Failed kent /gramar school appeal - no school for sept 2012 !!

[swimmer1971]

hi am desperately searching for any other parents in kent(or elsewhere) who's child has not been allocated one of their 4 preferred schools ?? My situation is that all of our 4 nearest schoold are heavily oversubscribed. We were allocated a dire school almost 6 miles away (which we had no alternative but to decline). My son sufferes from sever travel sickness so is unable to travel any great distance. My son sat the 11+ and fell short by 7 points in his maths. Listed grammars as they are our nearest local schools and my eldest son attends one of them, also the shortfall in maths was not indicitive of his normal standard, has just sat his L6 sats in maths ! Have been through the whole appeals process and FAILED , now taking it to local government ombudsman. Anybody out there with similar experience ? Please help ........

Ah, so he only pukes up at the start and end of term. I must have only known day pupils go there, I think? But I don't think Cranbrook is an affordable option for the OP?

Can he reapply as soon as there is a place in one of the grammars?

tiggytape and swimmer - Apologies if OP was read wrong - read it as 'Listed grammars as they are our nearest local schools' as in 'only listed grammar schools' (was wondering where you lived to have SO many grammar schools)

Sleep deprivation very prevelant atm in my house

Really do wish you luck - would an appeal to the highschools within walking distance be possible or is that not possible??

Cranbrook is, I thought, a STATE FUNDED boarding school. Not sure how the funding works, but is there supported funding available. It looks like a lovely school - looked at 6th form for eldest dc

Would a consultant letter re CBT therapy and medication with an appeal to nearest high school be worth a shot or already tried?

What sort of medical evidence did you use in your appeal?

Gosh, is it really? No I didn't realise that. Just knew certain g-s heads went really cranky when pupil transferred there in yr 9

Is there anyone else you know of in your shoes, Swimmer?

I think the problem probably was that the good comps in the area will only take pupils who put them down as first choice.

My friend had to agonise about this as like your older DS, in those days you had to pick the school you wanted before you got the 11+ result. She worried that her DS might fail, lose the grammar place and also lose the comp place because it was not put as first choice.

I presume you have spoken to the other two all-ability schools directly?

Schools no longer know what order you put them on in the application form. It's done purely on admissions criteria, which, once any looked after children or siblings are taken, should be proximity only, unless it is a Church school.

Oh! Live and learn . . .

So how does it work then?

What if all four schools accepted a child?

Who would decide which one they went to?

You get allocated the first one that accepts you. It's like a single trqnsferrqble vote!

Here, if your first choice accepts you you get that one.

If they can't accept you but the second choice can then you can that one.

And so on.

Where I am, the g-s places are allocated, appeals happen immediately after so, rightly, the high schools know where they stand and places awarded. But private school applicants who have the g-s down as 'insurance' and late withdraw their place, means the g-s is no longer full and has places available but no one to offer them to!

Education is free at Cranbrook, however to board there it costs £3450 per term.
www.cranbrookschool.co.uk/boarding/admissions-fees

A lot of students from my childrens prep go there for year 9 and it is a fab school.

Wishing you lots of luck swimmer for your son. I hope something is put in place for him so he also has the opportunity to look forward to moving onto his new school like all other year 6 students. Have you considered HE and then reapply to GS?

i BElive Skaegness Grammar school which is a state boarding school has places - so you pay for boarding but not for fees.

Am pushing forward with lgo! Thanks for all your advice and comments. He is number 69 !!!! At an alternative all ability & 30 at the other !!! All my problems would be solved if it was local schools for local children !!

How can a GP test for travelsickness? They have to just hear what the parent says as they're not going to go on a trip with them are they?

Having got experience of travelsickness though (me and dc), having to change buses will actually help, because there will be a break even if it's just walking off one bus and onto the other. It's surprising how quickly you recover, so if anything the two buses will be a help.

Could you say what your grounds for going to the LGO are? I know quite a lot about this subject.....

The other thing I have thought is that, as far as the grammar schools are concerned, you would have to succeed in the non-qualification part of your appeal before you could go on to the over-subscripion part. In other words, if the panel did not accept there were overwhelming reasons to explain why your son's 11+ results did not reflect his true ability then they wouldn't get as far as considering the medical evidence.

Am I also right in thinking that Dartford Grammar is a superselective? In which case you would be unlikely to win an appeal without at least a pass.

Did you appeal also to the comprehensives?

Can you also PM me where you are have experience of schools in my area. And advice if its applicable

where is your area?

I was wondering if you had looked at out of borough schools on the train lines from Dartford, eg going to the north, towards London. You can make late applications to out of Borough schools, if he does achieve a level 6 in Maths, look at those with a linked speciality/allocated places for this. Also as well at 12+ for Kent do the Bexley ones. Would private for a year be an option while you prepare him. Dartford and Wilmington are both very oversubscribed. I don't think if he just scrapped through he would have got through anyway. Did you ask for his Maths paper to be remarked in case there were errors? Did the headteacher do an appeal?