School appeal - moving into area

[PopRay80]

Hello.
My DD is starting secondary school in September.
When I applied for the school in November, we did not live in the area and I put on the application that we were about to put our house on the market and planning to move to the town where the secondary schools are.
In February our house sale started going through and we are purchasing a house in the town (exchange in a couple of weeks).
In March we found out the school my DD has is a 45 min walk from our new house and we want her in our first choice school (20 mins walk away).
We have put in a school appeal on the following grounds:

• DD does not know the area and allocated school is a long walk on busy roads (she is not streetwise due to the quiet town we live in now);
• DD has never been on buses alone;
• DD’s friends will be in a different part of town to where we will be living;
• DD is an anxious child and loves school. Worried she will not want to go school if she is worried about walk/bus to school;
• I know people in the area we are moving to and they all tell me that they don’t know any kids in the area that go to her allocated school;
• I spoke to staff at allocated school and they don’t know many kids that live where will be living.

When we go to the appeal, we would have exchanged but not moved yet. What are our chances of winning??

We’re in North Somerset.

You only get one chance to appeal. I would wait to apply until you are actually living at the address.

Sorry but none of that is going to win an appeal. Logistics is down to you to organise and you have time to familiarise her with the journey and find friends. How far away is the allocated school in distance , might the LA fund transport? Is her anxiety documented by hcp such that the preferred school is a recommendation from them.

Where is she on waiting list now , and once you move locally presumably she will move up. For your appeal, look at other things the offer school has which are relevant to your dd - activities, sport teams, subjects etc.

I think you're meant to focus on the benefits of the school you want them to go to not negatives and tbh as a parent who's got a y7 now none of your list is really compelling negatives. We saw ds y6 group disperse far and wide and be put in situations very similar to your list. Many y7 by Christmas are happily getting on buses or trains by themselves after never having done it alone this time last year. The secondary board usually has long posts on appeal advice. And many with really awful situations where mistakes were made rather than we moved.

Although this might seem unfair and the system is inherently unfair I was a bit aghast you thought you could apply from a different address and get what you want felt a very casual attitude when I see and hear of many family's accelerating moves etc focused on school applications primary and secondary. ( we had to move and timed it around school applications although it wasn't ideal overall timings for us as a family and extremely stressful) but we live in a city.

When you applied, you did not live in the area and hadn't even started selling your home.

That was thr criteria used when allocating a place. Distance to arbitrary place you wanted to move to was not considered.

You will be looked at very differently once you actually live in the area. I'd just pause on everything until that is the case.

Lots of school places movement happens between now and September

Are you on the waiting list for all closer schools?

It’s up to you as a parent to start doing what many others will be doing and teach dd done the skills like getting on the bus in anticipation for September. This time of year is a good time Uk start. Would cycling be easier and possible?

Your argument needs to be while new school is best not why allocated school is not. Arguments like the neighbours don’t know anyone travelling to that school is stretching - lots of kids go to year 7 not knowing anyone.

Hey op sorry I agree with others. None of those factors are relevant to an appeal. You need to look at what the preferred school offers - for example, the chance to study German and she has learned it at primary and had a German aunt. That kind of thing.

Her confidence on buses is on you to sort and I agree, this summer is an ideal time to work on that. Many year 7s start secondary knowing few or no people, and they do just fine.

I would make sure you are on the WL for your preferred school once you move and you may well get lucky there.

Probably depends on school - if it's over subscribed & only takes from small catchment I would say you have little chance. Depends on the North Somerset school - some are more popular than others.

That’s not really relevant for an appeal tho.

Obvs it is oversubscribed if the op’s dd didn’t get a place. But an appeal makes no reference to catchment. If it’s allowed it’s for reasons relating to why the benefit to the child outweighs the detriment to the school.

If you think about it, they can't allocate schools based on where families are 'planning' to move to, or everyone would say that. With oversubscribed schools they will need proof you are living at the address you are applying from. Unfortunately none of the reasons you give are compelling reasons to appeal.

You’ll be expected to work with your daughter on becoming familiar with bus travel. Secondary school pupils are expected to travel independently, unless there is a SEND need.

They will also be expected to develop relationships in any school they go to. Plenty of children start secondary school knowing few people, but develop friendships once there.

Your best bet is to be on the waiting lists for any school you want and see what movement there is. When you’ve actually moved, you’ll be in a better position.

