no secondary school

[tamtam2]

hi , im starting to get really worried now,about what to do if we dont win the appeal for dd first choice of school that her brother and sister already go to (no sibling policy) ,they offered her a school that wasnt even one of our choices ,i wrote a big fat No acrosse the form as i will not be sending her there ,she is 2nd on the waiting list ( in her band there are 9 bands ) i dont have her on any other waiting lists because i so want her to go to the same school as her siblings ,i know that i have a Very slim chance of winning the appeal ,any advice on what i should do now please would help ,many thanks

I was in a similar position last year. 17 siblings did not get a place at DD1's school, and DD2 was one of them. We won our appeal, but not all of the siblings did. I think we were 120th on the waiting list, so there was no hope there at all

I'm sure you'll get some good advice on here from appeals experts, but all I would say is that it sounds as if it would be worth ringing the LA to find out where there are places, and getting DD on any waiting lists for schools that would be acceptable to you. Where are others from her primary going?

If you need help with your appeal, do post questions on here, because there are some real experts and very helpful people.

Sorry, I meant to add that accepting a place does not hinder your appeal in any way, so don't hold off in the hope that not having a place will make the panel more likely to support you. I don't think they can take this into account.

You can carry on with the appeal even though you are on waiting lists for other schools. And the fact that you're on another waiting list won't decrease your chances in the appeal - they won't take any account of the fact that you have nothing else as backup - that's (crudely) your problem not theirs!

You can find out what schools have places, from the LEA, and get her a place at one of those, and/or you can put her on as many waiting lists as you want.

If you don't do either of those, you can start planning how you are going to provide her with an education yourself come the autumn, as you have to make sure she is getting a suitable education, so start looking into Home Education!

What grounds do you think you have for an appeal? There is lots of support available from some very kind experts on here, but I would agree that refusing your place at the allocated school will do nothing at all to help your case.

It sounds like you may have a good chance from the waiting list though.

I would definitely take up the advice of janeyjampot. You need to find a plan B and that is to establish from the LA which schools have places and accept one of them. Secondly I would ask to go on waiting lists for some other schools that you would accept and even put in appeals for these schools.

hello i know that refusing the allocated school wont help my appeal in any way ,my grounds for appeal without going into to much detail are ,that dd has had a lot of upset over the last couple of months with her father leaving us and some behaviour issues at home , not school ,that have been resolved with outside help, i feel going to a different school to her siblings will only add to her distress ,she already feels she is not good enough to go there as ds and dd2 are very academic ,and she has learning difficultlys.and struggles at school .why should she be made to feel different x thats prob not enough of a reason but its all i have ,im praying she gets in from the waiting list x