Reception waiting lists & appeals..HELP!!

[kerry4kids]

Hi to all,

Im a newbie & in need of advice from you other mums!!

Right in May last year i moved my 2nd eldest daughter into a new school as we knew we would be moving address. At the same time we applyed for our 2nd youngest daughter to go to the schools nursey. Our old priest signed both the forms & They both got in no trouble, VA school btw!!,. My 2nd eldest dd is now in year 6 so is going into secondary school in Steptember& my other dd didnt get her reception place for the same month :0(

Now its coming up 4 my younger daughter to go in2 reception & we are without a school at the moment. When i asked the headteacher on what grounds was my dd refuesed aplace she said it was, although the priest signed the form, he didnt state if we attened mass. Im the schools waiting list & we want to appeal. I gave the headteacher a letter from our old priest saying we attened mass at that church. Our new priest wont write a letter because he doesnt know us very well! even though we have been going weekly since our move at xmas. At no point did the headteacher says that the school is oversubscribe. hope you ladies can help x

Firstly if your DD hasn't been offered a place then the school must be oversubscribed (they have to take anyone who applied until they are "full")

You need to look closely at the school's oversubscription criteria & check that you have been placed in the correct category. I'm assuming it's a RC school? They often have very specific & detailed criteria for each category. What "faith" evidence did you supply (if any) with your initial application? My guess is that it was not sufficient to get you into a high enough category to get you a place.

It is still worth getting the "correct" faith evidence to the school now, as it may move you up the waiting list.

You can of course appeal, submitting the "correct" faith evidence. However if it is an "infant class size" (intake of 30, 60 etc) appeal then your chances of success are limited as the panel will look if the admissions authority (the school in this case as it is VA) made the correct decision based on the information they had at the time, not based on any later evidence. If it is not an ICS appeal, you stand a much better chance.

Hi BetsyBoop,

Im going to see my priest on sunday to see if he is willing to do us a supporting letter for the school appeal. But i really do think that the reception places have been filled now. I still cant get over the fact that we missed out!!.Im sure the SIF would of been fine if the priest didnt make a comment!!. But yes i see where your coming from with the late evidence. Im going to try & apply for a couple more va schools & see what happens. thanks

The places will have been filled. However, you can appeal and, if your appeal is successful, they have to admit your daughter even though they are full. I would agree with BetsyBoop and encourage you to check exactly what the school's admission criteria say about the faith evidence needed. If you believe the form from your priest gave the required evidence, or if it is unclear what was required, you can argue that a mistake has been made.