Is it worth an appeal?

[Boohaven]

Hello all I'm new here and been directed this way from another site for help .
I've had the letter today that my son has not gotten a place at the secondary school that we have his older sister in .
I'll give you some background .
Dd is 13 and goes to a catholic school ( is none catholic as of yet we need to do a 12 week intro )
Ds is also waiting to do the 12 week Intro .
We had co serves over ds behaviour some years ago and after being referred to hospital for a specialist it was decided he had ADHD , at the time they suggested meds but with a house move and school change I asked if we could settle him and I'll have a chat to the new school about this .
After moving and changes at home and support from the school he has become much more settled so we decided that the best option was to carry on like this .
Now the fact his sister is at one school and him at another will cause a lot of unsettled behaviour and competition . I can only see this as a bad thing and no good can come from it .
I stupidley thought he would be given a place with his sister on the grounds they are siblings :(
I've no idea what I can do and am quite upset I don't even have the heart to tell them .any advice welcome .
Just to add I also have 17 month old twins that have not slept at all and are quite boisterous it's the reason we have not yet got to do the 12 week course and another reason he's not got an automatic place .

Ok, but you'll come below all those categories for Catholic children. Does the letter give figure for non Catholic siblings in catchment, or did were any admitted at all?

They usually are, LIZS

There are 4 children in the siblings not in catchment , and 6 in distance and 5 waiting list catchment And 31 in no siblings and out of catchment

But no mention how many of these are rc and none rc .

Check the original admissions criteria, the info you have been sent should correspond.

I've just found out that none rc children are down the list so he's 15th in line for a place .
It's not a mistake on there part so I need to now prove to them that he will be better at that school than the other ,
I'll see if there is any way I can have a meeting at both schools to descuss the situation , I'll need to visit the school he's been given to make sure if he needs to go there that I'm happy with the school if not I'm not sure what I'll do

Would like to say a huge thank you for all your help . I think I would still be say crying in a mess if it was not for you lot xxxx

Maybe he'll get a place on social needs grounds. Good luck

Boohaven,
You are making the right decision to look at the other school carefully but you should as a first priority accept the school offered. If you do not do that you have no school place and the LA have done what legally they have to do.
Being 15th o the waiting list is not the end of the world as there is quite often substantial movement after the initial allocation. There are a significant number of private secondary schools in the Manchester area and many parents will have applied for a place at a state school as a safety net, so you could find that a good number of pupils do not take up their offer of a place.

You should also decide exactly what you are going to do. I would appeal for a place in the school. As a catholic school the school will be responsible for arranging an appeal. Normally faith schools subcontract the appeal to the LA, as they are better set up to handle the situation.
When it comes to the appeal, the best cause of action is to make a case based on firstly having an older sibling in the school, secondly the issues that your DS will face given his issues and thirdly that the intention is that your son will become a practicing catholic.
OK in theory the latter will have zero weight in terms of admission appeals but actually until you raise it, you will never know. I would also look seriously at the possibility of making sure that both children are doing the 12 week course ASAP and certainly by the time the appeal comes about.

Thank you :)
I'm going tomorrow to arrange the course for them.
I've told ds and dd and both are quite upset , more my dd bless her .
I wasn't aware the school will arrange the appeal
Also it's nice to know that 15th is not the end of the world .
I'm hoping they can start the course quite soon I've spoken to my boss today as I work evenings and I've been given the go ahead to start later to fit in with the classes .