Can anyone give me advice on secondary school appeals?

[littlesara]

Ds has been offered a place in a secondary local to us which was not on my choices. Its an absolutely awful school and ds will not do well there.

We have lost our first appeal (my second choice school). We are now going for our second appeal (my first choice school).

Unfortunately I was not able to attend the first appeal in person due to work commitments, my mum stood in for me so I really have no idea of what to expect.

Apart from the fact that ds will not know anyone at the school, he has various learning difficulties, an occupational therapist and some difficulties with social skills which I recently mentioned to her. She does not think she can refer him to CAMHS but was going to get some advice from them. Its hard to explain, no one can pinpoint what's wrong with him.

The other factor is distance. I am a single parent and rely on a lift from grandparents to be able to get the kids to school and get to work as I cant drive. Every way ive looked at this, I cannot get both children to school and get to work on time unless I have a lift. Lift is dependant on both schools being on the route, which my first choice school is, otherwise nan would be late for work herself. It is just not possible. Even if they were willing to take dd to primary and I took ds to secondary, I still can't get to work on time.

My head is frazzled. If they send ds to this school I will have to give up my job and live on benefits. I need to win this appeal, but how? What can I do to provide concrete evidence that what they are suggesting is impossible for me? I am really stuck and stressed to the limit. I would really appreciate some ideas.

Meant to add. The school ds has been allocated a place in is of equal distance from our house as the school which was my first choice. But, the school dd will be attending is further on in the direction of my first choice school.

So I would need to split myself in two to get them both to school on time, if that makes any sense?

sorry to bump, but I could really do with some advice on how to go about this appeal.

I do not have any advice but goodluck.

It is important (I understand) that you explain why the school you want your son to go to is the right school rather than the other school being a bad one IYSWIM

Good luck and I'm sure that other people, better qualified will be along to help soon

Martianbishop is right. I haven't had to appeal but I knew someone on an appeals panel.You have to have positive reasons for sending your DC to your chosen school. Do not give reasons for not sending him to allocated school.

Just remembered that I read somewhere the worst thing to do is to be negative about the school you do not want. State reasons why your chosen school is the best choice for your child. They take a dim view of anyone criticising a school. It is ok to say it would be impossible to get to allocated school on time in the morning but not ok to say the school was rubbish at maths, for example.

hope this helps.

Why was your first appeal rejected?

A friend was told that if she or her dd's father didn't turn up to an appeal it would be rejected as the panel would think they weren't serious enough.

If the rejection was on other grounds can you work on those for this appeal?

It was rejected on distance which is fair enough as second choice school is much further away. I honestly could not get out of work that day, only two people running our department, my boss and myself. My boss was on holiday. There was nothing I could do.

Im not going to slate the school, already had an inkling that would be a very bad move to make. I need positive reasons. It is virtually impossible for us to get there, how can I prove this? What kind of document would help do you think?

I honestly think you made a huge mistake not turning up in person for the appeal with your dd's father as well.

This may have cost you the place, as they may have thought that your dd's education wasn't as important to you as your job. I'm not saying it's right, just that thats what it looks like.

Go to the next one with your dd's father and if you can afford it, a legal representative that specialises in school appeals.

Then you might get in.

Ds's father will not attend. Not a hope.

I will of course go but what kind of paperwork should I take with me?

I had an appeal last week,and have another next week,one thing I would say,is try and take someone with you,in our area you can take one other person as support.
I was prepared for it to be a bit nerve racking,but one of the panel members really threw ne when it was time for them to question me, I felt that I had blown the whole thing and just wanted it over,I did not realise that I would be asked to do a summing up at the end,and was so flappy that I felt I wasted those few closing words.
I went alone and feel now that having someone with me would have helped,maybe they would have jogged my memory about things.
Another thing I have been advised is that you can write out your main statement,and read it out word for word thats what im doing this time.good luck.

Hi again,
just thought of something else,
re paperwork.all leas are different but we had to have all paper work returned by about 2 weeks before appeal date,if we had something really applicable that we wanted to take in the day, we were advised to take 6/7 copies 1 for each of panel 1 for the clerk ect,also if we took new evidence on the day,we had to be prepared for the hearing to be postponed while they studied the new evidence.Hopefully your lea acts differently

Is there anyone you know who had an appeal last year with the same LEA? It really helps to know what to expect when you walk in the room. The order of my appeal was this:

LEA rep read out a statement (school was oversubscribed)
Panel asked me if I had questions for her - try to have a question as it makes you look prepared
I gave my statement (I'd scribbled what I wanted to say)
Questions from the panel
They asked me if I had anything new to add
LEA rep summed up (basically repeated what she said earlier)
I summed up (start by thanking them for listening to you - it's polite!) - you can't add any new evidence in your summing up, just reiterate your points again.

Good luck - the panel were nice but it's very stressful.
We won ds's appeal - we heard yesterday so lots of big smiles here!!

Well done swedishmum,its nice to hear sucess stories .
littlesara,I presume the school you want is over subscibed,they should have sent you a statement of numbers,look back and see if they have ever gone over PAN if they have done it once,you can question why they cant do it again.

Ok, I have written a statement. Now, do I use it to refer to, to sum up, to copy and give out? I really have no idea. Do I need to provide evidence to support the statment? Im sure I remember someone on here saying they included a photo of their child...good or bad move?

I can write great letters but face to face I crumble, it is so difficult to keep emotion out of it too when its your child.

Im scared! Ive been to a tribunal against my former employers and that was terrifying, but this is so much more important to me.

If they question me i'll either fall apart and say something stupid, or appear cold and disinterested, I just know it!

Hi,
had my last appeal yesterday,it was much better than expected,the panel are used to nervous mums or dads and should put you at your ease.
dont worry about not having ds's dad with you,they do like A parent to attend but will take no notice and ask no questions if its only you.
I kept my written statement and summery in front of me for reference and looked down at it when I felt the need.
your words are really just covering what you have wriiten in your appeal,they will all have a copy of this,so I would not take any other paperwork,you should have had a info pack from the lea,ours told us not to take any photos/letters from child ect,but yours could be different.
When you sum up,remember to thank them for hearing your appeal and bullet point your strongest arguments,good luck

Hope it went well Heronsfly - my fingers are crossed for you! Hope you don't have to wait too long to hear. I'm on 11 plus blah blah but stupidly forgot to give myself a nickname.