Any success stories after a failed appeal?

0None0
I find your description of a MAT over ruling parental preference on the grounds of what it considers best based on "reading between the lines" really very high handed and shocking. I do hope it isn't legal.

OP we won our appeal based on similar grounds but with evidence of mental health risk from research and letter from current head and Ed psych. I am in two minds as in some ways, the allocated school -smaller, less well established - would potentially have given our child a real opportunity to shine whereas I am not certain that will be the case where she's going as it's very high achieving. However I figure a move in the other direction would be possible in future; we would certainly consider it.

We were in this situation 9 years ago op. Ds got into his 2nd choice and our appeal for 1sr failed. He went on to have an amazing time and the 2nd choice and did his A levels at a 3rd choice school. He is now at uni and doing well. We never got to 1st choice school and when he entered year 9 he said even of he got to top of list now he would not move.

Hope it goes the same way for your child.

Parents apply through the CAF to individual schools. They do not apply to a group of schools that happens to be in an MAT.

If you are describing a single school spread across multiple sites then yes, you can behave as you describe. However, if these are separate schools and you are genuinely behaving in the way you describe, you are in breach of your funding agreement.

0None0 that's not correct, MATs can not do that.

Schools can, and do, take in to account primary school information when allocating forms and sets, but this occurs after the admissions round once places have already been allocated. You can put pupils in to classes when you don't know what pupils you have have. Such information can not lawfully be considered when allocating places.

Can you link to a MAT, not necessarily yours, where what you have posted happens?

Are you sure this is not one school with a split site?

Success story here OP
One of my dc didnt get his first choice
a couple years ago. Long story why, but it was an error on my part.
Was given a truly awful school
It was a a terrible time for us.
I appealed and failed over the summer.
He started school. Wasnt happy but soldiered on.i did not give up

I rang up several times a week to see his position on the waiting list (he was fairly high).
Reappealed and I put everything into it. Won the appeal
Hes as happy as anything now!

Really? Parents apply to the MAT and say “what have you got for us”?

It depends on the MAT. In our case, you apply to the MAT not the school. And most schools take information from primaries into account when allocating classes. So do we. But the classes may not be in the same school. Apart fro
That, both twins aren’t Rivi g, and their parents are happy now, even though they originally didn’t want them separated

OP my DC got their fourth choice, we appealed and the appeal failed.

They are absolutely thriving I couldn’t be happier with the school

Thank you both for clarifying, that's what I thought.

I think 0None0 may be confused by the fact that the MAT is the admission authority for all schools in the MAT. In that sense parents do apply to the MAT as admission authority, but they are applying for a specific school within the MAT. The MAT cannot ignore that.

Having seen 0None0's first post, suggesting that twins qualified for places in the same school but the MAT chose to put them in different schools, that is a clear and unambiguous breach of the Admissions Code on at least two grounds (not offering a place when one is available and taking into account information from the previous school as part of the admissions process). If the parents found out it should be a nailed-on win at appeal. And if the ESFA found out that the MAT was behaving in this way they could face sanctions.

That’s exactly my understanding, too. If 0None0’s MAT really is behaving as alleged, they are in breach.

We can admit them to any school we like, since legally all applications are to the MAT not to a specific school

No, you cannot. As 10brokengreenbottles says, parents apply through the LA for specific schools. You are completely wrong about the law. Legally, all applications are to specific schools, not the MAT.

The only question for the MAT is whether the child qualifies for a place at the school named on the CAF by the parents. If the child qualifies for a place under that school's oversubscription criteria it must be offered. The MAT cannot choose to offer a place at a different school instead.

Academies are required to comply with the Admissions Code and relevant legislation by their funding agreements. Any MAT that behaves in the way you describe is clearly in breach.

Parents apply for a specific school within the MAT on the CAF. Each individual school must have their own admission arrangements that applicants are ranked against if the school is oversubscribed. Schools in the same MAT may have identical admission arrangements but applicants must be ranked against them for each individual school.

If a child qualifies for a place in must be offered. Children who haven't applied for a school can not be given places ahead of pupils who have applied even if they have applied for another school within the MAT.

I'm sure the admissions experts such as @PanelChair @admission @prh47bridge on here can explain more succinctly than I have.

Admissions to schools within a MAT still have to comply with the admissions code and appeals code. Academies still have to adhere to their published admissions arrangements, and appeals panels are still supposed to be independent. They can't refuse to admit a child to one school and place them at another when the appeallant hasn't appealed for that school simply because they read between the lines and wish to "save" one twin from the other.

To be fair I don't know anything about admissions protocol in a MAT but I do believe 'reading between the lines' and making assumptions of a situation and deciding on an outcome based on only assumptions really is very very unfair and not transparent at all!.

Outside of appeals places must be allocated in accordance with a school's admissions arrangements, which in turn have to follow the admissions code. Information from primary schools and reading between the lines should not be used as you suggest they have been. Not following the admissions arrangements or having admissions arrangements in breach of the admissions code are unlawful.

As Panelchair posted, appeals also have to abide by set rules. It would be unreasonable to read between the lines and make a decision to "save" one twin. You can't just allocate a school the parents haven't appealed for even if it is within the same MAT.

Why would it be unlawful? Of course it isn’t

Actually, we had a similar situation this year with twins, one with SEN. We read between the lines of the information that came from the primary school, and separated them between two different schools in the MAT

0None0 if this is true it sounds unlawful and leaves you open to being challenged.

Frankly, I’m sceptical about 0None0’s claims here. Both schools/LEAs for admissions and appeal panels work within rules-based systems and if two children meet the oversubscription criteria for a school, it’s hard to think of any circumstance where anyone could reasonably and legitimately “read between the lines” and send one elsewhere. And I very much doubt that the appeal was refused because the panel wanted to “save” the other child from being depended upon.

If I’ve understood correctly, OP wasn’t able to provide the kind of documentary evidence of her child’s needs that the panel was looking for. Panels don’t see any child or any child’s needs as an impediment, but panels first of all need to see evidence of what those needs are and then confirmation from a health care professional that this school is best placed to meet those needs.

As you say, OP, onwards and upwards.

Nobody called your daughter an impediment OP

my daughter's SEN issues were obviously viewed as an impediment to everyone else and she needed to be kept away from them as much as possible, irrespective of the effect on her.

This is harsh and not what the PP said. The PP considers the effect "being relied on for everything" will have on the dcs that are being relied upon.

I didn't know anything about the Brighton lottery system. I'm off to research further.

It will be fine, and long term may benefit your dc. She can start somewhere new, a place where no one has any preconceptions about her. She can build a "new" identity and hopefully she will quickly find her tribe.

Talk to her but be positive about the new place. Contact them and ask for a 1:1 tour. We do this for all SEN/vulnerable children and I know it helps with the first day nerves because they have already been in the building.

OP I'm sorry that you didn't get the decision you wanted. However a lot of your language is catastrophising the situation. I'm not sure if this is how you are coming across to your dd, but if you are, then that won't be helping.

I only know of success stories where a student has started at a school they didn't want, and end up loving it. Now is the time to become positive about the school she will be going to, and equipping her with tools to build resilience.

There's no guarantee an established friendship group would be in the same class anyway. Most established friendship groups disperse in year 7.