Secondary school appeals

[siouxzee]

We put all 6 choices on the secondary school application. My daughter has been offered our 6th choice. I am so upset and want to appeal, can anyone tell me what social reasons are valid for an appeal. We do not have any medical reasons.

You can appeal on any grounds you want. The first thing to do is see if there is any reason to believe a mistake has been made, e.g. your daughter has been put in the wrong admission category for one of your higher choices. If there haven't been any mistakes the appeal will be about whether the prejudice to your daughter through not attending the preferred school outweighs the prejudice to the school through having to admit another pupil. You therefore need to look at what features the preferred school has that are absent at the allocated school and which would be particularly beneficial to your daughter.

Siouxzee why dont you want your DD's 6th choice?

Where we are we have a Hobson's choice of 1. That one was in and out of special measures like it was caught on the door handle. We didnt want out DCs to go there but now that they are there I do honestly think that it is the best for them.

Are you sure that the other choices are so much better?

siouxzee... went through 2 appeals for DD and failed at both. In my experience they were looking for either administrative errors (unlikely) or exceptional situations (e.g. special needs for one school, or outstanding previous SATs results for failed 11+... ). We didn't stand a chance. Don't want to sound discouraging, but unless you have some exceptional grounds, don't get your hopes up. That said, there will be people on here who have appealed successfully, so hang out for additional advice. I would also echo what GnomeDePlume (fab name) says.... you don't always know what a school is like til your child gets there. Often schools have a bad name for unsubstantiated reasons, and equally some of the "must get into" schools aren't that great in reality. Good luck x

Thanks to all for your advice and messages. The 6th choice school has a terrible reputation and has children from all areas usually the children who havent got into any of the other schools. There are police at the bus stops at the end of the day and the children from that school are so badly behaved. I have been told not to use this in an appeal and to concentrate on saying why the preferred school would be better for my daughter. I was just wondering what social reasons I could give.

Whoever told you not to use that at appeal was absolutely right. It doesn't give the panel a reason to admit your child to the preferred school.

Roughly one in three appeals for secondary schools are successful, so there is always a chance. The main thing I would recommend is looking for things that the preferred school has which would be of particular benefit to your daughter and which are not present in the allocated school. If, for example, your daughter has an aptitude for music and the preferred school has a lot of musical activities she can take part in but the allocated school has nothing, that could help your appeal. That kind of thing will generally be a much stronger case than any social reasons you can come up with.

Try to think of it from the panel's pov. They most likely know that one school is not as good as the others. They can't let all the children in town into the good school, because then it wouldn't be a good school any longer.

So apart from mistakes in application procedure, the only other way they can let one child in, is if you can prove that there is some special reason why this child deserves or needs a place more than other children. And why the prejudice to your child from not getting this school would be greater than the prejudice caused the children already accepted by cramming more children into a school that is full.

The problem with the better school argument is that the LEA won't have any reason to think that your child deserves the better school more than any other child that they won't be able to admit.

Social reasons I have known to work are:

one school offering special counselling to a bereaved child or a child about to be bereaved

an abused child needing to get away from a certain area because of the people who live there

a child who has suffered trauma needing to go to same school as friends who can support her

But there is always the special aptitude argument too. Be aware that you'll need to show some proof of the special aptitude though.

special aptitude didn't work for us, but definitely worth trying

Just to be clear, social reasons do work. However, on the basis that the OP was wondering what social reasons to give, that suggests that there are no obvious social needs that would sway an appeal panel, hence my recommendation to look for things that the school offers that would be particularly beneficial to her daughter.

You could also try looking at subject specialism for example if your child has an aptitude for Science they may not have their needs catered for at a "performing arts" or "sports" school.
I do know a family who wanted their dd to study dance at GCSE and only one local school had this option. They could prove that she was a gifted dancer (ballet exams etc.) and she was awarded a place on Appeal.

We have a parents partnership service run by our local borough council who are able to give you advice on school appeals.

I have spoken to ours and although they cannot write the appeal for you they will listen to your reasons why you prefer a certain school then advise you what to write, mine also sent me a useful document on pointers such as looking at the prospectus etc. They can also come with you to the appeal and guide you when the reasons from the school come back so you are prepared.

Has your daughter formed any strong bonds with friends that are going to the school of your choice? Pick out the strong points in the prospectus and tailor them to why you think you daughter will benefit academically or socially, what about sports facilities? Does she have any outside interests the school will support? These are all pointers to raise!

HTH

I would like to share my story. Like all of you I did not get the school I applied for. Since the news came she was crying and sad, as all her friends will be attending our first choice school, but her and 7 other schoolmate will be attending the last choice school. I spent months preparing for appeal and as the sitting came, it was hard, I know I had to get this right. The panel were very friendly and understanding. Yet we lost the appeal, it was not strong enough was the reason. I cried an tried to ring the admission team, there was words of kindness, but nothing can be done. I treid to push this beside me and prepare my child for the school, I told her how nice the school will be and that we are on the waiting list. I find nice stories from the school she will be attending and cheer her up. Secretly I cried and sent emails after emails to the admission team to get updates on her position. The first day at the other school was alright, she made some friends, but still asking about the first choice school. Finally on Friday, I received the email saying we have a place at the first choice school.
I was over the moon, all the battle on the fight, all the sorrow we had, came back. I understand the dilemma and do not wish anyone to have to go trough, what we had to. Now looking back I believe it was worth it. Months of tears but the got to where we would like to be. I felt I wasted time, it was doomed from the start, I felt useless and that I had let my daughter down, it was months of feeling I failed as a mum, but never gave up on this. Now she is in the new school, the school of our choice. I hope that every mum who sadly has to gone this path will be rewarded as well, as I know our kids is worth it,, and we will get there. I think of all you and hope our story is helping you going through these awful time.