Secondary school offer day disaster – independent place but no bursary. Appeal chances?

What schools were you offered OP? I imagine in Putney there is a lot of movement

@Putneyparent We’re in a very similar situation. We’re currently on the bursary reserve list, and our state school offer was quite a disaster. We were allocated a faith school that wasn’t even on our preference list.
The GCSE results there are not particularly strong, and the school only offers Combined Science, which we’re really not happy about. The only positive is that it’s a large school with relatively small class sizes – around 18–19 students per class.
At the moment we honestly don’t know what the best option is or what to do next.

Absolutely do not ho down the independent school route (although maybe speak to them if they might reconsider bursary/scholarship decision). My daughter is finishing her GCSEs at an independent school and has been in private education since Reception. It's an absolute noose around my neck and I would never ever go down the independent route again and I'm counting the days to the final bill I have to pay, after which she will go to a State Sixth Form.

They do have a place , just not at one of schools they listed.

Your best bet is a waiting list for one of the schools you prefer. I think if you haven't got a space you can go on several waiting lists at once. Get his name down quickly.

@Putneyparent - so are you saying you did not specifically apply for a means tested bursary at any independent school?

Scholarships now are generally fairly nominal in terms of fee reduction - usually only a tiny percentage of fees. Bursaries can go up to 100% and are the only way parents with insufficient income can get their children into a school they can’t afford to pay for.

I’m a bit unclear as to why you mentioned bursaries in your title? Have you perhaps confused or conflated ‘scholarship’ and ‘bursary’ awards?

Good explanation @Lougle

This However by this point, schools which a child may have qualified for if they had been on their list may be full with children who did ask to go there. So you get situations where someone quite close to a school doesn't get a place there because they didn't list it in their preferences is the reason it’s important to list the close-to-you school that you are not that keen on. List it last for sure, but if you don't list it at all, you may well not be offered it.

We live very close to the school my DC went to. It’s not the most popular and a lot of parents locally prefer some other options in the city; but if they don't list the local school, they might come unstuck as, even though it’s not the most popular, it’s viewed as better than city schools X Y and Z and thus tends to be listed by people in far-away areas – who will then get a place above a family in the next street who did not list it.

"What’s confusing is that someone who put one of the schools as their fourth choice was offered a place, so I honestly don’t understand how the allocation works."

People often get confused about this because they are asked to fill in a form with their school preferences but they think they are making choices.

The best way to think of it, IMO, is this:

• The form is asking 'if you had your way, which schools would your child go to'
• the LA website will warn parents (and the phrasing may differ slightly between them) 'make sure you choose wisely'.
• The order you place your preferences in only matters if you can be offered more than one school.
• None of the schools know where you placed them on your form.
• When the application deadline is up, the admitting authority (most likely the LA, but sometimes a school) has a list of all the children who applied for a place.

It's all done by computer, but if it was a paper exercise, it might go like this:

• Each school has those children ranked in order of priority for the place. Imagine a PAN of 60. A red line is drawn under the 60th place. The list gets sent back.

• Schools A & E have his name taken off their lists, and everyone else below the 60th line moves up a spot.

All good.

But, not everyone will get above the red line in any of their 3 choices (or 4, 5, 6, depending on area). What to do with them? Well, if a school is full, it's full. So then, the LA has to rank all the children against the criteria for the schools that do have places, and see who gets above the line. Each child will be placed in the nearest school that has places. However by this point, schools which a child may have qualified for if they had been on their list may be full with children who did ask to go there. So you get situations where someone quite close to a school doesn't get a place there because they didn't list it in their preferences.

Similarly, if someone is 0.3 miles away from a school but only placed them 6th preference, they will still be given the place over someone who put them first but lives 0.6 miles away, if they are both in the same category and the person who put them 6th didn't get a place at schools 1-5.

