Sorry this is long but I wanted help with a future junior school appeal.
We currently live overseas but hope to return to UK for summer term 2016. My children are in year 5 and 3 and want to go back to the local school which they attended before we moved abroad 2 years ago. This is oversubscribed and I don’t expect there will be places, but it’s our local school and we will appeal to get in. So I was wondering what people thought of these reasons for this appeal and what evidence (if any) I should go about collecting now to bring back to strengthen our case? Will letters from current teachers emphasising these points help?
General points for both children
Will help them to settle back into community and quickly feel at home and confident going to school. School is a 10 minute walk, they have many friends who have kept in touch.
School provides French lessons to all Junior school children which is a language they have studied abroad (some other schools teach alternative languages)
School is non-denominational (some local schools are religious) which accords with family beliefs.
Year 5 Son
Will be just 1 year before he sits keystage 2 SAT’s. Has been in different school system, and is also a bit behind at school. Is it useful to get a letter from his teacher or the special needs teacher who helps him occasionally, saying going into a school he knows will help his learning, allowing him to focus on exams and academic work .
Very into sport – school has won award for sport at school and there are lots of extra-curricular clubs. Letter from football or cricket coach useful?
Year 3 daughter
School can cope with extra child in class – throughout her 1 ½ years at school (in the infant school) she was in class of 31. In year 1 no extra teacher was provided to help with this.
Can have trouble settling and building friendship groups and challenge of moving countries will be helped if she is with friends she knows and has kept up with. Letter from her current teacher reflecting this concern?
Into dance and drama there are dance and drama extracurricular clubs at the school. Also in choir at current school, school we appeal for has an active choir.