Reception appeal

[ahgreenie]

Hi everyone. So we found out last week that we only got our 4th place school which means none of my sons nursery friends will be going there. I have since found out that one person put our top school as their second choice and got in. Someone else put our 3rd choice as their 5th and got in. Do you think I have a case to appeal? And if so any tips on what to include in my appeal.
Thanks In advance

That's not how admissions work.

The eligibility for the places is assessed for all choices. People are then allocated their highest choice that they meet the criteria for.

The first person you mention probably lives closer to the school (in the absence of siblings / SEN etc). They therefore meet the admissions criteria and get a place.

I imagine you're on a waiting list. There's often a fair bit of movement so if you're close to the top you may still get a place but you should accept the place you have as thud isn't guaranteed.

It doesn't matter whether you put a school as a higher choice than someone else.
All the people who put school A as a choice whether 1st 2nd 3rd etc who'll be put in a list together and ranked according to the criteria (SEN, siblings, distance etc) same for school B and so on.
The first 30 or 60 or however many the school admits on the list get the places but say number 10 on the list for school A had put school B as 1st choice and also got a place there then they would drop of the list and number 61 would get a place.
The order of preference is ONLY to decide which school to give YOU if you get a place at more than 1 school

Ps - your DC will make new friends at their new school so don't worry about that

The order only comes into play at the end of the process So if others met the admissions criteria higher than you did, either by category or distance and their first choice couldn't offer a place they would have been offered second choice ahead of your dc , even though you placed it first. Everyone is offered their highest choice which could accommodate them, based on the published criteria. If you think that a mistake has been made, for example in the category or calculated distance, which would otherwise have given you the place you can appeal. Just feeling the system is unfair isn't grounds for a successful appeal. Waiting list is a better bet as those who placed it second would presumably take up a place at their first should it come up, releasing space.

Thabks everyone