Secondary School Appeal

Yes, there's quite a lot of political pressure to keep spaces as they are. 🤞 There are some changes in the wind potentially though.

Supermonkey this can happen. It is nothing to do with the strength or otherwise of the appellants case, it has everything to do with the over-whelming strength of the school's case, assuming that the panel is giving due consideration to each of the appeals.

We recently went to appeal for our daughter, with medical evidence, and lost. All 17 of the appeals for this particular school did, which apparently is quite unusual.

I doubt the LA's guidance differs from the appeals code, but given those numbers there is clearly plenty of room for different interpretations.

Agree completely with Lougle.

If any appeal panel follows guidance from the LA that differs from the Appeals Code, that would be grounds for the LGO/ESFA (depending on the type of school) to award another hearing with a different appeal panel.

The standards should be broadly the same across the country. However, there is actually wide variation in the proportion of successful appeals. In Hounslow, only 2% of secondary appeals were successful in 2019/20 (the most recent year for which statistics are available), whereas 61% of appeals in Derbyshire succeeded. I am not aware of any research into the reasons for this wide variation.

"The appeals panels follow LA guidance."

They shouldn't be. They should be following the Appeals Code. If LA guidance falls in line with that, great. But it's the Code that counts.

There is nothing wrong with advice that helps posters to navigate the system. I disagree with over inflated appeal statements, but I also think parents need to be given the information that they need to decide how best to present their case. A parent who has printed reams of 'evidence' about the Government's green transport strategy, how allowing his child a place would fall in line with that, etc., would be far better off being told that none of that will count. But the appeals code says that there must be no restriction in the nature of appeal allowed. On forums like this, we can tell people to save their breath telling panels how tricky the school run makes their lives.

The LA just don't want you to.

Well, no, that's because the LA support all our local schools and know most people who are appealing are essentially just trying to avoid being allocated to the least popular one (the only one which isn't over-subscribed). The appeals panels follow LA guidance, and very few appeals are granted - our school has had none granted in the 7 years I've been a governor. That's why some of the advice on appeal grounds I see here on Mumsnet sometimes surprises me - clearly things operate differently elsewhere. But then all our local schools have the exceptional medical/social criterion, so applicants with strong cases do get in that way.

"For the latter we are specifically told by the Local Authority that we must not support the appellant's case and, if we do, that part of our input will be disregarded by the appeals panel."

Haha! There's nothing in the appeals code that says the panel must disregard any evidence. The LA just don't want you to. There have been several times a Head Teacher attends panel and when questioned on the fact that they have a temporary classroom (offered as evidence the school is full) they say "Oh no, the temporary classroom is actually really lovely and airy...all the teachers fight over who gets to teach there..." and the LA rep puts their head in their hands.

Good for you @DownstairsMixUp. But did you state those exceptional circumstances at the time of application? If not, why not? If you had, you might have got a place much sooner with no need to go to appeal. Appeals are so much more adversarial than the exceptional medical/social circumstances process and place a much bigger administrative burden on the school, local authority (if they administer the appeals) and applicant. I'm an admissions link-governor, so as well as chairing the committee that (sympathetically) considers exceptional circumstances applications I also represent our school at appeals. For the latter we are specifically told by the Local Authority that we must not support the appellant's case and, if we do, that part of our input will be disregarded by the appeals panel.

And at the first appeal I did nothing wrong. That is why second appeal was granted.

I have won an appeal for my daughter. It had to go to a second appeal because first one was refused and I had to persuade diocese to allow a second.

I made sure that I explained the case very clearly with evidence for everything. Dr's letters, police reports (domestic violence issues). At the end the second time I asked if there was anything else I could clarify for them.

Find out their issues as to space/resources etc that mean they can't stretch. In my case they said communal areas too small. I found out that in some of the other parts of the school classes were under allocated and so pointed out communal areas were not at capacity.

I think in the end it really does come down to other people appealing and their cases. All you can do is explain clearly your case. Good luck

I'd much rather people with a strong case for medical or social circumstances used that route than go through the whole appeals process

Going down that route can only move them up the waiting list. It may get them a place if one becomes available, but it is not guaranteed. A successful appeal, on the other hand, gets them a place immediately, regardless of movement on the waiting list.

Is she now 100% certain that the child is in the waiting list for the school and in the right category, I.e sibling?

She should be at the top of the list if there is sibling priority, unless a Looked After child or a child with an EHC plan or other higher priority applicant also puts in for a late application.

Get her to go through all her child’s interests and talents and look at ways they would be supported at the preferred school but not at the allocated school.

If she loses her appeal, it has no bearing in her waiting list chances, so make sure she stays in the waiting list, and in the sibling category.

We call it "exceptional circumstances" as a shorthand but a more accurate description is "exceptional medical or social need".

If a school has an explicit Exceptional Circumstances criteria in their admissions criteria, parents can request to be considered under it at any time, by supplying the required documentation. If successful, it would result in their child moving up the waiting list - this is all entirely legal.

However, as PRH says, this will not get a place when one does not exist; it merely improves the position on the waiting list.

If they don't have such criteria, then it's not relevant. They can't just ask for special consideration.

Assuming you have an admission category for exceptional circumstances, (as admission says, many schools don't), applying under that category would, if accepted, affect the child's place on the waiting list. They will not get a place automatically just because they qualify for consideration under this category.

As admission says, the way forward for the OP is to appeal.

I'm a governor at an academy and our LA admissions team has, in the past, advised parents to submit exceptional circumstances applications to our school after National Offer Day. We have therefore considered them.