Secondary appeal

cronsilksilt, I am not sure what an ed psych report would give in such an appeal, because to get to a grammar school you need to have met the required standard. If you did not reach the appropriate standard in the tests, then the only way that an appeal panel will deem your child of grammar school standard is if you can demonstrate that they are much better than the test result obtained. Being realistic this is not reading / spelling ages but is teacher assessment in english and maths which is at least 5C and preferably 5A.
Even if you can demonstrate that your child is of grammar school standard that still does not mean that you will be given a place unless you have very good reasons for admission - meeting the required standard is not enough.

cronsilksilt - Can you clarify your situation please? Did your child fail the selection test for a grammar school?

Ph47
What evidence would a panel expect to see to establish that a child is at grammar school level? Would reading/ spelling ages assessed by school count or would an ed psych report be better?

It would not have any effect. It tells the panel he is bright but that does not give them a reason to admit him. Remember that they cannot take into account the academic performance of the school.

Just wondering if panel take into considerstion ability banding during appeal?
My son was banded to Band A - above average and i will be appealing for his academic needs as well as other factors.Would Band A help us during appeal or it has no affect at all.

Thank you

I only put down two choices, not because I didn't like any other schools but because ds really wants to cycle to school so we very naively and regrettably listed the two schools we found that had very safe journeys in order for him to cycle to, (he's colour blind and confuses traffic signal colours) . The 1st choice was a faith school which based on the past few years home-school distance criteria he would have gained a place no problem. This years distance was the lowest ever and he missed out by 5ft! We were confident he'd get a place, all his friends who live a stones throw away got places. He is top of waiting list but LA confirmed all places accepted and none declined. There does have to be a cut-off point but now have to go through the appeals process. We couldn't have listed any more than two choices if we wanted to support our ds's wishes to cycle as these two schools were the only ones which had routes without traffic signals. There are also other factors why these schools were most suitable, in hindsight we should have filled our 6 choices as have now been allocated worst performing school in the area, having said that, there will be loads of lovely kids there that want to do well and diversity is good. Must stay positive as doubt we will win appeals.

They are not, of course, exempt from any part of the Admissions Code or the Admission Appeals Code beyond the fact that they can use faith as part of their oversubscription criteria.

Turniphead1 - If you are unhappy with the way an appeal panel conducts your appeal you are entitled to refer the matter to the Local Government Ombudsman. However, if it was an infant class size case your only chance of winning was if you could show that a mistake had been made.

isky - Non-RC children are admitted to RC schools. Indeed, some only allocate a proportion of their places on faith grounds in order to improve the chances of non-RC applicants. But equally there are some RC schools where you are unlikely to gain admission unless you meet the faith criteria.

Dear Turniphead1,
I fully agree that non RC children are not admitted to RC schools.

I , myself catholic who spends every sunday in church (past 10 years) with kids have to appeal cause baptism was delayed due to personal circumstances would HATE to learn that non RC children gain entrance in such a schools.
Thats my opinion anyway.

From this report it is clear that the school, the clerk to the appeal and the appeal panel all fell down on the job. This doesn't mean that there was anything wrong with the way admissions were administered but clearly there were several things wrong with the way this appeal was conducted. The response of the head to the LGO investigation was also poor. I hope they will comply with the recommendations. Thankfully most faith schools do better than this.

? Fair Admission by Catholic School?

www.lgo.org.uk/news/2012/mar/london-oratory-school-criticised-admission-appeal/

isky I second that - I have had more useful support and info (and less rumour) from MN that from LEA, primary school & parents combined. So thank you (and will let you know if our appeal was successful in May)

Dear prh47bridge ,admission, PanelChair and others

Thank you for all advice you have given via this forum. I feel more confident with my appeal and fingers crossed.

Please feel free to add anything else I haven't covered.

isky - No, it will not be held against you if only one parent turns up for the appeal and it would not be questioned. It is quite normal for only one parent to turn up.

The LEA in my area also seems to have confused about the deadlines, which is why I went back to the appeals code to check it out. In summary:

• if they give you a deadline for lodging yr appeal that is less than 20 school days after the notification letter they are wrong - I'd e-mail them after you submit yr appeal to confirm receipt, and to confirm that they treat yr appeal as "on time" and be very clear about the Appeals Code deadline .

