Help appeal question what grounds?

[00alwaysbusymum]

We missed out on our first choice school which is a faith School. We were not considering appealing as we were 5th in the waiting list, meet the criteria, and only just out of the distance this year. We spoke to the school today and found out we have moved down the list and are now 9th.

This is our eldest and we have never had to do anything like this - I have no idea whether we can appeal and on what grounds ?

We go to church and I want him to go to this school as it has good results.

Very grateful for any help / advice thanks

It is quite common for your place on the waiting list to go up and down with movements of pupils. I would expect that the 4 new on the waiting list who are now in front of you are actually late applications.
You can appeal, that is your legal right. You need to register the appeal and then look to build a case on all the things that your preferred school does that other schools do not. Think in terms of clubs, what your son excels at (sport?) and anything that is relatively unique about the school.

Thanks admission - I guess really the most unique thing is that it's the only faith school in our city ? Is that enough ?

An appeal will need to hinge on showing that the detriment to him of not attending the school is higher than the detriment to the school of taking another pupil.

It being a faith school could be raised, but on it's own it's unlikely to win you an appeal. You would also need to show that it's important to him to go to a faith school, not just to you his parents.

You would also need to build a wider case around what the school has to offer that suits him particularly - subjects offered, specialisms, clubs, etc.