Help with writing an appeal letter.

[Sunshine35]

Hi,
I really need some help and advice as my LAC (foster child) hasn't got into her first choice of high school. I now have to write an appeal letter and I really haven't got a clue where to start and would appreciate some advice. The school bus that would take my LAC to school is a 15min walk and the school she got into she would have to catch two buses there and back. Also it's the school she would love to attend as she enjoyed her time on the visit. I know the school is an excellent school and has high standards and expectations of the pupils and that is what I want for her seeing she has had a hard/tough beginning. She works hard at school and has jumped two levels in her reading and literacy since coming to live with me. Also she is on target to get her level four for SATs which she and I have worked so hard on.
Any information/advice would be a wonderful help at this very stressful time.

Regards
Sally-Ann

Have you heard of ace? they have an appeals pack and you can download

I don't understand this.

As far as I am aware, LAC and ex-LAC are pretty much top of the priority lists (unless a faith school and not of faith in which case they have to be top of the non-faith bit). (I am aware due to being an adopter)

Can you clarify

• was she down as LAC
• what are the admission priorities/groups
• is it a faith school

(I'm sure an admissions expert will be a long soon, but they'll probably need to know what I have asked)

TeenAndTween is asking the right questions.

If this is a faith school and you failed to meet faith criteria that would be a possible reason for missing out.

If this is a selective school and she failed to meet the selection criteria that would be another possible reason.

If you applied late it could be that you missed out because you went to the back of the queue.

If none of the above apply the only possible reason for missing out would be if all places were taken by pupils with statements of SEN or EHC plans. That is extremely unlikely so it suggests a mistake has been made.

If you can answer the questions I will be happy to give further advice.

(I also assume you are in England. If not the rules may be different, so you may need to say if you are elsewhere).

Yes I live in England and yes the school is a faith school. The staff children are first in line then SEN children after that it's children who attend church and forth it's LAC. It's a school where parents fight tooth and nail to get their children in and I am aware my LAC has never attended church but I did query this when we went to view the school. This child has had a difficult up bringing so far and has come on in leaps and bounds in the short time she has been with me. I aspire for her to attend this school and hopefully in turn go on to university if she so wishes.

To address one of the questions asked...yes I did state she was a LAC child when applying and had to photocopy the child's court order as evidence.

Does the rejection letter confirm which category was the last to be admitted, and that was in the faith criteria? That's a lot of praying going on!

I do think it is wrong that faith schools are allowed to put faith above LAC. Where is the compassion that faith is meant to have?

I don't know anything about appeals, apart from the fact you have to show why the appeal school is the best for your child, and that the benefit to them will outweigh negatives to the school. I expect someone else will be along later / tomorrow to assist.

We just received an email and letter stating she had not been chosen to attend this school in a box next to the school we had chosen. To say I'm disappointed is an understatement and totally agree faith schools should show compassion where it's deserved. Thank you all for taking the time to help with my dilemma. x

If the admission criteria are as you describe they are clearly in breach of the Admissions Code.

Children of staff can be prioritised but they cannot be placed first. LAC children must come first.

If SEN children means children with a statement of SEN or an EHC plan naming the school they should not be included in the oversubscription criteria at all. The school must admit such children even if they are already full. If it means children with SEN that don't have a statement or an EHC plan they cannot be placed ahead of LAC children.

There must be a category for LAC children of the faith which must be the highest priority for admissions.

The letter is also in breach in that they are required to set out why you didn't get a place. Simply stating that you haven't got one is not good enough.

If you would like to PM me with the name of the school and LA involved I will check it out and let you know whether or not they are in breach.

Unfortunately being in breach of the Admissions Code only helps you if your child would have got a place had the admission arrangements been correct. So the real question is whether the breach led to other applicants wrongly being given priority ahead of you. If you PM me with the details I will be happy to give you an opinion as to whether or not you have a case on those grounds.

An appeal on the grounds that the admission arrangements were incorrect is potentially a very strong appeal. However, that may not work out so you also need to prepare a case as to why your daughter will be disadvantaged if she doesn't attend this school. Look for anything this school offers that isn't available at the allocated school and which is particularly relevant to your daughter.

You can't argue that the education is better, but these are the reasons we chose ADD1's school in case it helps. Others may be able to tell you how much weight they would have in an appeal.

• tangibly better on the Pastoral side (v important for LAC)
• particular hobby or strength they support well, eg fantastic extra curricular drama
• extra need for stability and that's where friends are going
• extra good learning support department to fill in the gaps in education
• very local and need for her to have local friends to help with stability (only works if the faith children are local I suppose)
• strong careers support and emphasis on aspiration (LAC children can aspire too low so need strong 'peer pressure' to aim high)
• particularly good system for contacting teachers as it is likely you will need to do this more

A letter from SS backing up specifics would I hope be very helpful.

Looking at TeenAndTween's list, the first two points are good. The third point about need for stability is potentially good provided you have evidence specifically about your child. Evidence that LAC children generally need more stability won't carry as much weight but it is still worth including if you don't have anything specific. The learning support is good if you can identify specific gaps that they will be able to address. Still worth mentioning if there aren't any gaps but it wouldn't then be as strong. The point about local friends isn't particularly strong unless there is expert evidence to show that the child has a greater need for this than other children. I don't think the last two items are particularly strong. I would still include them but wouldn't spend too much time on them.

As TeenAndTween says, evidence from SS or other expert sources would be very helpful.

However, the big question for me is whether you might be able to argue that a mistake has been made. If you can that would be a much stronger case. But I can't offer advice on that without knowing which school we are talking about.