-it's a good idea to meet the deadline for lodging the appeal, otherwise they are entitled to hear your appeals after the other appeals

• you do have to state reasons for appealing when you lodge yr appeal, but this can a simple statement of yr reasons - a statement of yr reasons is not the same as providing evidence for those reasons.

• You are entitled to submit further info/evidence after lodging yr appeal, but should aim to do so by the deadline provided. Do not be put off if the LEA says that you must provide a full case or full evidence at the point that you lodge yr appeal -this is baloney (and inconsistent with the Appeals Code, although this appears to have little effect on my LEA) - however, they are in their rights to set a reasonable deadline for submitting "further info" so make sure you meet that

Hope this helps.

Question for panel members: I am appealing to Oversubsribed catholic school and just wonder :How does panel members take if only one parent turns up for an appeal (second parent is not catholic), do they hold it against them and query it or one parent is sufficient for an appeal?

Thank you

admission Loud and clear

No panel should take any notice in making decisions about the number of schools they expressed a preference for. Panels know that any pupil, who is either reception or year 7 will be allocated a school (as that is what is legally required by the code), even if it is miles away. So any appellant that comes to an appeal saying they did not get a school that they preferred and they must have one, will not get any sympathy or preference by the panel.

PanelChair thanks for that. Bullet points are much easier at this stage and all the letters from doctors etc will be rounded up in time. The letter did not give a reason for refusal though I am certain it is on distance. The person I spoke to sounded like she didn't know anything, was just put on the phone to say "go to the LA". This school gets many appeals each year so I am sure they know what they must do..... But I will press them, in writing, and keep records of it all.

The deadline is for the LEA's convenience in setting up and managing the appeal panels. They can't refuse to hear your appeal just because you submit your appeal (or supporting documents) late. The panel will see everything you submit. Probably the best thing is to give the outline of your appeal on the initial form - this need not be anything more than a list of bullet points, eg limited choice of GCSEs/lack of provision for x and y/not equipped to meet child's particular need for z etc etc - and then say that you will expand on this in a later statement and/or your comments to the panel. Don't, though, submit documents very late - or produce a wodge of new documents on the day - because the panel may have to adjourn to consider them, and a delay doesn't help you.

If the school is an academy then presumably it is its own admissions authority and will be arranging its own appeals (although some academies buy in the services of the LEA to do this). In any event, the school should be providing you (within reason) with any information you need to prepare your appeal.

The letter telling you that you had not got a place should have told you the reason for that. This is crucial and you must press the school/LEA, as how else can you check that the decision has been correctly made, eg distance from home to school has been measured correctly and/or your child has been placed in the right admissions category?

Do not accept their lack of help on either of these points. You could drop it into conversation that if they obstruct you in preparing your appeal and refuse reasonable requests for information you will be using that as further grounds for appeal and/or formal complaint. If, for example, they won't confirm why you were refused a place, then (in your shoes) I would be saying to the panel something on the lines of "as the school/LEA won't confirm that my child's application was dealt with in accordance with the admissions code and the school's admissions criteria, I have to assume that some mistake was made that deprived my child of a place and this is a cover-up". That on its own isn't going to win an appeal, but it puts the onus on the LEA to convince the panel that the application was properly and fairly considered and may lead the panel towards giving you the benefit of any doubt.

Also, noticed in allocated school's prospectus "We expect all students to attend school every day". Good to see they are setting their bar so high

A question for the wise ones. The appeal form from the LA is headed "I wish to appeal against the decision not to offer my child a place at X school because....". The deadline is 28 March (on the form; 30 March on the website; good to see they are so on top of their admin ha ha) and 4 May for supporting docs.

Do I have to give my reasons at this stage? I thought I just had to notify them I was appealing. Then I have a bit longer to write my case - its a steep learning curve & I am away next week so short of time. Do the appeals panel see this form as well as what I submit to the hearing? Will it look bad if I've added extra reasons? Help me out MNers, is there a good sentence to put at the end of the appeal form saying something like "I'll add more later"?

I have some straightforward questions for the appeal school (an academy) e.g. what GCSEs they offer (not clear from prospectus or website). When I phoned last week, they wouldn't answer any questions, they just referred me to the LA (lovely, also said they would only reveal the reason why we were refused a place in the hearing which I think is b**cks). I'll email the questions so I have a record. Is it reasonable to expect they will answer by the 28 March deadline?