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Original poster

Help with Appeal - Academy

27 replies

Nickw87 · 03/03/2025 11:51

Hi all, looking for some advice regarding the Secondary School appeals process. I'm currently trying to gathering evidence any and making notes.

We emotionally (rushed) submitted an appeal to the council however it was passed onto the school due to it being run by an academy the council does not deal with. We are currently awaiting and appeals date.

How do people win these things ?? What's the process

The school our daughter had her heart set on suits her much better - She is heavily invested in dance and preforming arts and that is what this school offers and is renowned for. We are very worries her mental health will suffer as a result.

OP posts:
prh47bridge · 03/03/2025 14:29

There are two ways you can win an appeal. One is to show that a mistake has been made and your daughter should have been admitted. Check that they have put your daughter in the correct admissions category and that the home to school distance looks about right. If those things are correct, it is unlikely that there has been a mistake.

The other way of winning is to show that the disadvantage to your daughter from not being admitted outweighs any problems the school will face from having to cope with an additional pupil. You can talk about your daughter's mental health, but that is unlikely to carry any weight unless a medical professional is willing to say that, in their professional opinion, your daughter needs to go to this school. Assuming you can't get that, your best approach is to identify what this school offers your daughter that is not available at the allocated school - subjects, extra-curricular activities, etc. If you can identify things that are particularly relevant to her, that can help you win your appeal.

MarchingFrogs · 03/03/2025 12:44

All admission authorities (whether the LA or an individual school) must adhere to the Appeals Code. You might find it helpful to go through this document (I really do think that it should be sent to all parents who appeal, at least, or preferably made part of the LAs' information for parents applying for schools).

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/admission-appeals-for-school-places/advice-for-parents-and-guardians-on-school-admission-appeals

Remember that you are appealing for the school you want, not against the allocation of the school you have been allocated.

If you think that a mistake has been made (where do you think that your DD should have been ranked for the school? You should be able to find out how far down the criteria the last offer was made - if it was e.g. to all except the applicants in the 'all other' category who live more than 5Km from the school, and you made an on-time application and the LA confirms that your DD should have been ranked under a higher criterion, then something has gone wrong), then this should really be addressed now, rather than going to appeal, but unfortunately this doesn't always happen.