Any advice on appeal for my granddaughter please?

[Grandmagillybob]

I am a new member so please be gentle with me .

I have joined on the advice of some of my lovely virtual friends over at Gransnet with the hope of getting some good advice from anyone who can help please. Basically my son and daughter in law and their 3 children moved home over a year ago. The reasons for the move were a nicer area, a bigger house and easier for me and other grandma to provide ongoing childcare etc. We tried and failed appeals to get the children into the local primaries meaning that the children face very long commutes to school via public transport and are often late. Additionally the knock on effect of failure to get into a feeder is that eldest granddaughter (now 11) has been refused a place in the secondary school she can almost see from her bedroom window. I am told that the main reason for the failure to get a place is that the secondary has filled up with sibling link children and those from the feeder primaries (one of which is so far away from the fed secondary that they bus the children in every day)leaving no places for any other children ,even those like my granddaughter who live very close by. The LEA have subsequently offered her a place at a (particularly bad) school that is miles away from home. Granddaughter is distraught and has convinced herself that the schools beside where she lives don't want her. She has said that she "can't see the point in continuing to work hard at school" and "hates her life" All of these things worry me so much but having been through the appeals process (primaries) I wonder how realistic the hope of winning a secondary school appeal would be? Can the LEA really expect a (small for age) 11 year old girl to travel a long distance alone, using 2 buses and a long, lonely wait in between Any advice would be gratefully received. Thank you.

You need to look at the criteria that the school uses for accepting children. I'm afraid the only real grounds for appeal will be if the council has made a mistake.

I'm surprised if children with no siblings, but who went to feeder schools rank higher than children who live closer, but someone who knows more may be along to correct me that this is a thing.

However, it is well worth getting on the waiting list as places may come up, especially if she lives very close.

And perhaps look and see if there is a local parents support group on Facebook. I would not be surprised off your DGD was not the only child in this situation, and it might help to talk to other parents.

It's horrible. Good luck

And yes, the LEA won't give a toss about the travel. Which sucks. As far as they are concerned, they have provided a school for the child. Job done.

Please reassure your grand daughter though that this is just the start of the process, and that all the family will give this their best shot.

I admit to being very frustrated with the process of school appeals and waiting lists and always assumed that living so close to the school would put her in an advantage compared to children from miles away. How wrong can one woman be?

Parents have just received a letter warning them they could be fined and taken to court by the LEA if the children continue to be late for their primary school and I am fuming. They are little children 7,9 and 11 who face a very long journey using 2 buses everyday. What can we do? The buses are late the children are late. The buses are on time, the children are on time. Its really that simple. Now by offering my eldest granddaughter a secondary school miles away the LEA are almost passing sentence to the parents as there is no way on this earth they could guarantee getting to school on time.

Thank you everyone who has responded to my plea. I very much appreciate it and apologies for my first ever post being in the wrong place .
Not a good start.