YEAR & APPEAL FOR GRAMMAR SCHOOL

[WiLdChiLD32]

(PLEASE HELP!)
Hi, My daughter passed her 11+ exams for all the Trafford schools and has not been offered a place in the two school that we had applied. Her score is not bare pass, she had scored reasonably well. Stretford school have offered places as far as 3.3 miles as I understand it and we are few hundred meters out. other children who attend the same primary school as her and have scored lower have been offered places but not her. She is absolutely devastated about it. I am considering appealing the decision and was wondering if anyone can help in any way. She is at greater depth in her subjects and headteacher and class teacher will support us on that. I just wanted to ask what kind off evidence should I attach and what has people done on their appeals and if they have been successful. I really struggling as to how to go about it. Any tips or pointers will be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Does the offer letter state why she was unsuccessful? What are the oversubscription criteria, is it distance, score, fixed catchment, siblings etc?

OP

Stretford Grammar’s criteria (after LAC etc):

The top 20 scoring candidates, irrespective of home residence, will be allocated a place. Candidates with equal scores to the lowest candidate in this allocation will also be offered places.
Children who will have a sibling attending the School within Years 7 to 11 at the time of admission (September 2023).
Successful candidates who live within the immediate area of the school; being M32, M33, M41, M15 and M16 (both within Trafford and Manchester) and including M21, this being the next closest postcode to the school.
Children who live nearest to the School, measured in a direct straight line from the child’s permanent place of residence to the School.

If you don’t live within one of the postcodes then you will be on criteria 7. The grammar isn’t admitting by ranking, other than the top 20. Once you have passed the exam, it’s by sibling, postcode and distance.

I’m not sure which of the others you put down. Sale does it by ranking once you are outside the priority postcodes. Altrincham girls does it by distance once you are past the qualifying score. Urmeston has a similar policy to Stretford.

So you can try for an appeal, but I don’t think you would win on grounds of the policy being misapplied or anything (assuming your DD’s friends live closer than her)

Can’t help with Trafford specifically but when DD was offered a Grammar place it was based on exam ranking , birthday (older you were the higher you needed to score), distance from school and sibling. So as a December born child living in the next town with no sibling there her score had to be pretty high to get a place.
Are there other factors in your case?

Thank you for your replies - I really appreciate it.
Unfortunately we do fall under the criteria 7 and I am not saying that criteria is misapplied or anything and yes DD's friend does live few hundred yards from us but closer towards the school and their address does not fall under the post codes listed.

Has anyone successfully appealed for a place at Stretford is what I am after and whether its worth appealing and also any pointers and sort of things to attach with appeal. Thank you

At Trafford the scores are already standardised taking into account the age of the child.

Can't you just go the waiting list for the two schools you wanted? There will be movement as some parents will take a private school place but won't have rejected their state school offer yet.
Good luck!

You can appeal - nothing to lose and also go on the waiting list as the next month all the places shuffle a bit if people change their minds or move etc. At some point in the future (maybe after April 25th?) when the schools take control of the waiting list you will be able to find out how far down the waiting list you are. If only a few hundred meters hopefully you will get a place soon

Ok, so it’s a good sign you know they went down to criteria 7!

Last year the last admitted distance (possibly after waiting list offers) was something like 3.7miles so there’s hope.

My mistake, last year was 3.59miles on offer day.

This year Trafford are saying 2.84miles on offer day:

www.trafford.gov.uk/residents/schools/school-admissions/2023/2023-secondary-admission-outcomes.aspx

I can't see that her score matters, it's pass or fail in Trafford unless she is a top scoring applicant eg top 20.

I have no experience of appeal but you need to argue the case why she should go to that school over the alternatives. However in a grammar school system there will be tons of parents just outside the distance.

You can only hope that a few places free up if you are only a few hundred metres out.

The usual advice on appeals centres around what the preferred school has that specifically suits DD eg a dance club or fine art GCSE if she is talented in those areas. The reports from school probably won’t help as it’s not in dispute that she scored well enough on the test, it’s just that too many kids who live closer also scored well enough.

As she has passed the 11+, you don't need to worry about proving her ability. The appeal will need to be centred on oversubscription - showing that the detriment to her of not attending will be greater than the detriment to the school of taking another pupil.

So - are there subjects this school offers than meet her needs specifically? any languages she is keen on/already speaks? subjects - do they do any that might meet her needs - after school clubs?

Did you only apply to 2 schools? Make sure you are on the waiting lists of all acceptable schools - you can add others now as well.

The elevenplusexams forum has a talk board offering advice about appeals from very knowledgeable posters.

Shelia I'm confused by the link you've posted, does that mean that some schools offered more places than they have expecting some to be turned down?

No , it is that more qualified than there are places. Bear in mind they may list more than one grammar and this one might not have been everyone's first choice.

It does look from that link that they have offered over PAN already. I don’t know why that would be but I don’t think it helps OP either way.

This is really interesting. Is this the case for most grammar schools?

Even within the Trafford Grammar Schools,,the rules are not consistent 🙂

I know that King’s in Grantham is a pure score ranking (possibly after siblings) and distance is irrelevant. That’s unusual and other Lincs grammar schools do have a distance element.

Thank you everyone who has taken the time to respond and give guidance as well as words of encouragement. it is heart breaking for the child. We only encouraged her based on last years figures and distance as there was a reasonable chance to get a place and of course based on her academic capability.

There are some clubs that Stretford offers that my DD is really interested in and these are not offered at the school she has been allocated would that be sufficient?
Again I am really sorry to keep asking but this is my first experience of dealing with high schools and appealing.
Thank you

I was reading this thread again and if you have not gained a place based on distance, it was already incredibly uncertain, as you were already not in a priority catchment area for the school ie Trafford borough or a Chorlton postcode.

Having a guess at where you may be, you therefore may well have been offered a high school that is 'better' than families living in Trafford who really battle the two tier system if their child doesn't pass ie high schools where significant numbers are creamed off for grammar schools.

Where have you been offered? It may be better for you to focus on the positives of the offered school than focusing on an appeal. Personally I think it's much more likely a child that lives in Trafford who was a mark or two off is more likely to be successful on appeal than children that passed but live too far away (there will be tons of those)

Was friend in top 20, although not in the right post code?

I think friends just lived a bit closer and still got in on criteria 7

Places may come available as there are definately kids who sat Trafford exams and all the relevant private exams who are going private. They may not have confirmed places yet. But I know 4 personally. Stretford isn't very big school tho. Offers have gone out to DC further than Chorlton too

@WiLdChiLD32 In the meantime I assume the school you have been offered is OK & others she knows will go there. Just focus on the positives of the one allocated. Reassure her you will try to get a stretford place bud you can't promise it