Do I have grounds for appeal?? Please help

[Bethnella]

I am currently waiting to hear about a secondary place for my daughter but have a feeling that she won't be getting an offer from my first choice. This school had a separate application for musical aptitude.

My problem lies with the fact that it was definitely applied for but we never got called in for it. When I contacted the school about dates for the test they informed me it had already taken place. I was devastated and was told to contact the head of music. I did this via email and he responded straight away asking if I could bring my daughter in that day at 5.40pm.

When we arrived the school seemed almost closed for the day, lights had to be turned on and doors unlocked. The teacher then told me that he shouldn't really be doing this! He then informed me that they had already chosen the candidates for the musical aptitude places but that it could always be changed!

It was only when we got home that evening that it occurred to me that he had taken no details down such as date of birth, address or current school, all of which he would have needed if he was seriously going to consider offering her a place.

I understand that my daughter may well have not been suitable for a place but I feel that the school were just trying to cover their own backs for a muck up on their part and that she was dealt with unfairly and not given the same chance to prepare as everyone else.

Do you feel that this would be good enough grounds for an appeal should she not get a place at the school?

I would love any advise.

I would contact the head teacher and advise them of your disappointment. Secondary schools are like businesses, they really don't want the bad press- definitely don't get robbed of by the head of music!

I would also keep in mind that on the first day there are always 'no shows' due to moving out of area etc so express a wish to be contacted should this be the case. (As a secondary school teacher I can assure you it will be!)

*fobbed off

Thank you for the reply....Do you think it is best to wait until March 1st, when offers go out, or do so beforehand?? I would hate for the school to blacklist me for making any trouble for the teacher involved. This really is my number one school.

You can't appeal until you have been refused a place. At the moment you simply don't know what is going to happen. It is still possible that your daughter will be offered a place at this school.

I'm not sure why you think the teacher needed to know all your daughter's details. The school needs is enough information to be able to identify your daughter in the list of applications sent by the LA. The teacher conducting the tests only needs to know which candidate he is testing.

The central question if you do appeal is whether your daughter has been disadvantaged by what has happened. You can certainly argue that your daughter was given less chance to prepare than other candidates as she was asked to come in the same day - I am sure the other candidates were given more notice than that and would have been practising hard in the days before their test. You could also argue that the circumstances in which the test was held could have made it harder for your daughter to produce her best performance. Again, I'm sure the other candidates didn't find that lights had to be turned on and doors unlocked, nor would the teacher have made comments about "shouldn't really be doing this" or the places having already been decided.

The reason I am worried about how much information the school has on my child is because if, for whatever reason, they did not receive my application they wouldn't have any information on her. I had confirmation from the main application for all school choices, just not on the musical aptitude application, which I feel they may have not received or may have overlooked!

It is a relatively new school and the teacher I saw mentioned "glitches that should be overcome by next years admissions".....I took that to indicate we were not the only people not to have been called in. It's all so confusing!

The musical aptitude application was done directly through the school, not the borough!

I wouldn't expect the borough to be involved in the musical aptitude application at all.

The school will have received a list of applicants from the borough which they then have to sort into order according to their admission criteria. That list will include all the relevant information from the application form you filled in for the borough. As long as they have enough information to identify your daughter on that list that is all they need.

If the form for musical aptitude has gone missing it is only really significant if they use information on the form to evaluate your daughter's musical aptitude. If they do and your daughter's form has been mislaid it would clearly disadvantage your daughter. The problem, of course, could be proving that they have mislaid it as opposed to you not posting it or it getting lost in the post. However, if you are right and a number of children have been affected by this problem that would tend to convince an appeal panel that the school probably lost the forms.

It is, of course, possible that they have got your form and simply failed to call your daughter in for the test.

I will have to see what happens on the 1st March and take it from there....I have an email proving that another child was being seen before mine on the same day...maybe we could all appeal! There must be a log of online applications and if it is a case of them just not calling her in then maybe that would go in my favour...distance puts me in a very small % of places awarded in a lottery style! Arrrggghhhhhh

If the musical aptitude application was made online their should be a log somewhere. Of course, if their systems weren't working properly that would account for the issue but that isn't your problem. It would obviously help if the system sent you an automated email to confirm receipt of your application. You would then have proof.

Other parents affected by the problem could also appeal but they will have to do so separately, although all appeals will be heard by the same panel and they should all happen on the same day. I won't go into the full procedure just yet!

Additional parents appealing could prove to be a double edged sword. On the one hand if 20 parents have the same complaint the panel is likely to conclude that the school has messed up. On the other hand, the panel may also conclude that they can't admit all 20, in which case they have to figure out which ones to admit.

The problem the panel will have with this case is figuring out which children of those appealing (if any) would have been offered places on aptitude if the school had got it right.

Very true...As I don't know anybody else who may feel the need to appeal I am going to hope it is just me! I take from your comment that you know a little bit about the appeals procedure......I'm sure it isn't a pleasant process but one I am definately up for taking. Thanks for all of your input!

If you do have to appeal, perhaps you could look into if your audition and other candidates auditions were both carried out in the same way. It sounds like just one teacher was present for your daughter's audition. Did the other candidates have 2 people present?
Your appeal angle could then include unfairness in the audition procedure.

That's an interesting point as I read on another thread that the test was meant to be held off site at another school! I wish I knew anybody else that was called for the test!

Can you say what kind of test was carried out, it is supposed to be a test of musical aptitude not musical ability and your posts suggest much more a musical ability test than an aptitude test.
In terms of any appeal it has to be wait and see what March 1st brings. You need to establish then whether the school did actually assess your child for a place using musical aptitude and was unsuccessful or whether this is just a smoke screen to cover the school's backsides because of an error on their behalf.
The only way you are going to get somewhere near to finding out what happened is to appeal.

I am sure it was musical aptitude as there were no instruments involved, just singing back a few notes to what was played on a piano (I was sitting outside listening). I feel it should have been a bit more in depth as it was for only one of twelve places. She had a music ability test at another school and had to prepare two different songs to sing (or two pieces to play on an instrument). I do feel they were just covering their own backs, with no intention of offering a place regardless of outcome!

I've sent you a PM Bethnella - DS took the test too!

Thanks