Primary School appeal help please

[ZuzuandZara]

Hello.

My daughters (twins) have got into our second choice school. Our catchment school was our third choice but I really wanted our first choice.

Our first choice is our nearest school.

I've put them down on the waiting list but am thinking of appealing but I'm not sure I have any grounds to. They don't come into any of the 'special' criteria so I'm only looking at distance I think? I've been reading threads but really don't know where to start!

I think I need to ring the council to ask about how they measure distance.
The last allocated space for last year was 680.84m and our letter says we are 710.9948m. Is there any thing else I need to ask? I need to be a bit clued up so I come across as vaguely knowing what I'm talking about!

Also, why is their catchment school ie the one they were put down for before we made our choices, the 3rd furthest from our home? There's 3 in the local area.

Any help gratefully received!

They should tell you the last distance offered for this year. Distances change every year.

Oh ok. So that distance could be further than us but there might be other criteria involved?

Thanks for your answer.

Many thanks for your reply tiggy.

I've had a look at the criteria and we're in the 'everyone else' catergory. so I'll speak to them tomorrow and check the distance. Is there any point in asking what method they use to check distances and double check or are they reliable?

Also could you answer my other point if you can, why was our chosen school (the one we were allocated before we applied iyswim) the furthest away? Why isn't our nearest school our allocated school automatically?

Other people may have put that school ahead of you and there were no places to give you. You get what is left after others have their places.

Also, why is their catchment school ie the one they were put down for before we made our choices, the 3rd furthest from our home? There's 3 in the local area.

Well, neither schools nor houses are evenly spread out so some schools will have a lot more houses near them than others, also you can't make a catchment area all the houses within a certain radius because some houses would end up in no catchment area.

We're in the same situation in that our catchment school is the furthest away of the 3 local schools. It's to do with which roads are allocated to each school based on housing density, demographics etc. 5 yrs ago our street was in a different catchment but it was changed because our estate has a largely older population with less children so we were moved to the further school which had falling numbers because of a lack of families in its catchment area. The other school is highly oversubscribed due to new build estates on the opposite side of it.

Yep I'm sure it's been measured as the crow flies.

The question I'm trying to (badly!) ask is..

Some months back, we got a letter stating the dds had a place at school A and in due course we could apply for schools stating our preference. School A became our 3rd choice and it's also furthest away. We've subsequently got a place at school B, and we want school C - the nearest. So I'm wondering why our chosen school (previous to putting our application in) is the one furthest away from us. Your third point re catchment areas explains it tiggy - our catchment school isn't our closest school. Phew - sorry about that waffle.

So tomorrow I will ring and ask what the furthest distance is in our category, and where we are on the waiting list. And keep my fingers crossed.

Anything else?

And thanks very much.

Right, that clears it all up perfectly tiggy, thank you.

It's possible that this school is also an official catchment school for some people so they all got priority over you too even if they live further away.

I can still ring to check the distance of the child furthest away in our category though. Even though there may be children who live further away but the school is their catchment, they are in a different category.

thanks hicupgirl, it makes sense now I think about it!

Thanks tiggy, I'll check distances tomorrow but fingers crossed for waiting lists I think.

So. I spoke to admissions this morning and they said they wouldn't be able to give me the information I need for a couple of weeks. Grrr.

An update....

My DTs have been number 1 and 2 on the waiting list and today we got a call to say they've got in to our first choice. We are delighted

Quite difficult emotionally as we had accepted they were going to be going to the other school, done some settling in sessions, remembered teachers name etc.

We're going to meet their new teacher tomorrow, she sounds lovely on the phone.

I hope it's going well for others in the same position and thank you to those that advised back in April.

Zuzu wow that's fabulous news, I bet you're thrilled

I've just come back from my appeal and I don't think I put my case across very well, I felt so nervous and tongue tied. The panel were lovely, very friendly and did their utmost to put me at ease but there were so many things I forgot to say that I'm mulling over now. So I'm not going to hold my breath !!!, I'm expecting the rejection letter next week. I just felt so anxious.

Thank you, I'm delighted and now we've been for some settling in sessions I realise it was such the right choice.

I'm sorry to hear your appeal update, i can imagine your nerves! I really hope you get the outcome you want. Can you stay on the waiting list and see if a place comes up later if you're not successful with the appeal?