Appealing a secondary school place based on emotional needs of a child

[Yorkiegirl]

I'm working on a letter to support a friend whose son has just missed out on a place at his first choice secondary school.

I'm a member of the WAY foundation,www.wayfoundation.org.uk/ which is a support group for people widowed under the age of 50. I'm working with the chairman to produce a letter to support members who feel that their child, having lost a parent, would benefit emotionally and socially from going to their chosen school. This letter would then be included in the appeal. Obviously it would be adjusted for each child, but I'm wondering if anyone could help me with what should be included in the letter.

The child in question is devastated to have missed out on his first choice. He is the only one in his peer group not to get a place at this school. His father died when he was 8.

Any help would be much appreciated.

I am a panel member in central London so may be a bit different. Generally we would be looking for reasons why it had to be that particular school (and not the one offered) that could meet his needs. Also we would ask if it had been brought to the attention of the admissions authority and why they had rejected it. We would also expect to see documentary evidence in the form of recent doctors/psychologists reports stating why he had to go to that particular school.

Unfortunately a lot of appeals come under the category of emotional/social; last year for example we saw kids with diabetes (who wanted a local school), children who have been badly bullied, children who had parents in prison under oppressive regimes abroad or who were thought to have been abused, but it is incredibly difficult to find grounds to overturn the admissions authorities decision, especially if lots are appealing on similar grounds.

Dd's friends got in on those grounds, basically because their application was backed up by the GP and they were able to show that the school they wanted had special bereavement counselling which would be beneficial to them and which was not offered by the other schools.

I don't think "I must have the school I want because I have been bereaved" would have been enough. We included emotional reasons in our appeal, but found we had to make it very specific and explained exactly why a local school was important to dd's specific case, again backed up by evidence from a doctor who knew dd well.

I think it would be difficult to write a generic letter as you need to argue about the benefits of one specific school.

I agree with kensingtonia and cory.

A lot of appeals fail because they mention a need that the child has but don't make any connection between that need and what the school can provide. It isn't enough to say "my child has additional needs" - there needs to be evidence (usually in the form of reports from professionals) that the need will be better met at the preferred school than at the allocated one.

If I was chairing this appeal, I would naturally be sympathetic to a child who had lost his dad so young, but I would be looking for evidence of why the preferred school would be a better environment for him than the allocated school - does it have specialist bereavement counsellors? better, more extensive pastoral care than other schools? is the boy any less able to make new friends at a new school than all the other 11 year olds who will be going to a different school to their friends? and so on.

Cory is right, I think, that a template letter won't do the job because it won't be tailored enough to the child and the school.

the letter would be altered according to each child, I'm just looking for a starting point really.
The school chosen is a smaller school than the others nearby, and has a really good rep for pastoral care, including bereavement counselling for children. So would this be a good reason to win the appeal, supported by reports from the GP and current counsellor?

Yes, I understand that, but what concerns me - thinking about the model letter you are trying to devise, rather than the individual case you mention - is that the starting point seems to be (as Cory puts it) "this child must have the school they want because they have been bereaved".

Kensingtonia has already given some examples of awful things that have happened in children's lives that don't confer any priority when it comes to school admissions. Of course parents want to do the best they can for their children, but school places cannot be awarded as a sort of compensation for other difficulties in a child's life, because the admission code and the appeal code don't allow it. As I said earlier, the medical/social category in school admissions is for those instances where the difficulty in the child's life creates an additional need which one school can cater for better than another.

So, in the appeal you have in mind, your friend needs to identify the things about the preferred school that make it especially suitable for her son. It is certainly worth arguing about pastoral care, but all schools offer pastoral care, so the panel will be looking for evidence of why this school's pastoral care is better or more appropriate. Don't confine the evidence to things related to the bereavement. Is the boy particularly sporty/artistic/musical? Does the preferred school offer other opportunities that the allocated school doesn't? If (say) he has passed grade 5 clarinet and the preferred school has an orchestra and the allocated school doesn't, that would be the sort of thing to mention at appeal.

It's impossible to say whether such an appeal would win. It could do, depending on the strength of the evidence, but also depending on how strong the LEA/school's case is for not admitting.

I chair panels I would have real reservations about you producing a "standard" type letter. Firstly it potentially gives appealants the idea that they will some how have more chance of success because you are helping them, that could be quite cruel in such a sad situation. Secondly any such standard letter will very quickly become known by panel members and loose any impact. The nearest analogy I can come up with is that bullying is very commonly cited as a reason to move schools. Panels however will not take this statement at face value because they have been "burned" before, so now they require specific evidence that the bullying has gone on.
The other issue is around what you can say. Panels are instructed that any information they receive from health visitors, doctors etc has to be explicit. If it says "mrs X tells me that Y is... " then it is actually not worth the paper it is written on. It needs to say "I have examined Y and I believe that ..." I believe that anything that you will be able to write is much more likely to be in the first category than the more useful second category. The only thing that you can do is indicate in general terms what such a bereavement may give rise to.
Sorry to be so negative but you do need to consider these issues. Also without wishing to minimise the real issues that I know such deaths cause, a lot of panels would I think not be too convinced about something that happened 2 to 3 years ago - in the last 12 months yes, but not 2 to 3 years ago.

It wouldn't be standard. Plus if help was requested it would be made very clear that there is no guarantee that any appeal would be successful.
The child is still receiving counselling. His father was murdered, and he was at school with the children of the killer. Fortunately their mother realised how difficult a situation this was and moved her kids elsewhere. They are not secondary transfer age yet but live closer to the school my friend's child has been allocated.

Yorkiegirl - What Admission and I are trying to convey (I think) is that, although your foundation does fantastic work in supporting bereaved families, it's far less clear that you can add much value to the appeals process.

As Admission says, what does add value is professional opinion from health care professionals, psychologists and others. If you can refer families on to obtain that sort of professional opinion, that will be a real help to the family and the appeal panel, but a letter from the foundation saying (in effect) "the family really want the child to attend the preferred school" doesn't tell the panel anything they don't already know.

In the harrowing case you mention, something to confirm the circumstances in which the father was killed (this need not be intrusive - a press report, some of the papers from the court case etc) and confirmation from the counsellor that the boy is still being counselled would be very helpful. The LEA should be able to confirm to the panel where the offender's children are going to school. This could I think be a winnable appeal - obviously we don't know the details here but I'm aware of cases where (say) police officers and social workers have been able to get places in particular schools (on initial application or on appeal) so that their children are not at school with children of their (for want of a better word|) clients. Similar issues are at stake here.

Would someone be able to share with me with appealing letters. My daughter did not get first choice school. Have no idea where to start.

ANIKA You need to start your own thread rather than adding on to one which is 7 years old.

In that thread put some general info, in particular why you think your preferred school is better (anything other than better results/ofsted). Then you will get some help.

Yes, start your own thread, outlining why you think the allocated school is unsuitable and your reasons for preferring the other school.