Does anyone know when you actually appeal a place in Kent?

[IHeardMummyDissingParcelforce]

And also, where you need to be living at the time?

We've applied for a grammar, and will need to appeal on grounds of probable dyslexia and also it's currently our nearest school in terms of location.

We are moving to another town nearby, soon, but can choose when - basically, in 6 months or in 12 months.

I'm concerned that we may lose the place if we have already moved when the appeal takes place.

Bear with me on this - the entire school which we're appealing for the place at, is also moving to the other town but not for 2-3 years. So ds will likely be about 13/14 when it moves there - great, but for now, we need to think about the appeal. Also, we didn't know we would need to move until about a month ago so have not applied for any schools in the other town...should this be something we pursue now as well? And if so how?

Going a bit bonkers trying to work it out!

Thankyou.

You can't appeal until you've applied and been rejected. You should get details of how to appeal in March.

Thanks - just been looking on the county council website but it's got very little about appeals.

It gives a date by which you submit the appeal - April 2014 - but I don't know a) when they decide the appeals, and b) whether we will need to be living here when he starts y7, or if we only need to be here until the appeal is decided.

iyswim?

Thanks so much Tiggy. That answers nearly all of my questions so far and some I didn't know I had

So if it isn't so dependant on distance then we needn't worry?

I spoke to one of ds's teachers on Thursday and she said that children in the other town are not getting into grammars in this town, even if they pass the test, because of distance.

So I was concerned about that. Ds didn't pass.

and there are no grammars there atm, or any nearer to there than this one is iyswim.

I see Tiggy - that makes a lot of sense.

The fact is he's being assessed for dyslexia at the moment and had scores on the 95th and 97th centile in the WRIT NVR test the other week - which doesn't correlate with his SAT and CAT scores at all - the thinking is, that he is massively underperforming.

We will have a full assessment in the new year and a complete profile to use in our appeal. The assessor thinks he should be at the grammar...if she didn't then I'd not put him through it.

Distance wise, well, he struggles a lot with logistics and cannot tell the time. I left him at the school fair the other night and told him I'd get him between 4.30 and 5.

He panicked at 4pm and went to sit by the office convinced it was 5.15 and I had arrived and missed him. I had some confused and sceptical phone calls from the office staff...he'd told them I was meant to be there at 4.

His chances going to school on a bus are not good. I will have to drive him in if we move, until the school follows us there in a few years... I don't mind that. But I was going to use distance I suppose as something that matters.

I'm confusing myself now.

I mean, it seems daft to appeal on distance grounds (partly) if we're moving away anyway.

So perhaps I shouldn't use it. I don't want to play the system or try to fool anyone. I want to be honest - but I suppose I wondered if there was a box they have to tick, that says, this child resides within a mile of the school, or something, and if so whether we should stay here an extra few months to get past that hurdle.

From what you're saying though it will not be important in that respect, so we will go for 6 months I think.

thankyou very, very much - it is so hard to get this information.

Oh fwiw I have other grounds too - he has had a hard time the last few years as I was pregnant and very ill. He has had some caring responsibilities at home, I suppose you could call it, ie looking after his younger brother, and then helping with the baby. I do think this has had a big impact on his academic performance.

Not sure if that is acceptable to state as part of the picture, I don't want to tell some sort of sob story but it's true that he's had a very stressful time of it. He wasn't far off a pass - about 21 points overall, he would have flown through on his VR but the NVR and maths were both about 15 points lower.

Thanks Tiggy. Yes, I can see that we will have to present a strong case, as there will be plenty of children who did better, and perhaps have better grounds for appeal anyway - in which case, fair play to them.

Our plan B is the religious school - but we're not religious, it's just near our present home - and if we move, plan b will become the local high school there, which is one of the ones we have not applied to yet.

It's meant to be decent though so that's Ok - for now I'll wait for his assessment report and we'll try for the grammar, and if we don't get in, then we shan't despair.

Thankyou again for such brilliant help. Really appreciate it.