Can people pre-empt a possible need to appeal years in advance?

[BananaHammocks]

I clicked on the 'secondary admissions' thread as it was on discussions of the day and I was curious.

I had no understanding of the appeals process but I've seen posts saying if you can show how your DC would suit your preferred school e.g. if your child has an aptitude for music/art/sport and that is the schools specialism. I was just wondering whether some people pre-empt this by enrolling their DC in lessons/clubs in the specialism of their preferred school in case they don't get in and will need to appeal?

Surely you would only do this if your child was interested in the activity? How would you cope with a school with a specialism in languages if you could not find a language tutor? Or technology? I think most children will have discovered they are good at music or sport before they leave primary school but performing arts is the usual specialism, so pupils can do drama as well. If your child dislikes the local specialism, I don't think you can force them. In my area, it is better to live in the catchment area of the school you want, rather than rely on an appeal. Also, I think the schools are dropping the specialisms so it is actually better to look at the curriculum strengths and see where your child fits in, whether it is sport, music, science etc.

Were you curious because you have a journalistic piece to file today?

As most schools fill most of their places according to distance from the school, the smarter (albeit more expensive) option is to buy a house next door and so get a place in the initial round. Specialisms come and go and (say) being good at cricket won't necessarily win an appeal for a place at a sports college if it's already full and has its own strong case not to admit more children.

Finding God is common. Churches are strangely popular with families of small children in areas of sought-after church schools.

Haha, yes finding God and moving house are probably more reliable options!

Quite chuffed at being accused of being a journalist :)

A very small number of schools do select a small percentage of places (up to 10%) based on a particular specialism e.g. Music, languages. There is usually an aptitude test for this and ironically know children with high music grades who haven't obtained sufficiently high marks and some who haven't had music lessons who have. So you can't practice for these tests in advance.

Forgive me, but on a day when the media is full of stories about school admissions - anyone listening to the Call You And Yours phone-in at the moment? - and with people joining MN to get admissions advice, I did just wonder. It wasn't an accusation. If I objected to speaking to journalists, I wouldn't have replied!