Harris Crystal Palace appeals experience anyone?

[StOlaf]

Hi, does anyone have any experience with admissions appeals to Harris Crystal Palace?

My son didn't get any of his preferred schools and ended up allocated to a religious school (we're secular) miles away that we didn't even know existed. Harris Crystal Palace, an oversubscribed academy, was his first choice. We live within the catchment area as does his father, where he spends half the week - in fact his father is about a quarter-mile from the school.

Grrr... so frustrating.

Any tips, advice etc welcome.

Thanks!

I agree with PRH, the mumbo-jumbo is simply their way of handling the start up of the school with only having year 7 pupils. As the years have moved forward they have now got / getting to the point of having pupils in each year group.
The way it was done was to limit the number of pupils that could be admitted in any year group, given that the school could actually take a lot more pupils because of the absence of other year groups. I think that this was a sensible policy as it stopped massive numbers of pupils in some of the year groups.
Don't worry about doing an essay on the reasons for the appeal, these can be put in later, just state that you believe that your child would benefit from going to Harris because ....... and then say you will expand on this later when you have other relevant information.

Great, will focus on the "soft" reasons now at the appeal-writing stage.

The school has been there for decades - it was Harris CTC and then in 2007 it became an Academy, so there actually already were in place normal years of entry and other year groups.

You may be interested to know that Kelsey Park School for Boys in Beckenham has just agreed to becoming a Harris co-ed academy from September this year. There should be spaces available as the school is usually undersubscribed. This might be an option for you?

Thanks, Magenta - I'll look into it. Seems like Harris might become as ubiquitous as Carpet Right!

Dear St Olaf,
I'm curious to know how you are getting on with your appeal for Harris CP academy. I'm a mum who also hoped her child would go there, and like you we were unsuccessful. I didn't appeal in the end, but her name did go on the waiting list (although it gets dropped off the list in August). I too thought the admissions process completely baffling and complex. The fact that it's a lottery makes it really really tricky.
I remember the madness and horror of the open evening (narrow corridors, hordes of eager parents, bad acoustics during the headteacher's speech) and testing days (so many children!too many at once). Yes it was organised, but it still seemed chaotic and you could see it was hard for the school, with the space it had, to cope with the sheer numbers.

Out of the schools I visited, it didnt score highly for me, compared to others, on good organisation / a welcoming atmosphere / good facilities/buildings etc, but I went on the OFSTED report and of course the exam results.

One of my daughter's classmates got in but has said she is not enjoying it and has experienced aggressive behaviour from some other pupils, though we don't know any other details or how the school dealt with it.
My daughter got into a school further away/harder to get to but it's a good school and was our 3rd choice.
I hope you are successful. Another thing to think about is that during the school year there are occasionally pupils who leave (I know that Harris CP permanently excluded a year ago, there may possibly be more exclusions than this but I don't know). This would presumably mean that a space then becomes available.
I don't of course know what other schools were on your list of 6, but I'd also try Kingsdale school's waiting list/appeal system. Also the other Harris in South Norwood has improved recently going by its OFSTED, and possibly the OASIS academy further away in Shirley/Woodside area.

Best of luck! :)

Hi All.
I'm very interested indeed in this thread. ACADEMY!!!!! When looking into my options regarding my school placement I recieved many HORROR stories about the Law of the ACADEMY School. There is an Academy school about 6 miles away from us. We went on a parents evening there last year. It was amazing. They had re-invented!!!!! an old school that in my opinion was one of the worst schools in the area.

However I was shocked by the amount of mouthy undisirables who attended the parents evening. I am not snobbish but the kids were f*in and GE*fin, I was PUT OFF to say the least. It seemed that most were locals who lived in the area. SORRY!!!! but it's a fact.

However!!! I was amazed at the grades they achieved last year. 94% pass rate???????? WAS THIS CORRECT???????
I was informed "NOT". Can some one clarify this!!!!
Is it true that they only put through (Sitting GCSE test) the pupils they know will get good grades and don't put through the ones who they know won't, so it doesn't show on the Schools OFFICIAL Tables??????

Also I find this Pulling kids names out a hat a bit of a farce. I heard they look at what primary schools they come from too.
My friends daughter goes to a local primary school who's pupils learning fair average. fifteen pupils applied for this academy as first choice, NONE were excepted. My daughters school is a small Village school with excellent learning and great Ofsted report. Three pupils applied and they ALL got in.

Does anyone know if this is true.

Does anyone have any information on the new Harris Beckenham proposals, and has anyone actually won a Harris appeal in the past- seems like the odds are stacked against you with schools jargon etc..