Bearsden academy s1 placing request appeal - any experience

[WaitingListMum]

Hi, we’ve been refused a placing request for Bearsden Academy S1 (East Dunbartonshire) due to capacity and we’re now appealing.
Has anyone had experience of:
Bearsden Academy appeals / EDC appeals?Winning an appeal (or being refused but later offered a place)?How much the waiting list moved and when?
Any advice on what the panel focused on would be appreciated. Thanks.

Bearsden usually refuse placing requests. Have you looked at the stats for the last few years?

See https://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/media/sc2od2ww/placing-request-statistics-202526.pdf for last year. 100% refused for all.of S1 to S5.

The school is at capacity with children who live in catchment already so I can't imagine an appeal is going to help. My DD was at primary school with quite a few people there on placing requests who lived out of catchment and none of them got a place at Bearsden Academy. However you do hear of the occasional child joining at other points during the year, so I guess you can stay on a waiting list (though it's possible they have moved into catchment after places were allocated). I guess you can only hope that people move away or leave to go to a private school and so a place becomes available.

Do you have a specific reason why your child needs a place at Bearsden Academy, additional support needs or similar? Or do you think a mistake was made somewhere in the process?

Scotland doesn't have the same 'balance of prejudice' system as England, where they weigh up the disadvantage to school of taking another child versus the disadvantage to the child of not getting a place at that school. If the school is full, that's usually pretty much the end of the argument, unless there are exceptional circumstances.

• We have an older sibling who is currently attending Bearsden Academy S3.

I have had three children going through this school and placing requests are very difficult to get these days - have you seen just how many houses they have built in recent years?

If the school is full for S1 it is full. They will not magic up a space for your child - even if she has a sibling - if the year is full. All they can do is put you on the waiting list and you will still be behind anyone who moves into the catchment area. If you are not in East Dunbartonshire you will also be behind anyone else from the rest of the council area who already has a sibling at the school.

https://www.eastdunbarton.gov.uk/services/a-z-of-services/primary-secondary-and-early-years-education/admissions-policy-procedure/

What is your catchment area school?

Have you moved since they started then?

It's always a risk if you get one child in via a placing request that subsequent children don't get a place.

There is no real way of knowing how likely you are to get a place. Do you know what position you are on the waiting list? As stated above if you don't live in East Dunbartonshire you will potentially be quite low down the list.

Mine all went through BA and every year children who were not in catchment didn’t get in
Were you in catchment when your eldest got in
Are you in East Dunbartonshire
If not it’s probably going to be tricky
What are your actual appeal grounds
If it is just that your eldest goes there that is not really relevant
It is always a risk when you have more than one DC

is it relevant if they have moved out of catchment? EDC don’t have that as part of their criteria.

It is relevant as when you apply for a second child and have to put your address on the application if you are no longer in catchment then it doesn't matter if you lived in catchment when you applied for your first child. However the OP has not said if they did or did not live in catchment when the child now in S3 got a place.

No that’s what I mean - if she was in catchment for the first then moved out, previous addresses aren’t taken into account.

Sibling in S3 means siblings in S2 and S1 have priority over your child. As well as those higher up the priority list. If you aren’t in catchment you have no chance. Was your eldest a placing request or were you in catchment then? Has no bearing on the decision but moving out of the catchment means you knew the risk.

What is your catchment school? Why can’t they go there?

Or move into catchment?

I never quite understand these placing requests where there isn’t a specific need for it.

If the school is at capacity with kids from within the catchment I don’t see what the point of appealing is if you are outwith catchment.

Also, it can hard for kids who come from outwith catchment. The commute can be a pain and they won’t live near friends. Would their local school not be an option?

Panel are looking for why the school can’t accommodate more pupils - practical classes only allowed at 20 kids per class Scottish government law, things that are detrimental to the wellbeing of pupils currently at the school such as library space, recreational areas, toilets, free space, lunch hall. Extra teachers - not like primary where one extra teacher covers a whole class, secondary is several teachers having to cover one class and this doesn’t work. In terms of the appeal, if you go and get rejected you can keep on putting placing requests in. Every time you get a rejection you can put a request in - having a live request means if a space turns up you’ll have a chance

Agree with others that this was a fairly predictable situation. My middle child started Bearsden Academy in 2017, that year saw so many placing requests denied, nobody got in. One of the girls she had been at P7 with had such a compelling case - a parent had died in tragic circumstances, the other parent had significant disabilities, she had letters of support from teachers, head teachers, psychologists saying that consistency was key and she should be given a place. It went to appeal and it was refused. Since then the situation has been pretty much the same - if you don't live in catchment, you're not getting in.

Parents in my experience have been slow to catch onto this and every year you have parents who have chosen BA feeder primaries for their kids and got them in even if they live places like Anniesland, Carbeth, Duntocher - none of which are East Dunbartonshire. Then they are shocked and amazed that after 7 years in Mosshead/Baljaffray/Castlehill their placing request is turned down and their child is off to secondary with people they don't know.

If the school is at capacity, then they'll stand firm.

I helped a friend with a placing request for Kinross High. The child was in a feeder primary school for Kinross, but they didn't live in the catchment for that primary. Their elder child was already at Kinross. The school was at capacity. About 10 families were in the waiting area for the appeal. No one was successful.

My friends moved home and obtained a place for their child.

I do know that there is often more wriggle room further up the school. Families do move away and kids will leave at the end of S4 or S5. The year which was full to capacity for my middle child had new kids join at the start of S5 and S6. Boclair Academy (which is also a great school) is often easier to get into on a placing request but that will not solve the OP's issue of having two kids at two schools.

Unfortunately, that won't be enough to make a difference these days.