Urgent appeal: Faith criteria incorrectly applied

I am not one of the admissions experts on the thread but I think this is more or less what they do do in cases of a mistake? But if the mistake affects 20 people and they decide that they could take 10, they have to see which 10 have the best case

I am sorry you have been messed around.

At this point, admissions authorities should not be removing places, as it's too far after the initial offer - 3 days is the rule of thumb. Some may try though.

What they should do is offer a place to the child/children affected even so. However, if a number of children are affected, more than the school believe they can cope with in addition to the existing offers, schools will often push it to appeal. If they accept their mistake, the waiting list should be rearranged immediately though.

It doesn't really matter who else you are being compared with really - you just need concentrate on making the best case you can that your child would be disadvantaged by not going to this school. You don't see the other appellants cases, but you are likely to be all together for stage 1.

Sorry I hope I'm not hijacking the thread but I'm interested as I'm going to be making an application based on faith grounds.

If a mistake is made and the child should have been accepted above other children, if the class is full does the child now just move to the top of the waiting list? The school won't can't remove the places from other children that were incorrectly given places?

The panel should compare your case against those of everyone else appealing who would have been admitted but for the mistake. However, you won't see anyone else's case so you simply have to prepare the strongest case you can.

No, you won't get any advance notice. You need to build your case on the assumption that you will need to show that you have a better case than others affected by the mistake.

Posted without noticing that @PatriciaHolm had already answered!😀

If they accept they made a mistake, they should rejig the waiting list order immediately. The waiting list is irrelevant for appeals, so leaving it until after appeals simply opens the way for more appeals.

If they admit they made a mistake, they should admit immediately without appeal.

However, if a number of children have been affected, this gets more complicated, as @prh47bridge says. If they decide there are too many to admit, they will force you to take it to appeal.

The waiting list needs to, by law, be ordered using the same criteria as the admissions criteria so yes, what they should do once they realise their mistake is re-order the waiting list accordingly. I would advise you get this in writing if it comes to this.

well then should be game set and match and many parents in same boat

Are you sure exactly what the SIF asks for? My DS school ask for 7 years attendance at church rather than baptism as some faiths don't baptise till older. Unless your school is a Catholic school, this could be the case. If it's Catholic then check if there are other criteria for other churches such as the form being signed off by the minister regarding weekly attendance.

the supplementary form is not t provided by the LEA. You have to go on the individual school websites to get and then send direct to the school

did you fill in the supplementary form required by cambridge secondaries for faith applications?

did you fill in the supplementary form on addition to your online app if you are applying under the baptised criteria? You have to go on to the school’s website to get the form.

If a school had a certain number of places for language aptitude or whatever and op’s kid did well in the test but the school forgot to consider that category and allotted all places on distance, she would have the exact same argument - incorrect application of published criteria

@MrsTerryPratchett she is not arguing for anyone to get rescinded. She applied under certain criteria and they weren’t considered correctly

Personally, I can't get past the ridiculousness of the idea that state schools might prioritise some children simply for having been baptised. Utterly wrong imo, and discriminatory.

This. In the 21st century, in a supposedly democratic, modern democracy, OP is arguing for a child to have their school place rescinded because their parents aren't religious enough.

Utterly batshit.

Go for it, OP. The Dark Ages are calling.

It is not necessarily the case that places will be withdrawn. If they had been obtained fraudulently it would be another matter, but for a mistake like this there is a good chance the school would simply accommodate the additional pupils rather than withdrawing any offers. And OP isn't reporting anyone. She is just highlighting the fact that the school appears to have failed to follow its published admission arrangements.

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves They can withdraw offers that have already been made provided they do so quickly. If they haven't withdrawn any offers by the middle of next week, it will be too late (although that may not necessarily stop them from trying).

Assuming they don't withdraw offers, what happens next depends on the numbers involved. If it is only a few pupils, they may just bite the bullet and admit them all. Alternatively, it will be up to an appeal panel to decide how many additional pupils the school can handle and then admit those appellants with the strongest case.

yesterday offer day thread