Get on the waiting list if you aren’t already on it. Other than potentially the first bullet point all the others are 100% irrelevant. A lot of kids haven’t been on buses alone before high school and have to make new friends when starting school, it’s your job to help her overcome that anxiety. It’s just a standard part of life. I’d focus on the safety aspect of it and practicality of your first point rather than just aiming for lots of softer points that apply to most kids, make a strong argument for it. I think it’s unlikely you will win on appeal but who knows.

I recently had a successful appeal to get my primary aged child into an oversubscribed primary. I did it when we had already moved to the catchment. My appeal focused on getting child to school on time. Everyone was friendly and I didn't need to lie or exaggerate to get the place. I would wait until you've moved though.

I think some Counties have rules on what is considered acceptable travel / walking distance for schools and what is considered a safe route. It would be worth researching what the policy is close to you.

If my child walked to school it would take over an hour but she gets a direct bus instead. A friend of mine’s child got allocated a different school in a different location which would have been an unpleasant walk near a major 6-lane road or the bus journey would be 2 separate buses even though the school is 2 miles away. She also focused on the amazing sports provision her desired school had as her child was in a lot of teams.

You won't win an appeal with any of the information you've written here and you still don't actually live in the area so absolutely nothing has changed since your application.

Put her name on the waiting list but she won't be very high up until you've moved and even then you're not guaranteed a space.

None of that is going to get you a place. You needed to have moved earlier. Go on the WL and start bigging up the allocated school to your daughter

There's not a single thing in those reasons which explain why you actually want the closer school. "Because it's closer" will not be a compelling reason.

What are the reasons that you prefer the closer school? Put them in your appeal. Presumably the house move means that DD will be separated from hre friends regardless, so that's not a reason.

Whereasbouts in n somerset?

Here seems to have been a low birth year with last distance offered like 3x what it was last year.
Just focus on getting moved to go up wait list. As your reasons wont win.
We had loads of great reasons and the process was pointless.
Bear in mind you have to select a certain school generally as otherwise have to pay for transport even if distance is 3miles +
Also despite huge waitlist dc class now isnt full and hasnt been since about 2w into sept term.

@PopRay80 I agree, largely, with the other posters. Logistics aren't a good reason for appeal. If the school you have been allocated is 3+miles away from your house, the LA will provide transport/bus pass.

Your appeal needs to focus on what the preferred school offers that will benefit your DD, not the logistics of getting there.

@clary

Obvs it is oversubscribed if the op’s dd didn’t get a place

Some are going to be more over subscribed & only take from small catchment. So it's unlikely they will go up waiting list or get in. I would imagine schools with larger catchment might have more movement.

We appealed & got told no. They are expected to get a bus, or get themselves up & out the house independently. Kids adjust better than you would expect.

If OP is new to the area I can't see that DD will have long established friendships at either school.

I agree about friendships.

My point was not wrt WL (sorry if yours was) - I thought you were talking about an appeal, where the level of oversubscription and the size of catchment are both irrelevant, that's all.

If an appeal is going to be successful, it will be regardless of catchment and how many others wanted the school tbh. Or at least it should be.

Guess I don't really need to echo but no you won't win an appeal on grounds of travel logistics.

It is possible to win an appeal if you can show that the preferred school is so much suited to your child that the detriment to your child not going there outweighs the detriment to other pupils of her presence tipping them into being overcrowded. This really can't be to do with travel though - it can be e.g. your child is obsessed with classical ancient history and longs to study latin & greek and this is the only local state school to offer this, or your child is incredibly musical and this school's music provision is way better than any other locally. Anxiety about settling into a new school is not sufficient - all schools are expected to make reasonable provision for anxious y7 starters.

You might possibly get a place from the waiting list but a 20 minute walk is still quite far away. Waiting list position is flexible and in the same order as the original place allocation so once you have actually moved your waiting list position will improve.

However you will be best off spending the summer helping dd to get familiar with the route to the allocated school and well-practiced in catching buses.

When I sent my kids to school in North somerset a 45 minute walk was completely normal

Tbh I suspect current school place is based on current address which the appeal will be based on too if they haven't moved. From my dealings with admissions they don't work on possible moves. Criteria will change after move. Even though we managed to move in 5 days before application deadline we had to provide three forms of Id before September for a primary.