Secondary school appeal - help & advice needed please

[BrighterTimes]

Hi,
I'm new on mumsnet, but you guys seem to have some very good information and I was wondering if you could help me.
Our first choice was the school my daughter's school is a feeder school for. We didn't get this school or her second choice, instead they gave us an offer of a place at a very poor school in the opposite direct.
I'll bullet point to shorten.

• first choice feeder school has a scholars bus and it stops a street away from us.
• offered school has no transport and my daughter will have to take a train and then walk through a not great area
• the LA use an as the crow flies for measuring distance and using that the offered school is slighlty closer.
• My friends daughter put our first choice as her second choice, she doesn't go to a feeder school for this school and lives only a few streets away, however she was offered a place Surely our criteria is greater than hers. I've appealed but from reading up it sounds like I need some good evidence to present my case. Can anyone advise - Thanks x

Firstly what are the admissions criteria? Does it differentiate between those at a feeder school AND living in catchment, and those at a feeder school BUT out of catchment? Or is it straight up feeder school, then all others by distance?

Secondly, you need to check that your DD was considered under the correct criteria. I believe the letter you got should have told you this.

Thirdly, are you sure the child you know of isn’t a previously LAC or has a sibling or similar that may place her in a higher criteria?

After all that - check that you are on waiting lists for your preferred schools.

If you decide to appeal (assuming criteria were all correct) then travel issues won’t be taken into account - you need to look at things the preferred school offers (clubs, subjects etc) that others don’t that mean the prejudice to your daughter in not getting a place is greater than the prejudice of the school having to take another pupil. You appeal for the school you want, not against the one you don’t.

Your first two points are about transport. Transport issues do not win appeals unless the journey to the allocated school is unreasonable (more than 75 minutes each way) or the child has mobility issues.

Your third point appears to be suggesting that the LA should have measured the distance differently. That won't fly at all. Unless the admission criteria are illegal, the appeal panel has to work with the criteria as they are, not as you would like them to be.

Your fourth point, however, is very interesting. Unless she was in a category that comes above feeder schools in the admission criteria it would suggest that a mistake has been made. You need to find out which category they put your daughter in and check the admission criteria for the school.

If your primary school is a recognised feeder school for your preferred school and it is given preference on the admission criteria then you need to establish from the LA under what criteria you were placed for the preferred school.
It is quite possible for the school to be over-subscribed with pupils at recognised feeder schools but if your information is correct about the other pupil then it might suggest that your application has not been put in the correct admission criteria. That is what you need to establish.

Does the decision letter explain why, despite being at a feeder school, your daughter did not get a place? You need to start by checking that they have placed you in the right category and not made an error.

Thankyou for all your advice. I will start with checking the criteria. The letter received advised that our application was considered under the distance criteria. we are 2.325 miles away and the last child to be offered a place under the distance criteria was 1.899 miles. This obviously can't be my friends daughter as there is not that much difference in distances. which does make me think the criteria is not correct.

When it says that the application was considered under the distance criteria then that is usually saying that they did not consider you as being from a feeder school which would have had a higher priority than simply distance as I understand your posts.
If this is the case then you need to speak to and confirm in writing to the LA admission office that you have been wrongly considered and that you are in a feeder school. If that is the case the LA then has two ways of addressing the issue. They can award you a place on the basis of you having been disadvantaged by being put in the wrong admission criteria or they can wait till the appeals where they will admit that you appear to have been disadvantaged and let the appeal panel correct the wrong. Regrettably many LAs chose the latter, which just means more concern for all involved

Agree with admission. That wording almost certainly means you were not in the feeder school category. So this is a mistake which, according to the Appeals Code, they should correct without requiring you to go through an appeal. If they do force an appeal it should be an easy win.

Just to be absolutely clear, when you say your DD is at a feeder school, is the primary specifically named as giving priority in the admissions criteria for the secondary? I.e. there is a category along the lines of ‘Children currently attending X Primary’ which is listed as a higher criterion than distance?

Only I have occasionally heard people refer to ‘feeder’ schools, when what they mean is that most kids from there tend to go to a particular secondary, but there’s no priority/it’s not part of the admissions criteria.

Just to be absolutely clear, when you say your DD is at a feeder school, is the primary specifically named as giving priority in the admissions criteria for the secondary? I.e. there is a category along the lines of ‘Children currently attending X Primary’ which is listed as a higher criterion than distance?

I was thinking this too. There is no feeder school category on the admission criteria for our local secondary, but because most of the kids at our primary go there, people refer to it informally as a "feeder school" (even teachers at the secondary, say "school X is our largest feeder school").

BrighterTimes - If you are unsure, send me a PM with the name of the school and the local authority and I will be happy to check.