Education

[wellingtondays]

Is Anyone who has worked on a secondary school appeal panel able to offer some advice on a very personal matter Privately

What if that person gives you bad advice? If it's private, nobody else will be able to call it out.

Also, it would be worth you asking MNHQ to edit the title of your thread to something that will catch the eye of your target audience. (You can ask them by reporting your own post).

There's a lot of knowledge on these boards about secondary appeal panels, I can't envisage what would be so personal that you wouldn't be able to do a generalised description of the issue (for example you don't need to name the school or area as there are general 'rules' around appeals and how they are conducted)

My daughter has experienced something very traumatic that I didn’t want to disclose which I believe is a huge situation to move her . I appreciate you taking the time to respond and hope you understand

But that wouldn't come under an appeal? The start point is that you're appealing FOR the school you want not AGAINST the school who have refused. So, a basic start point, what do the new school offer that the old school cannot.
What are the new schools reasons for refusal (assuming this is an In Year Admission application which has been refused) The problem you're likely to face is that the potential new school can point to the previous school needing to actively resolve the issue and that potential new school isn't the only school who could evoke a change. Have you contacted your local authority admissions team to see what other places are available?

I’m sorry that something awful has happened to your daughter.

Im no expert but you would still be appealing for the school that you want her to go to so I would focus on that in the appeal. It’s about why school X is the best school for your child and how the benefit to her outweighs the detrimental effect that having another pupil has on the other children.

Amazing pastoral care could come in to the appeal but I’d have thought that it could be said that all schools have pastoral care. So you would have to be clear why this school is the best one for her.

I would have thought that you still need information on reasons this school is the one for her. Spanish GCSE, an orchestra and she plays the harp etc.

I hope it all goes well for you.

her step daughter attends so it’s extra support for her after her trauma, I have a doctors letter agreeing for the school for her mental well being and being away from the person who Inflicted the trauma

Other schools are a bus Journey away which isn’t a possibility for Saftey reasons without saying to much but the police are involved and have issues safety concerns

Support from a step sibling won't count.
Do the school you're appealing for have an exceptional and compelling reasons criteria in their admissions criteria?
Have you submitted the drs letter already, does it clearly state that your child can only attend that particular school? (Without that wording it won't hold much weight) Have tne polices safety concerns specifically stated that she's unable to use a bus (school transport can include taxi or mileage allowance if deemed appropriate)
What reason have the new school given for refusing? Unfortunately the previous poster is correct, all school are expected to have great pastoral care. They may also pose the question what if the cause also moves schools.

I have answers to all of your questions but unfortunately I won’t feel comfortable listing them . I appreciate your response .

I have spoken to the school I would like to move my daughter to and the head teacher is aware of the situation , the school are dealing with the appeal the admissions team called me Wednesday to state all further correspondence will be done directly through the potential new School as they will be taking over the appeal

Yes, that's correct, the school will deal with their own appeals, particularly if they are an academy. I wish you luck x

Thank you, the head teacher of the potential new school has been fantastic and offered my daughter a managed move but unfortunately my daughters Existing school wouldn’t agree as my daughter doesn’t have behavioural issues x

Managed moves aren't just for behavioural issues , do revisit that if your appeal is unsuccessful as they can be done under a 'fresh start' as well. It's an agreement between the two schools but does mean your child would have to return to the original school if for any reason it didn't work out. If the new school wants to support a managed move then the old school shouldn't be vetoing it on some kind of behaviour clause.

I had a meeting with the headteacher of my daughter’s existing School and was Adamant that my daughter would not be moved and manage move stating she didn’t Meet the correct criteria and start quoting the policy to me

The school may well have their own policy as it's a school - school agreement rather than anything within the local authorities power. But, in the event of your appeal being unsuccessful it may be worth asking for the two heads to have that conversation otherwise if you don't win the appeal you are stuck for another academic year

@wellingtondays you've already had very good advice on your other thread. Why did you start another? https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5476876-appeal-in-year-transfer

The difficulty with the current school seeing this as a managed move would be that they would then be required to accept an “ incomer” at some point in exchange and they might get a very different child ! They probably don’t want to take the risk.

That's not how managed moves work. There is no direct swapping, obviously helps if the heads are supportive of each other. It sounds like current school has a policy of only using them for young people at risk of permanent exclusion. Managed moves also don't count in a schools PAN . I didn't realise OP had posted twice .

I did say “ at some point”, I wasn’t implying a direct swap. However, if a school has “ benefitted” from an outgoing managed move, they have more difficulty in arguing against an incoming managed move!

There's certainly no official obligation to do a swap, but school heads often do collaborate in this way and bank favours. However, in this case a managed move wouldn't be a banked favour because, as you say, it is not a behavioural issue.

"Managed moves also don't count in a schools PAN"
I think you mean the scholl's roll, not the PAN. PAN means Published Admission Number, and is only officially relevant at the normal point of entry (usually year 7) not for in-year admissions. Schools usually set their PAN to the max they can physically accommodate (to maximise their budgets) and plan their resources for that number. Their appeal cases for being full are therefore usually legitimate.

Indicating a willingness to accept a managed move without a swap is a strong indicator that a school is happy to increase their school roll 1 over PAN. When a student is on a managed move (or offsite direction for behaviour management) they are dual registered at both schools. Then, when the trial period ends they are either permanently added to the roll at the new school or (if the move failed) revert to the original school.