late applications and appeals process for secondary schools

Hi I'm wondering if anyone can give me some advice please.
My friends daughter was abroad and their flight was missed to come back. So I let me daughter sit my friends daughters entrance exam for a school. Someone reported the situation to the council and both my daughters and my friends daughters application were withdrawn. Is there any possible way I could appeal/get her on a waiting list for the same school ?

I know I should have thought about the possibility that this would be the outcome. But please if anyone has any advice please respond.

Hi again, Zane.

The difficulty is that almost all appeals turn on the school's admissions criteria - and distance to school is often the point at issue ? so that without a confirmed address there's nothing the authority (or later the appeal panel) can do. Understandably, I think, authorities don't accept uncorroborated statements that ?we are planning to move to 34 Railway Cuttings? because there are parents who are willing to lie to get a school place. Hence the need for firm evidence.

I can understand that you don?t want your son to go to the unpopular school, but I think there are separate issues here which you need to untangle:

As your son has passed the 11+, where is he on the waiting list? I assume that he?ll automatically move up the list once you have a confirmed address in the area but this is something you need to check. We don?t have grammar schools here, but I have learnt from MN that some set a different pass mark depending on whether you live in or out of catchment ? check that too.

If your son is still too far down the list to get a place at the grammar school, you need to look carefully at what grounds you might have for appeal. Frankly, if everything has been done in accordance with published policies and criteria, your chances of a successful appeal aren?t high, but that isn?t to say that the situation is hopeless. Are there are, for instance, any compelling social, medical or compassionate reasons why he deserves a place? Ideally, you need to identify a reason which can be corroborated by (say) a doctor or social worker and which goes beyond the obvious disappointment of not getting the school place you want.

It?s sensible to have a back-up plan. Look at other nearby schools and identify those which you would accept. If you are offered a place at the school you don?t want, you are far more likely to succeed if you identify positive reasons for your son to attend the grammar or one of the other schools. This may entail more than one appeal (one for the grammar school and one for an alternative school).

Tactics that don?t generally succeed at appeals are

Rubbishing the school you have been allocated - This doesn?t really address the terms of the admissions code or the appeals code. The appeal has to address why (in the parent?s view) the decision not to allocate a place in the preferred school was wrong.

Threatening not to send the child to school unless a place is given in the preferred school ? Of course, home education is an option open to everyone, and might be the solution until a place in the preferred school becomes available, but threatening that the child will truant unless given a place at the first choice school will probably not win an appeal.

PositivelyFestive ? Yes, it is awkward when people feel that they haven?t had a fair hearing or that the appeal was weighted against them, but I feel comfortable that panels I have been on have worked very hard to put appellants at their ease and have really tested the school?s/LEA?s position. On threads about appeals there are also people pointing out that if panels allowed every appeal, without considering the school?s position as well as the family?s, some schools would be very overcrowded and none of the children would benefit from that.

Sorry, very long post (and a lot of it you know already) but hope this helps.

Hi Zane, As far as I am aware and certainly in this local authority you cannot appeal until you have signed contracts on a house in the area. However, you can appeal at any time, there is no deadline.
Take a look at the advice websites and be prepared. Remember that the panel are humans, too, although some seem to disguise this fact well. We are tied by rules, so you need to stick to facts, but work within the guidlines to put your case forward.

So glad to know that I am not hated, pompous, out of touch, bureaucratic and friendless! I am quite normal, have 5 dcs, hate beaurocracy and have some very good friends , but have not outed myself as a panel member on some threads where someone has been turned down and they disagree!

Hi, PositivelyFestive. I'm a bit wary about declaring that I'm a panel member, but I'm guessing and hoping that on threads like this it might be helpful for the OP to hear from people who have been through the appeal process - either as an appellant or as a panel member. Are we supposed to be hated, pompous, out of touch, bureaucratic and friendless, then? There I was, thinking that we were trying to bring a bit of common sense and perspective and MN wisdom to the process!

Hi MadBadandCoveredinTinsel I thought i was the only panel member brave enough to admit it on here! I don't feel like a hated pompous, out of touch beaurocrat Billy-no-mates any more!

Another appeal panel member here. (Please don't shoot me either).

A lot will depend on how your preferred school's admission criteria are defined and where your ds is on the waiting list. Unless you can demonstrate that the criteria have been mis-applied, you are maybe not likely to win an appeal: not having another school offer - or not liking the offer you've received - usually aren't winning grounds for appeal. However, if you can demonstrate that the school could accommodate your child "without prejudice" or that there are very compelling reasons why he should go there, things may be more promising.

Find the website of the Advisory Centre for Education - lots of helpful information there. Also look at the admissions information on the DCSF website.

Went through this last year. Moved after deadline for school places and were offered 3rd choice. We appealed. We had to fill in a form outlining reasons for wanting our first choice school - nearest to home, DS not familiar with local area and we were not keen for him to travel alone by bus in area that he doesn't know. Our appeal was successful. But chances of success depend on where you live. Of the 29 appeals for places at our first choice school, 14 were successful. Good luck to you.

We were in this situation when DS1 was in Y6, although without the grammar option. We had no grounds for appeal because we didn't apply by the deadline date.

He would have been about 50th on the waiting list for a pretty poor comp., and that is living a 3minute walk away. The alternative offered by teh Lea was a total sink school, and they freely admitted that we wouldn't want to send DS there.

We ended up putting him in a 13+ prep school.

go to elevenplusexams.co.uk and look at the forum. There is an appeals section and they give fantastic free advice on appeals from very experienced people.

A friend looked on the internet and paid a small sum of money for a leaflet of hints and tips and what to argue at appeal. They won.

Good morning!

Well done on DS getting the grade for grammar.

Unfortunately, LA s are not allowed to keep places open for people who move into an area after the deadline for applications. They are legally bound to fill a school if they have enough applications.
You can appeal and the appeal process is fairly straightforward. However, IME (appeal panel member - don't shoot me!!) the best chance you have is to get your DS on the waiting list as soon as you have a valid address near the school. There is a lot of movement with people moving away, so he may be lucky. I am not saying not to appeal, you have nothing to lose at all, so do everything you can. It is not either/or, just make sure he is on the waiting list as soon as possible.

Good luck!