Twins got places in different secondary schools

Has the third choice school have space or has offered to take the other twin too. Just wondering if that would be an option or whether the LA might offer that at appeal as a solution.

Is it a school who admit children in stanines having sat an assessment? I could understand then why one twin would be admitted when another wasn’t.

I would go at the appeal all from the angle of the detrimental effect on one of the twin’a education. Eg all family holidays will be taken in line wirh one school’s Holidays which means that the other child may have to be taken out of school and miss out on their education. If you’re going to drop off/pick up, then one of them will always be late. Etc etc. Also from the point of view Of detrimental effect on the twins’ emotional well-being.

Howver this is quite a common situation for siblings who aren’t twins, to have to deal with the inconvenience of 2 different schools . Especially boy/girl siblings in single sex schools or one at grammar/one not. So people DO have to put up with it in those situations. It must be very hard though.

Because of the way that the admission criteria system works, one twin must have been allocated the last available place and one must be the next on the agreed list. The only other possibility is a mistake in the admission criteria order.
Unfortunately if you ask to go on the waiting list then when the school opens the waiting list in a couple of weeks, there is no guarantee that they will be at the top of the waiting list because there could easily be pupils who live nearer the school or were late applications.
Your best route is to contact the school and say you wish to appeal and point out to them that this will be an appeal based on one sibling being allocated a place and one not, in the hope that somebody at the school recognises the potential for bad publicity over this and admits anyway before it goes to appeal.

It really is up to each school at KS3 to decide how they treat siblings. A school local to me makes very clear that "‘Sibling’ refers to brother or sister, half brother or half sister, adoptive brother or adoptive sister, foster brother or foster sister, step brother or step sister living as one family unit at the same address. It will also be applied to situations where a full, half or adoptive brother or sister are living at separate addresses....[and includes]....children who at the time of application have a sibling for whom the offer of a place at the preferred school has been accepted, even if the sibling is not yet attending."

So that school covers all bases and every eventuality, making it clear that 'families', however they are arranged, will be kept together if that is desired by the applying parents, and sibling priority applies from the moment of acceptance of a place.

Other schools may choose to say 'Every child for themselves, we treat them all exactly the same with no consideration of family connection. They are old enough to develop independence by that age.'

Neither has got it 'wrong' in the eyes of the Admissions Code, but they must be clear, soon that parents can choose their preferences carefully. And appeals panels don't get held to admissions criteria when deciding if children have a compelling reason to attend a school. So they can decide that family connections are vital for a particular child (and may equally decide that they are not vital enough for another child).

Clearly schools need a multiple births policy. It is completely illogical for there to be a sibling policy that does not apply to same-age siblings. Including where children may not be twins but in the same school year - e.g a quick conception after the birth of the older child, possibly coupled with a pre-due date birth, for example. Or an adopted sibling).

If a school operates a 'fair banding' system (and they end up in different bands with different last-distances) or offers specific scholarship places or admits on a lottery system one twin can or same-year sibling get in and the other not.

Sometimes it is the older twin, sometimes they draw lots. It depends what it says in the admission criteria.

How on earth did they decide which one got in and which one didn't?

Adding to my post above, is that of course, as@Girlwhowearsglasses says, once the twin is on roll at the school, they then fit the above clause, and the other twin will move into sibling category.

@MyDcAreMarvel "Lougle actually sibling policies often say exactly that in roll in September to stop sibling rule for siblings who will leave in July."

It depends on the exact wording. For example, (an exact quote): "who at the time of
application have a sibling (see (iv) in Definitions) on the roll of the College who will still be on roll at the time of admission."

This clause will preclude a twin sibling being used to justify sibling admission during the same admission round.

Also don’t forget - as soon as twin 1 does start att he school them sibling policy will kick in. So twin two will get the very next place after Sept 1st in any case. You might want to remind the school of this fact, it may mean they give you a place before appeals process kicks in

They can give free legal advice.

And definitely phone Tamba

Lougle actually sibling policies often say exactly that in roll in September to stop sibling rule for siblings who will leave in July.

I would want to know why one was admitted to the preferred school but the other wasn’t, as I’m assuming they had the same set of data (location, needs, etc).

Was the one who got in the last person accepted at the school and there were no more places then?

Ridiculous policy but if no luck with appeal you must be near the very top of the waiting list.
Agree that a local newspaper would love this, if you could stomach doing a sad face.

@Hellohah it won't be about age of sibling, it will be the fact that the other twin isn't Registered at the school until 1st September, so sibling criteria doesn't apply.

Appeal OP
I would definitely contact TAMBA. They will have lots of resources for school appeals.

Do you know what number the twin who didn’t get a place is on the waiting list?

God, I used to write for a local newspaper and this would probably be a front page story.

Could you practice your sad face and consider contacting your local rag to highlight this ridiculous situation? It might get seen by someone high up at the LEA who can help???

Which twin was born first, the one who got in, or the one who didn't?

If it's the one who got in, then the second twin will have an older sibling at the school - does the policy specify that the older child has to be so much older, because even if it's only 5 minutes - it's still older.

Agree with Lougle. Also, if it turns out that they have made a mistake, that is a very strong case for appeal.

Where will second twin be on the waiting list?

How much older does the older sibling need to be for the sibling policy to stand?

Appeals don't follow the admissions criteria when you're talking about prejudice. You can talk about the need to have twins together. But also look at why it is important for this child to be at this school alone.

Thanks for clarifying Lougle