Secondary school appeals help

[Cocosunshine]

Hi all

We are in the horrible position of having to appeal for our son's secondary school place. I would love some advice.

Situation is:

• My son was diagnosed with leukaemia aged 7
  
• Treatment ended in Sept 2018 (it lasts 3.5 years)
  
• He won't be considered "cured" for 5 years
  
• He has ongoing appointments and close monitoring
  
• There are long and late term psychological and physical impacts of treatment
  

Our application was to our closest school, but the catchment is tiny so we are not close enough (1 Mike vs 0.3 miles). It has medical/social needs as a criterion, so we applied under that. Application basis was:

1. Closest school to our house. Enables us to manage appointments, maintain attendance, deal with issues (esp if he relapses). Easiest journey, important as fatigue is a long term side effect of leukaemia treatment. Important socially as he feels safe there, will have friends nearby
   

1. Social: as our local school, he has friends there. Important as he has emotional, self esteem and friendship issues following treatment
   

1. The school has a "unique ethos" (their words) of pastoral care and support, which he needs after the trauma he has been through.
   

This was supported by letters from:

• Oncologist at GOSH
  
• Oncologist at our local hospital
  
• Social worker at CLIC Sargent
  
• Family support officer at local children's hospice
  
• Letter from current head teacher
  

So:
Does this sound like a decent case or are we kidding ourselves?
How do we approach appeal - do we need to get new, additional evidence?
Can we find out in advance why our arguments weren't accepted under the med/social criterion?
What is the best strategy to formulate a strong case - pick one thing, argue them all? What is most likely to sway them?

Son is distraught and I am devastated. After everything he has been through, I want him to be safe and happy in his secondary school. Feels like a massive kick in the teeth :-(

Thanks for any help you can give us.

[AlunWynsKnee]

Lizzy we applied on medical grounds unsuccessfully (not this year) and went to appeal. The paperwork didn't mention it at all. We used the same medical letters that were submitted originally. As well as more evidence. We won.

[Lizzylou1978]

@alunwyndsknee that is encouraging to hear thank you. May I ask what your medical grounds were? Just struggling to find any examples of the sort of medical school grounds which end up successful! We have our appeal on Thursday. Be glad just to get it out the way one way or the other now.

Regards

[AlunWynsKnee]

We were appealing based on autism and associated things including anxiety and dyspraxia, so it included amongst other things:
Journey to school
School layout and buildings were more acccessible
SEN clubs and provision
Subject choice at GCSE that didn't include subjects that already presented significant issues.
Pastoral provision
Uniform issues

The accessibility issue was given as the reason for granting the appeal but I think it was a combination of all of it. Good luck with yours (and to coco too) - I remember how nerve jangling it was and I cried when we got the verdict.

[Cocosunshine]

Thanks very much @AlunWynsKnee - I'm very pleased your appeal was successful, and it's encouraging to hear that this can happen. It was kind of you to share your experience. Moral support is incredibly welcome at the moment

@Lizzylou1978 I'm sorry you are in this position too, it is really awful. Our first stage hearing is tomorrow and second stage is on Thursday so no insight to share yet but I can report back if it would be helpful? Hope it goes well for you - good luck.

[pasanda]

Just read your thread coco.

The very best of luck tomorrow. Let us know how you get on 🤞

[AlunWynsKnee]

@Cocosunshine I hope that faced with the parent of a child who has been through so much that a panel will feel it's appropriate to make life easier for him. The LA panel have words on a form. The appeal panel are experienced independent people who will ask questions and consider this in more depth. Be professional and prepared but they aren't expecting a lawyer level presentation. They are actually quite nice people to do the role.

[maxybrown]

Good luck everyone, we have ours tomorrow too. My son has autism too and has really struggled emotionally and mentally with school. I'm so incredibly nervous. I feel happy with what we have submitted and gp wrote a brilliant letter for the appeal. Just hope I don't fall apart tomorrow!

[Cocosunshine]

Thank you @AlunWynsKnee - I hope that they listen and believe us. This is reassuring to read. Our initial application was rejected by the school head teacher and governors (it's an academy). The LA was really shocked. In fact the LA had told us on three occasions that we'd get in under med/soc - lesson learnt there! The system is so complicated. Anyway, having the school there to listen to all our problems after they rejected it all last time without even an explanation feels pretty daunting.

@maxybrown - wishing you the best of luck.It's a horrible thing to go through (so far!). I hope you succeed.

[maxybrown]

Thank you @Cocosunshine, same to you too! We have the group/schools side first then our own later in the morning. DH is a teacher but also on the spectrum himself and it's hard to know how he's going to come across he can often be good in formal situations but he doesn't get the importance (strangely) in the way I do. Maybe I'm not explaining that correctly but I am partly nervous about how he presents as well. Although he's a very good teacher so hopefully he will be fine on the day. Sorry have a million things whizzing round my head and it's probably all rubbish!

[springgreensunshine]

Good luck coco
I think people very much underestimate the ongoing effects of cancer treatment on young kids. It's brutal on their wee bodies.

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

Good luck! I have been admissions lead for a secondary school and have represented the school's position at appeals hearings, holding the line on the (oversubscribed) school's PAN (the number of pupils admitted to any year group).

