I have only been offered a CofE school - can I appeal on the basis I'm an atheist?

[Pykel]

put three choices down. All within 0.3. All have offered to my address in last three years.

Found out today I have third choice (reception entry) - a CofE school. You will ask why I have put this school down, well because we were told to be realistic etc. I thought this was a better case scenario than being given a school 2 miles away.

However after digesting the offer this evening I'm very unhappy. If I'm honest I thought I would get first choice or at least second!

Another factor could be the fact that my son has glue ear about which he has seen specialists since he was 18 months old. The second choice school has a specialist speech and language unit (which takes pupils from all over the borough, not just the school). They could obviously support him better than another other local school.

However I don't understand how any of these appeal factors may possibly work when my appeal would be on class size only. If there are 30 spaces there are 30 spaces, how could a panel possibly stick their head out??

Would appreciate some advice, I'm very very sad which is ridiculous I know.

I was the atheist governor of a CofE school!!
All primaries do act of worship weekly - its the law
and compulsory RE is the best way I know to create atheists
panic not and retain a sense of humour
the more you kick off, the more your kids will think there is something in it...

ha ha thank you for your message Talkin

I went to a CofE so I see absolute logic in what you say! You have made me chuckle so thanks for that, it's been horrible today. I am trying my best to retain the sense of humour

I guess it's also the 'unfairness' of it all. I don't know many that haven't got a choice. We have been given the school that takes all those that were not offered places. It's satisfactory by Ofsted whereas our local schools are outstanding

HTH

I had regular meetings with the vicar about the RE policy as I was deemed "unbiased" about which approach to take

as I thought they were all a joke ....

sit on the waiting list for one of the others and let the kids tell you about Baby Cheeses (you'll never hear it the other way again)

You can be on the waiting list for 1st and 2nd choice

Lol at baby cheeses doubt I'll ever say it another way after hearing that!

I will put him on the waiting list for the others but this is just such a massive spammers in the works. I'm going back to work soon how can I organise childcare if I don't know which school he is going to?

I will also put him in the waiting list of a school 1.5 miles away. I didn't put him on that school previously as I thought it would be ridiculous to drive to school but apparently not. Ironically if he had this school on his list originally he would have got in.

We are 0.021 of a mile away from the last offered place, that's how close it is

*spanner obv

To answer the question in the thread title, I'm afraid not. From what you say it would be a class size appeal which means it should only succeed if you can show that there has been a mistake and your son would have been admitted if they'd got it right. Having said that, you do occasionally get sympathetic panels who admit even if the rules say they shouldn't. So you might strike it lucky and get a panel of fundamentalist atheists (if there is such a thing) but I wouldn't bank on it.

Looking at your post, your best case would be if you submitted evidence about your son's glue ear with your application. If you did and the admission criteria for your second choice school give priority to children with special medical needs, you could argue that a mistake has been made in that your son should have been placed in this category. There is no guarantee that would succeed but it would be better than saying you don't want the allocated school because you are an atheist. If you are going to appeal the panel needs a positive reason why your child needs to go to the preferred school. Negative points about the allocated school (including the fact that it is CofE!) won't win an appeal.

I would also point out that some non-CofE schools are actually stronger on teaching Christianity than some CofE schools so it may be worth investigating more before writing off this school.

If you're that close it sounds like you've got a very decent chance on the waiting list - don't give up.

Thank you prh47bridge For taking the time to write that long post. You must be very busy at the moment!

I understand all your points and I think have already come to that very realistic answer. Another factor is that no appeals were upheld in our borough last year so I dont imagine we have a sympathetic panel in this borough!

I guess it's just the fact that we have been forced to take this school. Esp as we are not believers. I understand that other schools prob don't teach any more/less of the christian faith but if that is the case why have they put it in the title at all!

Thanks for your time I'll have another think about things tomorrow

And thanks dilys for your post I am going to keep everything crossed for the waiting list. Although who knows how this will pan out given how oversubscribed our borough is?? But just really gutted that I can't sort out childcare (for DS and younger DD) or speak to work about returning until this has been sorted out

There is also no guarantee that the school with the s&l unit will be better able to help with your sons glue ear. He won't be in the unit and in some of these schools there is amazingly little transfer of knowledge between the unit and the rest of the teaching staff.

thank Indigo, I think i am merely clutching at straws here. It's a bit of a shock and my knee jerk reaction is to wonder why my son didn't get either his first or second choice school and then how I can ensure he does!

But I fear it will lead nowhere, unfortunately