Appeal advice and help, please

[TheWoollybacksWife]

My DS has been allocated a local school and I'd like some help with lodging an appeal/appeals please.

The three schools on his preference form were all academies.

Schools 1 and 3 from the same academy trust and they allocate places randomly within stanines after a NVR test.

School 2 is a faith school. I have checked with the school this morning and DS's application was correctly classified as criteria 2 (of 7) and he missed out on a place on distance (over a mile). He is 12th on the waiting list. We are not in a grammar school area and I do not anticipate much movement on the waiting list.

Schools 1 and 3 and his allocated school are in the town we live in. School 2 is in a neighbouring town - we are on the brink of exchanging contracts on our new house to move to the outskirts of this town. There are two other schools in this town. Neither of them have any places according to the LA allocations data. It will be a twenty minute drive (8 miles) from our new home to the allocated school. The LA assumes that you accept your place unless you actively reject it. I have no intention of rejecting it but I don't want to let this go without a fight.

What do I need to do? Is the change of address a red herring for now?

He will potentially move up the wait list on distance when you move.
So move then tell them to check his wsit list position

I mentioned this when I phoned them earlier. They said that the waiting list remains the same until after the appeals are heard and then any children who want to go on the waiting list can do so and they will take any changes to information into account at this point.

So do they have to take the new address into account sooner rather than later? Interesting. We are due to exchange this week.

If they need gas bills etc it will be after you complete

That is incredibly useful. Thank you tiggy and cestlavie for taking the time to answer my questions. I am a bit stressed about this and it is a great comfort to know that there are people like you who are happy to share your expertise.

I would agree with Tiggytape about the waiting list. That is a dynamic set of information and any change such as a change of address having been notified to the admission authority has to be immediately taken into consideration in the waiting list. Regretably there are still schools and staff who get this wrong and I can't remember a year when I have not sat on appeals where the school have made a mess of changes to the waiting list order.
I would put in writing your request to know when you can change the address due to house move - exchange or completion and get an answer in writing. Then when you move again confirm in writing the new address and that you now want to be places on the waiting list using the new address with immediate effect. If you do go to appeal, one of the questions you do need to ask is the date your place on the waiting list changed - it should be within a week of the request and then when have there been subsequent movements off the waiting list because if they have not moved you on the waiting list, then one of the places offered could have been your if they had altered the waiting list immediately.

Just wanted to ask advice. DD didn't get her 1st choice school today, which we half expected. However we were shocked to find out that at least 3 children who live further away from the school have got in. They have none of the higher priorities - looked after, SEN, siblings etc, so I can't understand why that might be. Do I leave that until the appeal or can I ring the school (it's an Academy so sets its own priorities etc)? If we didn't get in because we were too far away I would accept it, but it seems very unfair.
Ps the children who got in are within walking distance of the second choice school (which we got), so it's not even their nearest school. Help!!!

@Notsmugmum

Is it possible they are ex Looked After, now adopted and you just don't know it? (Or did you know the mums when expecting). Many adoptive parents choose to keep very quiet about their child's adoption to the wider school community.

Yes distance is one of the priorities- as far as I can tell all the children up to the distance priority are equal - hence my confusion. I have checked both straight line and shortest safe walking route and we're still closer!

No they're definitely not looked after - all dead ringers for parents and have had pregnancy conversations with them all as I was pregnant with DS when DD started school!

Thank you- should speak to the council or to the school? This is all a little overwhelming!!

Thank you so much - the laptop is out and ready!!

I now have an emailed copy of a letter from our solicitor confirming exchange of contracts. I'm going to forward it to the admissions department. What do I put in my email please?

I am usually a fully functioning adult capable of doing things for myself, honestly . I'm just so emotional about this and I don't want to put a foot wrong.

I emailed the school (VA school) with a copy of a letter from our solicitor confirming exchange of contracts and the school have acknowledged receipt. They have subsequently emailed back to say that my address as of the October application deadline remains the address on the current ranked list. A waiting list is opened after the appeals in June.

What should I do next?

I suspect that the council is operating the waiting list at this point rather than the school so I would talk to the council and see what they say.