Please help: didn't get any of our choices - been allocated terrible school over 2 miles away

[BettyButterknife]

What can we do? There is no way DS is going there. What options do we have? I think I am going to be sick. Please help.

Jaaydad - I understand that you are upset but none of the things you mention there are a sound basis for an appeal. Will this be an infant class size appeal (ie one where the preferred school admits in multiples of 30)? If it is, you need to demonstrate that there has been some error or maladministration in the allocation process.

In particular, what I read from the Ofsted report is that the nursery and school work very hard to help new pupils learn English and develop communication skills. You haven't quoted what Ofsted says about pupils' attainment by the time they move on to secondary school. Presumably, your child won't need that level of support, but if the gist of your appeal is "I don't want my child to go to school with Bangladeshi children or children with additional needs" it won't do anything to help and may just alienate the panel.

jaaydad, I appreciate that you are very disappointed and maybe that your mind is already made up. Are you in Tower Hamlets by any chance? I take it that you're not Bengali.

Whilst it's not necessarily fun being a minority, being in the type of school that you seem to be describing isn't necessarily a disaster. Have you actually been to visit it or spoken to parents who kids go there?

Truly, please don't treat Ofsted as though it's the word of God - what on earth does 'the school is not located within the community it serves' mean? What community is it located in, then?

If kids are starting in the early stage of learning English though achieving well, with good teaching it sounds like a reasonable school. I can appreciate your concerns about patchy differentiation for higher attainers, though if this has been flagged up as an action point, then the school will have to address it.

How do you know that the school doesn't celebrate Christmas?

If you're even willing to give it a chance, then go and visit it, more than once. Speak to the teachers and other parents. If not, then sorry but it's your prejudice rather than the school wherein lies the problem.

Been to the school and verified what i have said
School is 95% Bengali and that is what is spoken in the play ground.
I am in Hyde
KS1 & KS2 are amongst the worst in the area if not in Tameside
I want my child to go to a multi cuture school not one that represents only one section of it
Has the highest joining and leaving rate in Tameside - less than 50% of the Year 6 pupils have been with the school since reception

Maybe i am wrong to have an aspiration that my child attends a schools where she is able to communicate with her peers - but i bet you children dont and mine wont because home education in the short term and ultimately moving away is the only answer.

Well, why post here if you've already made your mind up? Genuine question.

jaaydad - I can understand your concerns if 95% of the pupils speak Bengali and therefore this is the language in the playground. That will make it hard for an English speaking child to settle in. If i were you I would go on the waiting lists of as many schools as you would be prepared for your child to go to and see what happens.

Look. We're trying to help you here. It's very hard to win an infant class size appeal - if that is what this is, you haven't said - but if you tell us more about your circumstances we might be able to identify arguments you could use. Has it occurred to you that as appeal panel members are local volunteers, they may well be from the Bangladeshi community? At best, your argument that you don't want your child to go to a mainly Bangladeshi school is irrelevant to the appeal, at worst it is offensive.

And, yes, that school sounds very like the one my child attends.

Panelmenber - if people find it offensive that i want my child to go to a school that she can communicate to her school mates then tough and the fact she would be isolated irrelevent - the well being and education of my child is far far more important. I dont want her to go to a Bangladeshi school and nor would i want her to go to a French or Swedish school etc - you look at race i look at the quality of eduction my child will recieve and the dacts are it is poor. The school spends a good deal of time and works very hard on educating children whom speak or understand very very little English which is good but is not a factor for me or my daughter.

My child will get one chance and the formative years (or so i am led to believe) are extremely important.

Using the race card is poor but in reality most non Asian parents in my positon would be extremely upset and concerned.

mumtoone - ty at least someone understands

Have my name on every waiting list and fingers crossed but if i dont get any joy then if moving completely out of the area.

If you have read any of the other appeal threads, you will know that the appeal has to be about positive reasons for your child to attend your preferred school, not criticism of the allocated school. So, at the appeal, rather than disparaging the school you don't want, you need to identify things that the preferred school offers that would be particularly helpful for your child. That's why I say your views about the allocated school are (at best) irrelevant to the appeal.

You arae wise not to pin all your hopes on the appeal. Joining other waiting lists, home educating or moving are all more likely to produce the outcome you want.

Jaaydad - Although I can see your point, I do agree with panelmember that you won't win an appeal on the basis that he school has a very high number of Bengali speakers. You do need to go on waiting lists and find out what other schools have vacancies in order to secure your child a school you are happier with.

Panelmember - i do understand this and i understand the appeal will almost certainly fail - have her name on every waiting list in the LEA and on the Stockport LEA waiting list - and have a positive reasons regarding the school i want - i do understand that the reasons regarding the allocated school are irrelevent from an appeal panel perspective but the truth is they should not be if we value childrens education - my child's eduction is as important as everybody else's and if there was not such a large academic gap between my preffered school and that allocated then so be it.

jaaydad thats the exact reason that I moved out of a catchment which had a 95% Tamil intake. I wanted my DC's to be able to communicate with their peers and do well at school. I found the school visit hard enough as most of the teachers and assistants were really hard to understand! I couldn't imagine sending DS there. I completely understand where you are coming from.

jaaydad - I have mix raced asian children but would feel the same as you. English is the only language we speak at home and we are not Bangledeshi. I would home educate somehow until appropriate school place found. I know you can't appeal based on the school allocated but come on.

That is exactly the same as my next door neighbour whom is Bangladeshi - we get one well but critically in their house they speak only English as do the children - they know very little Bengali just enough to speak with their grand parents. She herself did not apply nor want nor did any of her 4 children go to this school. There is a very very large Bangladesho community about a mile away which the school traditionally serves - hovever some years ago ASDA recieved planning permission by the local to build a new superstore on the land where the school once stood and built a new school where it is now. This in itself was not an issue because there was always spare places somewhere but Tameside cut primary places to the absolute bare bones a few years ago and now it has become a real issue and local people are recognising this and moving out - which does nothing for the community in terms of social diversity and community good will.

well just an update - we have been allocated a different school - over two miles away and will cause ourselves a fair bit of transport issues but we will cope - we have been very lucky the local LEA have added extra school places to a few schools in Tameside and we got one!!!!!!!! - i am pretty heppy with the school - not our first choice and we are still on waiting lists for 5 other schools but at least i am now sleeping and my daughter will get an appropriate level of education.

jaaydad Glad to hear that your daughter has been allocated a school that you are happier with.

Gosh, OP, you have all my sympathies. And I am at the catchment "black hole" issue.

I live in a very nice apartment block in Paris. Unfortunately, it is situated near the frontier of respectability and our building's catchment school is a no-go area. There are good local Catholic (ie inexpensive private) schools but for non-Catholics it can be complicated indeed.