Help re appeal

[PrincessWellington]

Dsd has been declined place in school of choice. School is catholic and dsd is priority 7. She wants to go here because it is the closest school to us and most of her peer group are going there. What grounds of appeal could be used? Also if the appeal does not work, can dsd change from the catchment school to the high school near this school even though it isn't the catchment school? The catchment school is further away!

Oh and this is in wales. Thanks

I would accept the place offered as the backstop position. You can then ask the admission authority whether there is a place at the high school ( not the catchment school). If they have places available then this should not be an issue to then move your place to the other school. However you may wish to just check what the situation is regarding transport to the school. If it is not the catchment school the LA may not offer free or subsidised transport.
If the high school is full then you have the option of also appealing for a place at this school as well as the catholic school. The problem really is having a sensible set of reasons for such a move and from your post it seems that it is so your daughter can meet her pals from the catholic school. That is not going to win you an appeal. Is it actually any reason to consider the school in the first place?
With regard to the catholic school, without seeing the whole of the admission criteria it is not apparent what priority 7 is, though I suspect it could well be a distance criteria. Is it possible to say what the admission criteria is or suggest what school we are talking about. PM me if you want.
Normally with a catholic school appeals they tend to be around the wish for an education that is catholic based as you believe as parents that it will be good for your daughter. By all means include this but so will everybody else appealing, so what you need to do is establish some aspects of the school that are different, that are not available at the catchment school. Normally this is things like after school clubs, maybe dance or sport facilities. You would also include the shorter distance to the catholic school but this is not going to be considered a key issue.

Not as familiar with Wales as I am with England but you can win an appeal either by showing that a mistake has been made and your daughter should have been admitted (for example, they have put her in the wrong category or measured the home to school distance incorrectly) or by showing that the problems your daughter will face through not being admitted outweigh the problems the school will face if they have to cope with an additional pupil. You should look at things like facilities the preferred school has which are missing from the allocated school and which would be of particular benefit to your step-daughter. Similarly after school clubs that would benefit your daughter.

Whether your daughter can change to the high school near your preferred school depends on whether they have places available.

The reason I want her to stay with her friends is because her mother left her and now she is losing her peer group too. It's just unsettling. Have spoken to lea about non catholic school and she can go there. Will put an appeal letter in anyway, worth a shot.

Admission criteria is priority to Catholics, children in care, children with siblings eyc. Then non religious people dependant on distance to the school. HTH

This is what I would have expected for an admission criteria for a catholic school, so presumably you lost out on distance. I would make sure you are on the waiting list for the catholic school because there could well be some movement anyway and then appeal.
I would also push the situation with her mother quite hard and the need for her to have a peer group of friends in the same school, as there may be considerable sympathy for her situation from the right panel.

Yes admission, it's the distance criteria although all the other schools are closer to the people who did get in than us and they are the closest school to us. It's frustrating but it's not the end of the world. She is on the waiting list already and we have accepted a back up place do she will have somewhere. Plus, the catholic school has the best reputation and discipline whereas the others are horrendously slated. Thanks for your help!