Secondary School Appeal

Tumpleton, I am not sure why you believe that OP can apply for EC now. Firstly not all admission authorities have an EC admission criteria, so that needs checking. Secondly the parent has effectively applied late and been allocated a place by the LA, so the only way forward is to go to appeal for the preferred school. The LA will not allow a re-application for the school that OP wants based on a criteria which might not even exist for this particular admission authority.

I suggest she do the EC application asap. She may get a place well before the Appeal date and avoid having to go through the experience. If the EC case is rejected, they would need to give a reason, so even that would help her with the appeal if she could bridge the gap in the meantime. The most common reason why we turn down EC applications is because they are not backed up by a letter from a suitable professional. In these circumstances a letter from a primary school teacher who knows the family would be ideal. Note that they will need to name the school ...i.e. say "Fred needs to go to School X because ..." rather than "Fred needs to go to a small school because ...".

The difficulty that your friend will have is that the whole nation has been home schooling in a pandemic. So everyone's circumstances have been strained. That makes the bar much higher at appeal. So, whilst in other years those circumstances may have made a panel think 'rough time!', this year they will hear story after story of just how hard it has been.

I think most panels will take the view that at Secondary school, children of different age groups are unlikely to see each other through the school day. Even more so given that the eldest child will be in sixth form. The role modelling can take place before and after school.

Your friend really needs to chip away at the school's argument by finding things that the preferred school has that the offered school doesn't. By doing that, she may be able to push her argument over the line. She only has to make the panel find 51% in her favour - it's a balance.

Having said all of that, once the panel has a list of appellants that have proven their case, if there are more children than the school can reasonably add to the roll, then the panel will have to decide who has the strongest case, so the stronger her arguments, and evidence, the more chance of winning.

which is very common in London, even for the most popular schools.

... because families are often very mobile and may move home or decide to accept a private school offer.

@NynaevesSister has she applied to the school for Exceptional Circumstances consideration? I'm a school governor and we would almost certainly give a sympathetic hearing to these circumstances. EC has higher priority in our oversubscription criteria than sibling status, so while it wouldn't free up a place, it might help to put them at the top of the waiting list. Then all you would need is for one if the students who already has an offer to drop out, which is very common in London, even for the most popular schools.

I am a panellist and chair. I have occasionally seen appeals like this and they are still difficult to win. ( It is not in my area as our appeals are in June. )

Your friend needs to provide documentary evidence of all the issues you describe. She needs to convince the panel that in her circumstances the missed deadline was perfectly understandable. It’s quite a high bar but not impossible.

I have seen two cases in this scenario win their appeals, but in both, the families lived in much more difficult circumstances than those you describe.

Most importantly, she needs to state, why that school, and that school alone will suit her son. Perhaps mention the sibling support and role modelling, anything that school offers which others locally do not? It is not enough to say the offered school is not good enough. Why does he particularly need sibling support? Any documentary evidence here will help.

To win, she needs to show that the disadvantage to her son from not attending outweighs any problems the school will face through having to cope with an extra pupil. Wanting to go to the same school as his siblings is highly unlikely to be a winning case. She needs to look at what this school offers (subjects, extra-curricular activities and so on) that is not available at the allocated school and is particularly relevant to her son, then build her case around those.

If she needs to change her case or submit further evidence, she needs to do that quickly. The panel won't be happy if she turns up on the day with different arguments and new evidence.

Assuming this is being heard as a single appeal and not grouped with others, the process is normally:

• you go into the appeal room with the admission authority's representative (who will present the case to refuse admission)
• introductions
• the case to refuse admission is represented
• you and the appeal panel question the admission authority's representative
• you present your case
• the appeal panel and the admission authority's representative question you
• the admission authority's representative sums up
• you sum up
• you and the admission authority's representative leave the room

It is unlikely your friend will be told the outcome on the day. She should hear a few days later.

If her appeal is next week, she needs to get on to the council ASAP to ask about the procedure. I wonder if she's missed the communications on this also.

Because, if she needs to submit something in advance, she surely should have heard about it by now.

To succeed at appeal, you need to either prove they made a mistake in the application process, or show that there is a solid reason that this school provides something for your child that the others don't.

True

And that thing will need to be based on something really serious like SEN, not just that it would be better for the child - as if it's a good school, it'd be better for most DC!

Not true.

She needs to show the disadvantage to her child by not attending is greater than the disadvantage to the school by admitting them.

Family situation may help (and might tug on heartstrings) but also things like school orchestras for musical child, other extra curricular where child has proven interest, specific pastoral care where clear need shown etc.

We went to appeal. It's horrible hearing how the school you are desperate to get into don't want your child (because they are full) and won't have an extra child. And then the local authority representative explains how the school you have a place at will meet their needs.
We made a case with regard to sen, but was unsuccessful.
It was very time consuming and ultimately a waste of time.
Unless she has grounds for an appeal I am not sure there's any point.

The first part will usually be a group session where the school explain why they can't take any more pupils. The second part will be an individual session with your friend, the panel and a representative from the school or council to look at your friend's case. She should have submitted a case and evidence by now. The panel will let her explain her case and ask her questions. They'll make their decision after she's finished and left. She'll get the result a day or two later.
It's more like an OK job interview than a court.

Is the dc on waiting list? The LA will send details of the process and relevant dates if she asks.

I'm not sure if there's much she can do, sorry :(

To succeed at appeal, you need to either prove they made a mistake in the application process, or show that there is a solid reason that this school provides something for your child that the others don't.

And that thing will need to be based on something really serious like SEN, not just that it would be better for the child - as if it's a good school, it'd be better for most DC!

She should look at the school's application process in detail in case she spots anything that might help, and go and hope for the best, it can't hurt.

But her expectations should be pretty low. My heart goes out to your friend, she must be kicking herself. But I'm afraid I can't see anything in your OP that sounds like the basis for an appeal.