On the bald face of it, the medical element would place your son high on the waiting list in an over-subscribed school. Having said that, my response had I been dealing with your son's case, would have been to admit him and go over PAN. The case merits it, I would say, and it would be easy to defend the decision as not setting a difficult precedent for the school.

It is an area where schools have discretion, particularly academies, and they can admit over PAN on a case-by-case basis (or can admit a certain number over PAN to allow for pupils leaving so that they have an over-full year group in Year 7, knowing it will whittle down naturally over time).

Hope it goes well for you.

[Cocosunshine]

Thanks all for the moral support.

@springgreensunshine- yes, that is true. People who haven't been there don't understand, and why would they really, it's a whole other world.

@ElizabethinherGermanGarden - that's really interesting, thank you. The school is entirely unsympathetic unfortunately. Their argument is that other schools could meet his needs. I feel we made it clear why that is not the case, but they have just dismissed this and don't seem to have to justify their opinion. I'm not optimistic.

We had the first stage today - it was awful! It started 30 mins late as the clerk was late, the chair kept pulling parents up on their wording and undermining their questions which made it really hard to formulate questions clearly or have the confidence to ask them at all, and then he closed the session even though we still had questions to ask (and told him so). It felt very hostile and biased towards the school.

I am absolutely dreading stage 2 tomorrow. This is an awful process for anyone to go through.

@maxybrown, I hope you have a more positive experience with a more considerate chair and that your appeal is successful.

[TabbyStar]

That sounds terrible. I did an appeal for my DD and I just went to pieces in stage two (we won it though). Our two stages were on the same day, it's tough having to do it twice (though actually maybe I would have pulled myself together but day two!)

Good luck!

[maxybrown]

Oh Coco that's just awful.

I hope nobody experiences anything like that, there's really no need is there? Thinking of you for tomorrow too.

[prh47bridge]

If you weren't allowed to ask all your questions and this is not remedied in stage 2 that will give any parents whose appeal is rejected grounds to refer the matter to the EFA or LGO (can't remember what type of school this is) and ask for a fresh hearing with a different appeal panel. The chair's behaviour also may give grounds for complaint. This is not acceptable.

[eddiemairswife]

I chair and sit on appeals panels. I'm so shocked when parents come on here and say how dismissive and hostile some chairs can be. It is up to the chair to put parents at their ease, make sure things proceed smoothly and make sure that the parents have had the opportunity to say everything they need to.

[ElizabethinherGermanGarden]

I'm sorry to hear that, Coco. Are you sure you want him to go there? They sound like dickheads!

[prh47bridge]

The appeal panel is independent from the school. Even if the appeal panel are dickheads it doesn't mean the school are.

[Cocosunshine]

Thank you very much everyone, your support really helps. The dickheads comments cheered me up. I never expected to hear that word from you @prh47bridge, it made me smile

@maxybrown - how did you get on? I hope your hearings were more positive and encouraging than ours.

[admission]

You should have been told who is on the panel. I would just take the precaution of going on facebook and google and putting in the name and the school and see if anything comes up. If the school are really as arrogant as they seem, then maybe the panel members are not quite as independent as they should be.
At the appeal tomorrow, as part of your presentation I would start by asking the school the questions you were not allowed to ask by saying that you are seeking clarity given you were not given the opportunity yesterday . If the Chair stops you asking the questions I would ask that the clerk in their notes makes specific written reference to the Chair not allowing you to ask the questions you wanted to yesterday.
Having got that our of the way you then need to present your case for admission.

[SweetMarmalade]

I’m just posting to offer my good luck for tomorrow and to also love all of the MNetters who have given Coco sound advice!

You rock!

Sorry! Just love the support given on this thread and really hope it helps towards a successful appeal.

[PanelChair]

I don't hear appeals for academies (my possibly faulty memory is that this appeal is for an academy) but there's been plenty of anecdotal evidence here over the years to suggest that some (not all) academies draw their appeal panels from a very small pool and, over time, the panels can become too close to the school and lose independence. I second the suggestion here to establish who's on the appeal panel (and how long they've served) and take any complaints to the ESFA.

[Cocosunshine]

You're right @PanelChair, it is an academy.

We were told yesterday afternoon that two panel members were being replaced as they both had to go overseas suddenly, so we had a different chair and one new panel member. So it should have been someone else.

I was told the new panel members got the paperwork at the weekend, but that is 30 appeals with supporting evidence - seems like a lot to read and process in a few days.

The new chair is also chairing the appeal for another local academy this week. It's all organised through a company that organises appeals. The chair told us he has 20 years' experience.

Thanks for the advice @admission and @PanelChair, will definitely do as you suggest.

@SweetMarmalade, I totally agree!

[AlunWynsKnee]

That's a shame coco but don't lose heart. The first session for us felt a bit like going through the motions. We all knew the school was full and there was unlikely to suddenly be another bulge class added. The individual session was very different.

[maxybrown]

@Cocosunshine we have it today so will let you know. Feel like I've an elephant sitting on my chest but feel strangely calmer. Maybe it was bridge saying dickheads that did it

I'm taking comfort in that it's actually D-day today and my husband is a history teacher just trying to remain upbeat