Quick secondary appeals question

[Cocosunshine]

We applied to secondary school under the exceptional medical and social needs criterion but didn't get a place unfortunately, so we're appealing.

Will the appeal panel read the initial set of evidence we submitted?

I am wondering how different the wording of the new letters of support needs to be. Do we need to ask the experts to start again, or can they work from their original letters and just clarify/emphasise the key points (which they might prefer as it will be easier for them)?

Thank you!

The school will probably include your initial evidence as part of their evidence but they may not. If they don't no-one else will give the appeal panel the initial evidence you submitted.

As for the wording of the letters, it just needs the experts to be clear that they are expressing their professional opinion and not echoing your views. Ideally they should definitively state that your child needs this particular school but, for appeal purposes, it is ok if they say that your child needs a school that has certain features that are present at the appeal school and missing at the allocated school. I think reworking the original letters will be fine.

Thanks again @prh47bridge - I didn't want to bother you again :-)

I'm always happy to be bothered!