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Original poster

Faith School Appeal

36 replies

NorthernDad2022 · 25/03/2022 10:18

Hi all,

I’m hopefully looking for some advice/guidance. We have been refused a place for my youngest daughter at a church school in Leeds (which her older sister attends) on the grounds of too low a score on the admissions criteria. The main reason for this is that the Supplementary Information Form evidencing church attendance was returned by our vicar with ‘no evidence of attendance’ marked on the form.

The background to this is that the current vicar is relatively new to the church (joined shortly before the pandemic struck) and so doesn’t know the family particularly well. The family have been attending church for around 9 years but suspended attendance during the Covid lockdown due to safety concerns, recommencing attendance in August 2021.

We have now obtained a letter from the Vicar at least acknowledging attendance since August 2021 and also a supporting letter from another member of the clergy in a personal capacity evidencing our long-standing relationship with the church, along with some patchy Sunday School attendance records.

The grounds for the appeal are:

  1.      The school did not have a complete picture of the family’s attendance at Church which may have influenced the ranking of our daughter’s application. The Supplementary Information Form is quite specific in that it refers to church attendance in the two years prior to application (i.e. the time of the Covid lockdown) but the argument is that the key issue is that the family have a long-standing and consistent (apart from lockdown) relationship with the church 

  2.      The faith focus of the school is very important to our daughter and the family, given our long-standing relationship with the church – the argument being that refusal would be of significant detriment to her (the school we have been offered is non-faith) 

  3.      Her older sister has a health condition (mental health related) which my youngest daughter is playing a key role in supporting with. The argument here being that her inability to help and support her older sibling (travelling to and from school together, spending breaks/lunch etc together and having some commonality in education) would be of significant detriment to her

I would welcome any comments or advice. Some of my queries are:

Is point (1) a procedural matter rather than the detriment to her vs the school argument? Do we have to make this clear on the appeal form?

Is there likely to be flex around interpretation of the Supplementary Information Form or is it strictly to the letter?

Do I need evidence of the school’s past flexibility in terms of student numbers to show that they have flexed before?

Many thanks for your help

OP posts:
Original poster
NorthernDad2022 · 25/03/2022 11:48

Other families attending by Zoom would have had their presence recorded. Registers for Sunday School were in place and my daughter has attended some sessions but often preferred to be in the main service with mum. It's a tricky one where we were relying on the church taking a 'reasonable' view. It's a shame but Covid and the change over of clergy have complicated matters - we just hope that a common sense reasonable view can be taken but we don't know if the appeals panel are willing to entertain that.

OP posts:
LIZS · 25/03/2022 11:48

Surely 3) is weak because your elder dd has managed on her own until now and expecting dd2 to support her sibling in break-times could be deemed not in her best interest.

RussianSpy101 · 25/03/2022 11:46

Ultimately, if 200 children who applied attended church more than you during lockdown then of course they deserve the place over your daughter as they have displayed a bigger commitment to the faith.

RussianSpy101 · 25/03/2022 11:46

The fact you didn’t partake in zoom service and then commence attendance when they initially reopened will of gone against you. I know you say it’s important to you but they will take the view it isn’t that important given you chose not to attend.

The points about your older daughter will not make a difference as she isn’t your other daughters carer and your other daughter attends without her already. They may actually hold that against you instead as they will be keen to avoid her stepping into a young carer role and ensure she has her own independence and the opportunity to develop on her own without her older sibling being dependent on her.

lanthanum · 25/03/2022 11:42

I guess the problem may have been that the vicar was unaware why you were not attending. We had some people not attending for covid reasons (and some still now) - but maintaining contact in various ways, but with others it wasn't clear whether they hadn't come back out of health concerns or because they had lost interest.

Unfortunately it's not uncommon for families to attend for a bit, and then stop - perhaps because Sunday morning sport has become more important to them, or because they've got the place at the church school for their eldest. There's also probably an assumption that it is only older and more obviously vulnerable people who will be staying away from services for covid reasons (although for quite a while the families in our congregation were staying away because they felt they were more likely to have caught covid through school, and wanted to protect older members of the congregation for whom this was their one outing in the week).

Raera · 25/03/2022 11:29

Apologies, I see that this is in Secondary education which would give you a better chance.

Raera · 25/03/2022 11:28

Is this for reception?
If so then Infant Class size regulations will make it very difficult for any appeal to succeed

Original poster
NorthernDad2022 · 25/03/2022 11:01

Thanks. The admissions criteria are that the requirement was only for attendance when the church was open for public worship (or alternative premises provided). Zoom services were held, which we did not attend (being uncomfortable with the medium). The church was open for a couple of 3-4 month blocks but we were not comfortable attending at the time.

At issue is whether the family has been regular worshipers (at least twice a month) or 'at the heart of the church' for at least 2 years prior to application. Strictly to the letter I guess we are not but in spirit we definitely are - I'm hoping this is what we can demonstrate.

Noted on the mental health issue - there seems to be consensus on this with other posters.

OP posts:
lanthanum · 25/03/2022 10:48

I would imagine that the most helpful thing would be a letter from the vicar acknowledging that in view of the pandemic, he should have checked with those in the parish for longer, and that had he done so, he would have ticked a different box.

Our church is small, and so it was relatively easy to keep everyone involved - most of our kids contributed to one of the recorded services by doing a reading or similar. I don't know what larger churches did to maintain engagement - and to monitor that in areas where application to church schools is an issue.

ChicCroissant · 25/03/2022 10:36

My first thought was the same as the previous poster about point 3, your older daughter is already there so it's not necessary for your younger one to be around all the time. It would also not be good for your younger daughter to be required in that way, it's definitely not a claim that would go in your favour.

Do you know what evidence other families provided for the two-year church attendance rule?

Lougle · 25/03/2022 10:29

Did the school change their admissions arrangements due to COVID? There was a mechanism for changing the requirements.

The supplementary forms have to be very clear in their criteria so that an objective judgement can be made. I don't think the long-standing relationship would be an argument for saying they should have accepted (IE. Claiming an error was made) but it can be used to form a prejudice argument.

My question around your daughter's mental health condition is how has she been able to cope until this point without her sister being there, if it's so important that they are together. Also, is it helpful to your younger daughter to expect her to spend lunch time with her sister when she needs to make friends in her own year group?

Yes, getting details of previous flex would be helpful.

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