Senior School appeal is Today!! Last minute advice appreciated

[AwkwardAnnie]

I've just had a phone call to say DD's appeal hearing is today. Stupidly I'd got in my head it was in July. So after getting upset and saying I knew nothing about it, I then realised my error and apologised profusely. The lady was lovely, they were calling to see if I can go in early.

I'm currently off work with day 2 of D&V, but I have to go. The other options are it's heard in my abscence, of postponed until August/September.

I have a copy of the statement I sent in, and a brilliant statement from the SENDCo at her Primary school. (Which I should have submitted a week ago, but I got the date wrong!)

I'm feeling dreadful, totally unprepared and would appreciate any last minute words of advice.

Good luck

I hope it went well. I found the people I faced in our appeal to be very human, warm and lovely.

Good luck with it all. So, so stressful.

It seemed to go well. They were lovely (not the ogres other people had led me to believe) I was very very nervous at the start, had to go alone due to the short notice, but they knew I was ill and were very understanding and I soon calmed down. I read out the statement school had given me then blathered a bit about some points the school had made on their report and some personal things.

They asked lots of questions, (particularly about the personal things) but also about things I'd not thought about but I felt I had good answers. It was longer than I thought it would be, lasting a full half hour.

They also asked me about the school she's been allocated, which I was told before that they wouldn't but I was able to say that the school she's been given doesn't provide the support she needs and give examples as to why. I kept stressing that this was her choice too, even though all her peers are going to the allocated school or the boys school and for her to choose something different is a big deal. It was also the only school after lots of open day visits over several years that she took part in the activities.

I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I did get a good feeling.