felt overwhelmed. He eventually settled after one term and made some friends. However, since Christmas things have been bad again. He got in a fight a couple of weeks ago and received an internal exclusion for it - after investigation it became clear to the school and us that the boy he fought with had been bullying him for the last 4 months, though he hadn't told us about it. Ds is now utterly miserable - the general bad behaviour in the school and the fall-out from the fight and bullying have made him very low. He is desperate to move school to our second closest locally - a mixed school that is very popular and oversubscribed. He wants to move to this particular school because he has a strong and supportive friendship group there. He spends most of his time socially with these kids when he is out of school. He is on the continued waiting list, but is only at number 9 so is not likely to be moving any time soon.
Please could anyone give me advice on whether or not we have grounds to appeal for a place at his desired school? Most of the other schools locally are oversubscribed and the only one that does have places free is also very rough. Having seen the way he struggled with settling in at his present school, I would be very worried about him going anywhere where he doesn't already have friends.
I think my main questions are would we be able to appeal on social grounds? And what kind of evidence would we need to supply? We don't have any medical evidence from the doctor about his anxiety. Would we be able to ask his present school for an account of his issues there - or would it be unlikely that they would give it?
Sorry for the long post - any thoughts/advice on how to go about this would be much appreciated.
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In Year Appeal Advice
7 replies
GoldenNoodle · 02/05/2019 17:49
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