Given that LAC and former LAC children receive the Pupil Premium, I would have a look at how the school spends this money - this is supposed to be made public - for dds school it is on the school website under a section labelled pupil premium.
At dds school for example it is used to help "disadvantaged" children by:
extra homework support / learning mentors / 1 to 1 support if needed
extra events to help with the Y6/7 transition
financial support to enable PP children to be able to take part in school trips, have music lessons etc.
If this school offers this type of activities this could strengthen your case.

Thank you everybody for your wonderful advice and fabulous support. I have double checked the school entry criteria and as it's a faith academy school and staff children are defiantly first on their list. As my LAC child wont know any other children attending the school she wishes to attend as her friends are going to other schools. She has however asked for this to happen as her old friends remind her of her past when living her her mum. Also she plays guitar and wishes to improve on this and the school is very good for music. She also loves singing and drama and again the school has a wonderful department. She really wants a fresh start and I know this school would allow her to progress, flourish and have the opportunity to make new friends.

Sunshine do please PM prh with the name of the school and the location. She(?) will check the admission criteria for you and let you know whether they are incorrect.

You definitely also need to ask for numbers admitted against each of the criteria above you, cut off point/distance for the last criteria used, and where you are on the waiting list.

I've attached the criteria from the prospectus which states each child's chance of being offered a place. As you can see my LAC would be fourth in terms of acceptance chances and as she hasn't been accepted, do you think an appeal will be worthwhile or should I just admit defeat?

OP you have a decent potential case for appeal, I think. Wait for PRH re the criteria though.

I think you need to look at how the faith criteria is judged - is it absolutely clear or somewhat subjective - prh can advise much better, please send her the school/authority.

Absolutely appeal, you only need to show benefit for your child outweighs prejudice to school.

Also check that the only children admitted were in the categories above yours and that an obvious mistake hasn't been made. You could get this I think from LA or school probably, one of the admissions experts can tell you.

Sunshine, I am an advisory teacher for LAC- is the Virtual school/head involved? They really should be driving this forward.

LAC do not normally have to appeal for a place, but as this is a faith school and she is not of the faith, it is a little different. As prh says, the school is free to prioritise non LAC of the faith over LAC not of the faith, but they must have LAC (and former LAC)of the faith as the highest priority.

If you feel comfortable PMing me the borough which your fDD is in care to, I will help if I can

Also, is she on a section 20 or full care order?

I am concerned that you are being left to make the decisions on this when the authority should be making decisions (with your input, of course) as the corporate parent. I am not convinced that appealing is the right way forward- the Virtual head may be able to ask the school to go over numbers and admit the child. At the very least, the Virtual head should be involved.

You have left on sufficient information that I could identify the school and I have therefore looked carefully at the admission arrangements. They are a perfectly legal set of admission criteria.
However there is a chink of light in that the top criteria of looked after children of the faith does then go on to say

" In the case of children in care who will have experienced upheaval and distress, a history and pattern of church attendance is not required; the
governors require only the assurance of Church of England clergy that the child or family is a member of the Anglican community."

That to me is a very wishy washy statement and I would appeal on the basis that you believe your child as a LAC does fit that bill but that you were unable to obtain the assurance of clergy due to the short time period you have been the foster parent. As thetherend says if you also get the virtual head for LAC involved I would bet that the school will start to think that maybe she should have been considered as first admission criteria.

The other thing that struck me was that the school do say in their advice to parents for the past few years where they got to in the admission criteria order. In nearly very year on the list they got further down than LAC without faith, which makes me wonder whether a mistake has been made. Without the necessary and legally required information that PRH refers to, it is difficult to know whether a mistake has happened.

I would definitely start the appeal process on the basis of both a mistake having been made - a LAC child should be admitted - and on need and speak to the virtual head.

Please don't do anything without speaking to your child's SW and the Virtual Head- as a foster carer, you do not have PR, so you need to make sure that those who do are agreed that this school is the best place for the child. If they agree, then they should be presenting the case for appeal, if indeed an appeal is necessary. They may wish to direct the school to admit the child instead, as this is normally the method by which a school place is obtained when a place at the chosen school is not obtained via an application.

I'm broadly in agreement with Admission. I'm not 100% convinced they are allowed to admit all staff children regardless of whether or not the faith criteria ahead of LAC not of the faith but that would only be relevant if staff children not of the faith were admitted. Even then it would only help you if your daughter would have been admitted had these staff children not been given places.

That is a long shot, however. The better case is that it seems likely, in view of past performance, that they have made a mistake. The letter saying you did not have a place should have said which category your daughter was considered under. My guess is that they missed the fact that your daughter is LAC.

I agree that you should appeal on the grounds Admission sets out and speak to your child's social worker and the virtual head.

I would not advise the OP to appeal at all at as she does not have PR for the child. Instead, she should at this stage contact the Virtual Head and SW to discuss next steps.

I suspect that the Virtual Head will direct the school to admit the child if they and the SW agree that that is where she needs to be. The reasons the OP gives for the choice of school are sound, and grounds for direction IMO; although often, schools offer a place on being asked by the VH to go over numbers and admit thus avoiding direction.

Am I right in thinking that this is an academy?

Sorry prh, that sounded a bit snippy- not intended

Tethersend I agree that the best answer and hopefully the quickest answer here is to use the virtual head to direct admission in conjunction with the Social worker. But if this is a cross LA border situation then it might well get messy and take time. Better that the OP has at least started the admission appeal process.
And yes it is an academy.