Appeals question - single-sex school

[RedSheep73]

Apologies if this has been discussed before, I've been reading the recent appeals threads and I can't see it addressed specifically.

DD missed out on a place at her preferred school A, which is all girls, and allocates places within priority area by lottery, after the siblings etc and girls for whom it is nearest school. She's been given 3rd choice, our nearest school B, her brother is already there (not 1st or second preference then either but we didn't have any choice). It's the weaker school in the area, but because we're on the edge of town and it is between us and all the other schools, we're never going to get allocated anything else, certainly not in a bulge year like this.

We are seriously considering appeal, and so my question is, can we use the fact that dd really wanted single sex schooling (and I am convinced it's the right thing for her) at appeal? or will that be automatically ignored, and are we better emphasising other reasons why that school meets her needs better than the other?

She was a very shy child when she started primary, it took several years and a lot of encouragement before she came out of her shell and participated, and I know school A will suit her and bring her on in ways school B will not. School B is very focussed on improving its disruptive boys - and rightly so as they were a problem - but it's not putting any effort into quiet girls, that I can see, where school A is all about getting girls to achieve. As we already have a child at school B, and school A was my school (and I've kept in touch through old girls events etc, so I know the character of the school hasn't changed), I feel we do really know what both schools are really like and which is best for our child, we're not just working off prospectuses and what the schools say about themselves!

Will any of this fly with an appeal panel?

Can you evidence your feelings?

e.g.
A runs a 'shy girls club'. B only has a 'disruptive boys club'
A runs a positive reward system that has been shown to work for DD at primary by …… B runs a more negative consequences system.

Could every girl who didn't get a place not use the 'I wanted single sex' argum at appeal though?

If you are where I think, then the problem is why should your DD be any more deserving of a place than the other 713 that didn't get in? That's what you would have to prove.

It wouldn't hurt to appeal but unless you have evidence that the admissions process wasn't followed correctly in your case, you would need an amazing case to demonstrate that the benefit to your DD would be greater than the detriment to the rest of the school. I can't see how you could win tbh.

Ask prhbridge on a PM. They are very knowledgeable about appeals.

WeaselsRising

I get what you mean - but doesn't that apply equally to the arguments about specific subjects and clubs that people are always advising?

Not everyone's daughter will have a strong case re a club or subject will they.

I’m very much not an expert, but I imagine that it will be seen as a fairly weak argument unless you can illustrate why your daughter would benefit from the single sex school in a way that other children won’t necessarily. You can make pretty much argument you want, but it comes down to how strong that is.

So ‘School B runs interventions for X issue which DD faces’ is much stronger than ‘we would prefer single sex’.

The fact she wants a single sex school is unlikely to carry any weight. If you want to rely on the school being single sex you have to show that she has specific needs which will not be met by a mixed school. I would recommend looking at what the girls school offers that is missing from the boys school - subjects, extracurricular activities, ethos. If you can show that they are relevant to your daughter they will help to strengthen your case (and will probably be stronger in the panel's eyes than arguments around her needing a girls school).

I disagree with WeaselsRising about your chances of success. Just under 25% of secondary school appeals are successful. Very few successful appeals are due to mistakes being made. And you don't have to prove that your daughter is more deserving of a place than all the othe children that didn't get in. At most, you have to prove that she is more deserving of a place than others who have appealed.

An appeal panel cannot take into account the parents' desire for their child to go to the best school in town. And remember, whilst none of the panel is involved with the appeal school, they may be involved with the school the child has been allocated and may not take kindly to people saying the appeal school is better.

There really isn't any need to talk down the offered school in an appeal. Panels can never agree that an offered school is 'bad' - at best they can agree that the offered school is not suitable, but that will always be due to exceptional secondary factors, such as a particular social situation that makes it dangerous for a child to attend the school, or a medical need, where there was no medical criteria for the applicant to use. It will never be because a school "isn't good enough".

So all attention needs to go on what makes the appeal school so important for this child.

Thanks everyone - I'm on a steep learning curve here and without this group I wouldn't have a clue. Where else can you find out what not to do? the councils guidance seems designed to stop you trying at all!
I wasn't being disingenuous about wanting single sex for my daughter, actually - that was one of the prime reasons for us wanting that particular school, and not the 2 equally high-achieving ones across town. I think I mentioned it was my school - I'm quite clear about the ways ss education benefitted me and would have my daughter. There are other reasons of course, academic, extra curricular and the culture of the school. What I wanted was a feel for what might carry weight with a panel, as opposed to with us as parents, and that's a very different thing.

We have used the single sex reason in our appeal but put it across as for religious reasons. We didn't win the appeal for a different reason (academic) but our reason was accepted at face value.

Generally speaking, anything which you can substantiate as a distinct benefit of attending the appeal school that has relevance to your DD, will be helpful to your appeal.

So, saying "They have a great drama club which my DD will like" isn't all that helpful. However, saying "They have a great drama club and my DD has shown a strong interest in drama, participating in all possible drama productions at primary school, and attending the after-school drama club there.", gives a strong case for why you think that the drama club will make an important difference for your DD.

Say they offer a netball club, you could say "DD particularly enjoys netball and participated in school netball matches at primary school, playing as Centre. She is keen to continue playing."

Saying that you attended the same school and it benefited you won't help, so you'll need to think of the benefits you feel that you got from attending the school and apply them to your DD, rather than saying "I went there so I know it's great."