Primary school appeal advice please - religious reasons?

[natalies0301]

We applied for 5 primary schools in Teddington - Collis, Hampton Wick, Stanley and St Marys and St Peters, as well as Thames Ditton Infants (as we plan to move to that area soon and the school is supposed to be fantastic).

We recently received our offer letter and our son was not granted a place at any of our 5 choices! They have offered him a place at a local Catholic school - Sacred Heart. I don't want to sound ungrateful as I appreciate we are lucky to receive a place within walking distance. However, our son has been christened C of E and, whilst we are not regular churchgoers, we had not even considered a Catholic school. I understand Sacred Heart to be a very good school but I have also been told it does focus heavily on the Catholic faith, more so than most other church schools.

Ideally I really wanted our son to go to Hampton Wick Infants as this is where his father and all of his family went and we loved the fact it is a small school as our son is not very comfortable in large groups.

Does anyone have any similar experiences or tips on appealing? I have already contacted the LEA and confirmed that we will be appealing (for both Hampton Wick and Collis). I do however understand it is quite likely the appeal will be rejected as the places are all taken. But I do believe we have the right to appeal in these circumstances.

We have visited the school after we were offered a place and it is very Catholic with prayer tables in the classrooms etc. Over 90% of the children at this school are practicing Catholics. We have also been informed by the Headmaster that our youngest daughter will not be offered a place in 3 years time as we are not Catholic and they will not be accepting any more bulge classes (the only reason our son has been offered a place this year). This increases the disappointment at being offered this place and I truly hope this adds weight to our appeal. I truly believe Sacred Heart is a good school but it is just not right for our son.

I would also be grateful for any opinions on C of E children attending Catholic schools. Do we have grounds to appeal on this basis? Surely we can not be forced to send our child to a church school when he is not a practicing Catholic?

I have consistently tried the ACE advice line but, completely understandably, it is always busy.

I have now been informed that our son is 14th on the waiting list for Hampton Wick and 57th for Collis.

Any advice from anyone in a similar situation would be so gratefully appreciated!

Thank you

My husband and children are Catholic and I am C of E, we all go to the Catholic Church, and although there are a few significant differences, to be honest I think many of them will go over the heads of many children at least until yr 2/3. Dd1 (7) is begining to explore some of the issues. My PIL once went to a C of E church on holiday by mistake and didn't realise until 3/4 way through that it wasn't Catholic, as even the litergy is very similar. You can discuss how and when they address issues such as transubtantiation and whether he can be excused from class for that. I imagine if they are taking an unexpected bulge class then there will be other parents in a simlar position.

The other issue is whether you are actually wanting a religious education for your child, as some C of E schools also have lots of religious activities in school time, which comes as a shock to many, but then so do community schools, it's the law. I would investigate for yourself what the differences between C of E and RC are, and if you feel uncomfortable about any of these then discuss with the school about your son not taking part in those aspects.

Hopefully before your daughter starts your son will have a place that you are happy with, otherwise you may be able to get priority for him as her sibling (if they prioritise older as well as younger siblings), and by yr 3 it is easier to win appeals because class sizes are more flexible.

Hampton Wick has an admission number of 60 and Collis has an admission number of 90. That means any appeal will be infant class size and the rules are as SchoolsNightmare has set out. Unfortunately all your other chosen schools would be ICS appeals as would almost every other school in Richmond - Darell appears to be the only one that would be an ordinary appeal. You can still try even without evidence of a mistake - things do occasionally emerge during the hearing and you may get a sympathetic panel willing to put their necks out for you. But you must remember that you are appealing for your preferred school. You are unlikely to win if your case is all about why you don't want your son to go to Sacred Heart.