We didn’t get any of our choices - appeals & what next

You really are confused! Her posts were clear that they have baptism paperwork and have attended church so wouldn't need to stage anything. It was just a mistake in the process, probably not attaching documents at the right point. So not a scamming situation to sneer at, though there's obviously some over-egging of how essential a religious education is given it was only third choice.

As for the other confusion, it's really not confusing either. Can you not imagine that schools are different in different areas, so some will still be over-subscribed even if some aren't. Labour aren't commenting on every single situation. OP's is a classic example where she's applied to 3 schools that were longshots in different ways, so didn't get a place, but there were other non-selective schools with places available, she just didn't want them so they're not over-subscribed. But no schools are full or empty so there is no 'which is it?', it's slightly more nuanced. If you find that confusing, the world must absolutely bamboozle you.

@Switchy111 you can appeal, but from experience none of the grounds you've given would stand much of a chance.
Unless you have a cast iron case that the detriment to your child by not having a place is greater than the detriment to the school of being over numbers it's almost certain not to succeed.

I think this is right…

For school 1

DS was in the top 15% for drama aptitude but not in the top 5%. So if some drama aptitude pupils go elsewhere, there may be a place for DS if, say, his score was in the top 6 or 7 percent,

Separately, he is in one of five CAT ability bands and you believe he should be in a higher band because of tonsillitis- if accepted, this argument might move him from the band 2 to the band 1 waiting list. Are places within bands allocated by distance from the school?

Exactly this. understandably, nobody wants their child to go to the underperforming, requires improvement state school with behavioural issues. And there seems to be a lot of those around!

Some areas are disproportionately affected by the falling birth rate. Some schools may have performed badly in the past and although they are now 'good' schools, names and reputations stick. Some schools are desirable and so people would rather try to squeeze them in to that school than accept a school with less pupils.

Some schools are perfectly fine but inconvenient for travel, clubs, etc.

Its not at all confusing though, is it? Some schools will always be oversubscribed, others under subscribed because parents don't want their children to go there for any number of reasons

I’m so confused. Labour has repeatedly told everyone schools are running empty and are under subscribed, so will shut, yet many don’t get their school of choice. Which is it? Are schools full or empty, if empty, why do they test for ability/aptitude - if they need bums on seats for funding?
Regarding scamming a religious school for a faith-based education, our local faith schools want to see baptism paperwork signed by local parish priests - hopefully this isn’t what you’re being asked for, since would require attending church each week as well as a staging a baptism. Presumably the wait list will be an in-year transfer, as I understand it there is quite a lot of movement on these, many don’t accept their place or move (at least in London) creating spare spaces before term starts.

As the faith school is not your closest, would you actually have got in had you filled out the information correctly ( assuming distance is a tiebreaker)?

For instance, https://www.caisteracademy.org.uk/_site/data/files/admissions/27A674FBA292E0981BE8A964B4721FB7.pdf

Caister Academy offers 10% performing arts places. Within that, though, 50% must be Pupil Premium. So that boils down to 6 places for non pupil premium applicants.

Then it's fair banding, within which priority is given to pupils from feeder schools, then pupils in catchment, then pupils out of catchment. Within those categories, distance from school is the tie break.

The 15% business is about the aptitude test, so nothing to do with the banding ?

AFAIK schools can only allocate 15% of places on ‘aptitude’. How do they allocate the remaining 85% of places? On distance (within bands) ? Does it have a specific catchment?

Yes definitely accept the place else you really could lose out on any where

They won’t have any idea about waiting list positions yet.

They have sent out letters but won’t have had confirmation that the places offered will be accepted.

Waiting lists numbers mean nothing at this point, other people with higher criteria could join the waiting list tomorrow and push everyone down.

Sit tight, you have done the right things so far.

Accept the place offered, at least he has a place for September, accepting the place doesn’t mean it is a done deal,or that he has to take it up. It is an insurance policy you hope you won’t have to claim on.

ps if it comes to an appeal start a new thread on here and tag in some of the excellent MN appeal gurus for advice on what to include as some of your suggestions would not be helpful.

Think your biggest mistake was not listing a school he was likely to get into which would have been catchment non selective. If he doesn’t get a place in one of your 3 choices he then gets allocated a random one, it won’t be the closest but one that has space which is why you have found yourself being placed with one needing improvement as this will likely be one that hasn’t been high on people’s lists. I think your best bet here is getting a place through the waiting list. Have you put your child’s name down for his catchment non selective?

Do you have a desirable private school nearby? If so some places will be released when parents accept there.

Yes that exactly what I understood

No amount of non-hospital acute illness in a child who was still deemed well enough to sit the exam would give a 10% uplift to their mark.

However, I think @Switchy111 is saying that they don't get told that exact percentage, so it's possible that he's in the 'top 15%' and actually scored top 6%, which could be relevant.

The only plausible argument is that if her DS should have placed in the higher band on a normal day, and that band had a skewed distribution of applicants, so that the furthest distance was further away than that of the lower band that her DS was placed in, then on a typical well day, he would have got in.

For example, 5 bands taking 44 children each could have furthest distances of 3 miles, 0.75 miles, 2.5 miles, 1.25 miles and 1.75 miles.

Re banding, I think the OP is saying that her son was top 15%. If he'd been top 5% he'd be given a place automatically.

What is the relevance of your dad being on the electoral roll at grandparents address, your son doesn't live there?

Your argument re banding seems a bit flawed but I'm not sure I can articulate why. Do they distribute applicants evenly across the bands and then allocate an even amount of places per band? If it isn't an even distribution, then you are trying to argue that he should have been placed in a higher band if he wasn't unwell - what if that band had a higher amount of children than the one he was placed in? He'd have even less chance of success as he'd be in a bigger pool

So you applied to your nearest school which is non-faith, uses fair banding and allocates a proportion of places on aptitude. Given the importance of your RC faith, did you apply to an RC school, or is there not one within travelling distance? How far is the offered school from your home address and how does that compare with the schools to which you applied?

Why would you do this unless he has actually moved in? Which address have you used for the school application?

I didn't understand that either - is your DH on the electoral roll at his parents' house rather than his own?

OK, well hopefully if No 1 is your closest school he will get a waiting list place, and should be on both waiting lists: the ‘aptitude’ places plus the remaining places

I'm also getting confused about the father. Are you saying that you live separately from your husband? Where is your DS's registered address? Is that within catchment? I'm unsure if you're saying your DH lives in a different catchment, or whether you're just stressing that the grandparent's house is still within catchment?

You should be able to ask the furthest distance that each band took a pupil from. That will give you an idea if the band above had a much wider effective catchment. If say, the distance in your band was 1.5 miles and the distance in that band was 1.75 miles, and you live 1.6 miles away, you might have a point. However, did you submit this evidence at the time? Did you raise the issue of his illness?

Even if that is an argument, you'd have to demonstrate that his banding is out of kilter with his in class performance and that he generally works at a much higher level than on test day.