Secondary school appeal for twins - individual appeals or joint?

[sandyballs]

My girls didn't get their first choice and I plan to appeal. They were obviously treated as individuals in the application process and we have received separate letters announcing the outcome.

I've just been thinking of the appeal process and wondered if I would have to do it twice or would they cover both girls in one appeal?

Individual, I would have thought!

Bugger, so I have to go through the whole thing twice, basically just repeating myself!

Can't you just cut and paste as necessary?

Oh yes the actual form and evidence won't be a problem, I just don't see the point in sitting in front of an appeal panel on two separate occasions, probaby taking time off from work to do so, and basically repeating myself. Seems a waste of time.

I would be very surprised if you have to turn up twice. They are technically separate appeals and it is possible one appeal will succeed and the other will fail, but they should be heard by the same panel (and the same panel should be used for all other appeals for this school). I would expect both your appeals to be scheduled one after the other on the same day.

And, if you are using the same case for both appeals, a sensible chair will not make you present it twice.

When my sister appealed for her b/g twins she didn't have to present the case twice, even though some bits of her cases were specific to each twin.

THanks for replies, it would be seem odd to turn up twice or even repeat in succession, just hope we get a sensible chair then! I was worrying that I might fluff the first one due to nerves and the unknown but present the second case better and that would win, but I suppose in reality that wouldn't matter because her sister would then become a sibling and be given top priorot

Do turn up if at all possible, although it shouldn't theoretically make any difference, it does, if only because you can answer questions.

As prh47bridge says.

As a panel chair these days (I've been promoted) I would expect the appeals to be heard back to back and I wouldn't object to merging them - ie each side presenting both cases consecutively - but it should still be clear that they are two appeals, because they should be focusing on the prejudice to each child of not attending the preferred school and there may well be factors that apply to one child and not the other.

As a panel chair I would always in this situation ask the parents whether the appeal is the same for both twins. Whilst they need to understand that they are separate cases and will be considered as separate cases when making decisions, it is pointless waste of time and less stressful if the case is exactly the same for both twins.
However I would guess that in about 75% of similar cases that I have done the parents have said that the cases are different and then there is a need to be seen to run them separately but back to back.