Failed year 9 appeal completely desperate

[Marie46]

HELP. My son and I moved to the UAE in January to be with my new husband. Unfortunately due to unforeseen circumstances we returned in August. I applied for a place at his old school and was told it was full. I appealed. I have now been told my appeal has failed.
The decision is explained as my case was more about my childs social needs rather than his educational needs. I feel I have let my son down very badly. I argued my son would take time to settle at another school and this would affect his education. He is also small for his age and is very likely to be bullied. The school had 182 students in my sons year until January and now only has 180 (it is classed as full at 180) but even that did not convince them. My son and I are heart broken I do not know what to do.
The appeals process seems to be heavily weighted in the schools favour. They know exactly what to say but we are given little help and do not know if what we are saying is what the panel wants to hear. It simply is not a fair system.
Does anyone know of any group trying to get this system changed? Any ideas what I can do???

Is there a waiting list?

Harsh but if it's full it's full.

Maybe the extra two the previous year were special needs hence they could admit them.

I don't know of any groups, but even if there were, I don't think they would offer a quick fix solution to enable your son to get in ASAP.

Are there any other schools you would consider, even ones that are further away?

The key is to get your son back in education ASAP not fight a big battle.

Ensure you are on the waiting list.

You have not let you son down. You made a decision to move and it did not work out, that's life, you had to accept it and move on.

Good luck.

What would you like them to change the system to? We all like class sizes to be limited, and school sizes are limited physically too. There has to be a very strong and compelling reason for them to go over their "capacity", and the fact that you want your son to go there isn't strong enough.

I don't think issues like "small for his age and very likely to be bullied" were ever likely to cut the mustard with the appeals panel as a reason why he should get a place at this school rather than any other - unless you could prove that all other available schools have a proven history of bullying of smaller pupils

I'm sorry that things haven't worked out, but you now need to focus on finding a suitable school for your DS, or else you could (depending on your circumstances) perhaps home educate him while waiting for a place to become available.

But you need to pick yourself up, stop focussing on the disappointment, and move forwards. Ask the education department which schools do have places, and go visit them.

Sorry but I don't think your reasons are grounds for an appeal - there are loads of people who are probably in similar position in applying to secondary (at whatever stage) and 'it would take longer to settle elsewhere' is just not tenable.

I don't think it's a battle to be fought, tbh. I don't think it's unfair.

Best thing you can do is look at schools and get yourself on as many waiting lists as possible - sorry

Going through the appeals process myself due to a move, I've got to agree with Marie46.

The appeals process IS weighted in the school's favour.

The school we are appealing to are behaving atrociously regarding our appeal. We are screaming, shouting, going to the MP, chair of governors, whatever it takes. We even had to insist an appeal be adjourned due to mistakes being made.

Marie46, have you spoken to ACE? They are billiant. Without them we'd never have known to call the school on their mistakes. Also highly recommend 'How to Win Your School Appeal'.

Unfortunately, you only get one appeal every academic year. However, if there has been any maladminstration, you can get the local government ombudsman to set a new appeal - so make sure the school and appeals panel behaved appropriately. Go thrugh the schools admissions appeals code and note any breaches.

Good luck!

Petelly - Hi. I think we spoke on your thread.

Marie - ACE is the Advisory Centre for Education. Check out their website.

I sit on school admissions appeal panels. Obviously I don't know what went on at Petelly's appeal but want to say that all the training I had was about ensuring that the Appeals and Admissions Codes - which you can see on the DCSF website - are followed and, especially, that parents are put at their ease and are given a decent opportunity to state their case.

The process is designed to test the reasons why the child hasn't been awarded a place. In the first part of the hearing, the onus is on the school/LEA to prove that offering the child a place would create 'prejudice'. If the school can't prove this, the school loses the appeal (see para 3.1 of the Appeals Code). If 'prejudice' is proven, the panel then has to balance the interests of the child wanting a place and the interests of the school and the pupils already there. I know there's room for argument, but I really do think that that gives parents a fair crack of the whip.

When you're submitting an appeal, you do need to express it in terms of the school's admission criteria. If you're arguing that your child has needs which only that school can meet, you need (ideally) evidence from a professional to back that up - a letter from an audiologist to confirm that your child needs to attend a school with a unit for hearing-impaired children (or whatever). Implying that other schools are inadequate probably won't cut much ice, as it doesn't address why your child should attend the school for which you are appealing. You need to identify strong reasons for the school you want, rather than denigrating other schools.

Sorry this is such a long post but I wouldn't want anyone reading this thread to think there's no point in appealing. At our last appeal session, we allowed every appeal.

Hi MadBadandCoveredinSequins,

Some good advice in your post.

I am just about to embark on an appeal for my daughter currently in year 8, we have just moved to an area .4mile away from a very good school, but its currently full with a waiting list. Its a voluntary added school and handles its appeals in house. I'm not sure what kind of chance we have of success, the other school is 2 1/2 miles away and not performing well. Other children in our street attend this school and it would be lovely for her to make friends to walk with. She is currently one of the top in her class academically and I feel her education would suffer and she may be bullied.

I also have a son currently in year 6, and have now made a late application.
I would be grateful for any pointers....

There's quite a lot of advice on this recent thread in secondary education
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/secondary/922393-How-do-you-appeal-against-your-school-placement-My-friend

It helps I find if you try to look at it from the LEAs pov. They can't let every child in the country into the popular school (which is already full by the time it comes to appeal), so you are asking them to make an exception in the case of your child which they will not be making for all the other children who might also want to go. So you have to prove why your child is an exceptional case. If you argue that "my child may be bullied" you will have to provide evidence a) that this is more likely to happen to your child than to any other child b) that it will only happen at the other schools and wouldn't happen at this school. Which might be hard to prove.

We did actually sort of make use of something similar, when we argued that our dd needed to go to one particular school because she is emotionally fragile (psychologist's report), suffers from a rare and invisible disability (GP's and consultant's report), and much of her emotional health problems stem from having her disability doubted at an earlier stage (counsellor's report)- therefore we argued that she needed to go to a school where she would have a few friends who already knew about her very specific position and would be able to provide initial support. But the need for initital support would be hard to argue for a mentally healthy child, since lots of healthy teenagers cope with going to new schools every year.

If it helps put your mind at rest, my DS is very small for his age (13, but wears age 10 clothes and size 3 shoes) and has never been bullied, for that or any other reason.