Yes as others say, it is more than possible to be offered your fourth (or sixth) preference above someone who put it first – if you didn't qualify for a place at any of your higher prefs and you are higher up the oversubscription criteria (whatever they are; often distance) than the person who listed it first.

I have seen other posts this week where people say they put down the same schools as their child's peers – but that's not a criterion (unless it’s a feeder school obvs). The other DC may live closer (or tick the faith box better, if applicable) or have other factors such as EHCP or LAC.

What’s confusing is that someone who put one of the schools as their fourth choice was offered a place, so I honestly don’t understand how the allocation works.

They'll be further up the list for meeting admission criteria, that's how the system works. Did you not research at all?

You can't turn back time to write in a dead cert but you can get on wait lists.

"What’s confusing is that someone who put one of the schools as their fourth choice was offered a place, so I honestly don’t understand how the allocation works."

They were offered a place because they were higher priority in the criteria than you. The fact that they put it fourth is irrelevant - it just means they didn't get a place at their top 3.

Your local authority's secondary admissions brochure will explain how the allocation process works. Did you read it?

For children on bursaries the deposits are often very small in comparison to the usual amount. If she was hoping for a bursary, she may well have been expecting to pay hundreds instead of thousands for the deposit.

"This is very important because you most likely don't have a valid ground to appeal."

What makes you confident of that @Caddycat ? My experience is that the people who have the best chances at appeal often don't realise it, and the people who think they have a slam dunk case have no chance.

For anyone to say someone doesn't have a valid ground to appeal, they would have to know the characteristics of the child, and the characteristics of both schools.

I know someone in similar position who won preferred school on appeal, keep fighting.

Out of interest, did you apply for state schools you’ve wanted, but maybe realistically weren’t going to get , due to catchment, being very popular etc, assuming you’d get the private place and bursary? What made you so certain you were going to get the academic bursary?

If you do want to appeal, you need to say, and be able to evidence, why that school is more suited for your child (sports interests, orchestras etc) than why others are less suitable.

Accept the state place and get on wait lists for other preferred state. Decline independent,
you can’t afford it by the sounds of it. Anyway I suspect if you needed the place they may be able to squeeze you in unless a very popular over subscribed school. I think you were naive about the scholarship (rarely a huge amount off) and bursary (again won’t be all fees).

But not the rest - whic would presumably make finding the deposit easier! I interpreted it as ‘it’s a significant amount of money and so if I put this down we’re definitely committing to the independent school route’, so not necessarily absolutely literal.

She'd still need a deposit.

I thought the plan was for her son to have a bursary.

OP's Plan A was for her child to go to independent school, so needing a deposit is hardly a huge surprise.

You are not "appealing" your place (yet). You are waiting for the next round of allocation. This is very important because you most likely don't have a valid ground to appeal, but the waiting list moves as others accept private school places so could simply be allocated your preferred choice in the next round of allocation in May. You will be asked to submit an appeal letter, but make sure you also ask to be considered for the next round.

It sounds like you can't afford the private school place. Look at the allocation statements / data for your LA and see the likelihood you'll be granted your favourite school in the second or third round. If not, see if you have a ground of appeal. Appeals are only granted (despite what others parents who will mistakenly tell you they got a place on appeal, when in fact it was just the next round of allocation) if the detriment to your child not going to the school is greater than the school being overcrowded.

I can also say that I know how you feel - we didn't get any of our 4 choices either, and were dropped into the pool for the second worst school in the area. I then had to confirm a school because we had to have certainty. So we pay for private.

But the difference is that I could readily afford both the deposit and the fees. It's a bind, but not killer. If you're having trouble with the deposit - you cannot afford the school. Bear in mind that there are lots of extras to be paid as well (trip, exams, uniforms, sports equipment).

1. Things tend to move a lot as people accept/decline places. Appeals also help.
2. The private school will still take him in the future even if you don't accept now. So I'd say don't pay the money now. Unless its insanely oversubscribed as a school, they need bums on seats and they'll take your money later..