Secondary school reducing children on roll each year

[Elif]

We are appealing for our dds first choice of school. I have checked the school admission numbers and from a way back it has been reduced and between those years the number has gone up once then reduced again.And for the year it had gone up gcse results had gone up considerably! At the moment number is lower than the actual capacity.
Can I use this argument to prove that the school was able to cope with more pupils before?
Thank you

You need to be sure of the facts here. The key issue is not the net capacity of the whole school but the admission number for the year groups in question.
In england that should remain fairly constant but in wales they now use a different way of working out the admission number and it can vary from year to year. whereabouts are you?
There is absolutely nothing to stop you from using this as an argument to allow more pupils but it is only part of the issue. The LA will argue that the school cannot cope physically with any more pupils and you need to research what has caused the changes in admission number etc and check out what changes to the buidlings have happened.

Hi ,thank you for your quick response.
We live in London.When I checked the performance tables from the Department for Education website, it showed that the total number on roll was quite high few years back then each year it was reduced . Between now and then it went up for one year then started to go down again. But the funny thing is when it went up, there was a considerable rise in the percentage of GCSE levels.
And when I checked a public notice the current capacity for 2009 shows 600 but on the D for E website total no on roll shows 596.And 2010 TNO is 597. Can I argue that in the past school had 614 so they are able to accomodate one more child?

You can make that argument but I don't expect it to be terribly persuasive. As Admission says, what matters is the admission number, i.e. the number of pupils admitted to Y7. If they school has some years over the admission number already or has had that in the recent past that would be worth pointing out and would be rather more persuasive than the whole school going over capacity.

Don't forget that you also need a positive case for your daughter to be admitted to this school, i.e. reasons why this school will be better for her than the allocated school.

prh47bridge- How can I get the Y7 admission numbers?

I meant the old ones for the past few years.

Ask the LA. If you appeal they are required to answer any question you ask within reason to help you prepare your appeal. However, be clear as to whetehr you are asking about the admission number or the number of pupils actually admitted (and I must apologise for not explaining "admission number" very well in my last post).

The admission number is the number of pupils they have to admit assuming there are that many applications. It generally stays constant unless the school adds more classrooms or closes some down. The number of pupils actually admitted will go up and down from year to year. You could ask for both numbers but I suspect that the number of pupils actually admitted each year will be more useful to you.

prh47bridge- Is it ok to send them an email to request this and if they know who is requesting does it affect my appeal?
And do I need to ask them the necessary questions on part 1 of the appeal?
Thank you

You can request the information from the Admissions Office of the LA and they have to provide it. It has no bearing on the appeal as the LA have no say in the decision made by the 3 members of the independant panel.
When it comes to the appeal, part 1 is the school explaining why they believe that they cannot accept any more pupils whereas part 2 is where you explain the particular reasons why your child should be admitted to that particular school. So yes you are correct any questions around what the school has done in the way of exams or about the physical environment of the school are part 1 questions. You have to ask questions of the school rather than be making a statement. So for instance you could say given the results in 20** and the numbers of pupils involved does it not seem reasonable that you could actually admit more pupils without any problems. I know that the answer will be around the fact that different cohorts have different abilities and this was a particularly strong year, so no it does not follow. It is about chipping away at the reasons for not admitting, do not expect to win at part 1 unless the LA have made a real mess of the admission arrangements in some way.