When you are selecting your preference for secondary school, is it best to put really good reasons for the choices you make in case you need to appeal? And if so, what on earth do you put?

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I am completing an application for secondary school for ds and there is a space for

"Additional information you think the Admission Authority should know about in considering your application for a place at this school."

Someone told me a while ago that it is worth making sure you have solid reasons for choosing the school in this space so that if you have to appeal you can use these reasons.

However:
my first choice is catchment 11+, I think if he passes he gets in there

my second choice is local school in special measures

and if he doesn't pass the 11+ and we end up with the second choice we will probably pay. Apparently a large percentage of pupils got into the grammar last year on appeal so I do need to be thinking about it now as we only have 15 days from the results coming out to appeal.

So:
Should I write anything in this space?
If so, what?

Apart from "this is a great school and the alternative is in special measures.."

TIA for any suggestions.

WWW, what are the other admissions criteria for the grammar? Are there any pastoral/additional needs issues that you could honestly use in ds' favour?
Is the school a designated Maths/Humanities/Sports Specialist school? EG, we would plan to use ds' knack for languages as a strong motivating factor for ds' application to a particular specialist Languages grammar near us next year

No special needs (other than he can be a lazy arse but I can't exactly put that!) - and the admission criteria is A) Pass 11+ (who knows, he re took it today) and B) catchment, and we are very near, walking distance. I might have to re read the boring pack, it is LONG and jusat check if there's anything else I should put.

Do I bang on about having been to the open evening and being impressed and the fact that it's our catchment area school?

I've heard that they ignore the reasons. They just look at the criteria, whatever they are for your local authority (special needs, distance etc.) The "reasons" box is just there to make parents feel better.

Hi Marina - slight hijack but if I've got the school right the one you're thinking of was our favourite too - we very nearly sent dd2 there (she got a place) but decided in the end that being at the same school as her sister was better for her and us. I thought the school was very impressive though - and easily the best of the grammars (in my opinion anyway)

Thanks for that MrsW - we were impressed too! .
Do state it is catchment area WWW, it never hurts to reiterate the obvious - and, if you are at all anxious about this, I would have a quick ferret in the pack and see if there is anything else you can look at and think - bingo! - ds.
Very best of luck with it all www.

Turn "lazy arse" around to read something along the lines of "ds' potential best achieved in a learning environment where there are high expectations of all pupils"

Thanks Marina, I will go and check all the criteria and see if there's anything else I can add. x

Message withdrawn

UnquietDad on Mon 13-Oct-08 15:54:56
"I've heard that they ignore the reasons. They just look at the criteria, whatever they are for your local authority (special needs, distance etc.) The "reasons" box is just there to make parents feel better."

Not true if they are genuine reasons why your child needs that school more than any other child (e.g. because of disabled access, special counselling for a disturbed child). The "reasons" box is there for parents to show that they do meet the LEA's criteria.

Obviously, thinking one school is better is not a reason why the LEA should allocate a place at that school to your child rather than to another child- no reason they should think your child more important.

The reasons box is there to show if you have special reasons that your application should be prioritised. Writing that another school is crap is not going to go down well with the LEA.

We went to appeal for medical reasons but were told that we would have got in if we had provided more information with our original application.

Also, if you provide evidence that you should have got in ahead of children that did get in, when it gets to appeal, the LEA are obliged to take your child straightaway even if the school is full to bursting: as long as you can prove that they had the relevant information and ignored their own criteria.

But 'the alternative is in special measures' is no reason why you should get the good school ahead of little Annabelle and Jason down the road whose parents would also no doubt like to avoid a school in special measures.

Education specialist here - read the admissions criteria for the school, and see if any of them particularly apply to your child. Nothing else counts. Then highlight this fact in the box. Eg: "My child has a statement of Special Educational Needs and this school is named on his/her statement" gives you an excellent score. "My child attends the feeder primary school" gives you a good score. "There is a sibling already at the school" gives you another good score. "It is our nearest maintained secondary school" also helps. "It is our nearest specialist language/music/technology college" is not too bad but you're into more murky waters here. Do you get my drift? For more info see the new Schools Admissions Code, 2007, as this is applied very strictly in almost all cases.