Admission appeal for yr 7 place

It isn't that weak. A lot of appellants concentrate on issues that aren't relevant - distance from school, transport issues and so on. Identifying a specific area where your son will be disadvantaged if he is not admitted gets you on the right lines. It will help if you can identify other things he will miss out on if he isn't admitted.

It may seem a little odd that you visit Germany each year and see relatives but you waiting for a,secondary school to teach basic German...surely ds has that level already? Or you have pursued lessons outside already?

But there must be other stronger reasons to be appealing and why the school you want is best.

For dd appeal it was based on her particular health needs.

It isn't about who argues their case best. It is about who has the best case. A really polished presentation will get you nowhere if you don't have a decent case.

The deadline for appeals is not the final deadline for updating your case. When you are told the date of the hearing you will be given a deadline for submitting evidence. You can change or add to your appeal right up to that point.

If the school you've been offered does not offer German, that is a good point which should carry some weight. It will help if you can show that your child wants to learn German or has already started to do so.

Don't bother with evidence that close family are German citizens. That would be over the top.

It is impossible to predict what an appeal panel will ask in the hearing but they should be concentrating on clarifying any points that are unclear and testing any possible weaknesses in your case.

Friendship issues will only carry weight if there is expert evidence that your child has a greater need to stay with friends than other children of that age. As others have said, friendships change a lot at this age. It is not uncommon for children to drop their lifelong best friend within a few weeks of starting secondary school.

If you speak a lot of "German" and ds uses it with relatives then he can take it as a community language for gcse,as additional gcse. My dds did this with their language and got high grades with just a bit of practice with relative. Most schools will be happy to put forward and pay. Since gcse is basic level so he would be totally bored in classes if he using the language with relatives and it would be a waste of class gcse time when he could take as additional language as extra

I think the language issue will carry more weight if you can demonstrate your commitment to the language. Has your son already started taking German lessons etc? I think if you haven't and your only tie is because you have German friends who visit annually then you may have a tougher time as the need to learn the language seems tenuous at best.

I doubt having German speaking family will influence an appeal, subjects offered especially mfl can vary by demand and availability of staff. Very few schools give much choice.

I can't help with the appeal advice but did just want to say please try not to worry about friendship issues. As EduCated says, most children make new friends in Secondary. All of my children had completely new friendship groups by the end of the first term in year 7 and most people I know say the same. My youngest had a friend much the same as you describe and now they grunt at each other in recognition and that's about it. They didn't "fall out" just grew apart as new horizons opened up.
I know it seems like a huge thing now (my middle child went to a different school to his friends) but try not to dwell on it too much. There are almost certainly lots of lovely new friends waiting at whichevet secondary your DC ends up at.

I think you've got to relax as much as possible. You're right that friendships aren't grounds so a passing mention is enough. Wanting a specific language is, in my experience, probably not enough grounds for an appeal but you might be lucky.

There's a poster who is excellent on legal things but I always get their username wrong. Hopefully they'll come along.

The advice from the very knowledgeable and experienced people on here is generally that legal reps are, at best, a bit pointless unless you genuinely feel you are absolutely unable to present your appeal, because they tend to approach it as a legal case and not as the appeal process works.

And you are correct that friendships are only really a passing mention unless there is specific (documented) need. They may have been inseparable until now, but there’s nothing to suggest they won’t go their separate ways even in the same class. Probably feels unimaginable, but secondary is a big change and friendships naturally tend to shift and change at this point anyway