School admissions

[Djr1]

My daughter is on a waiting list at a welsh secondary school. This school introduces banding immediately for maths and then in january for other subjects.

The other welsh school she could go to introduces banding in year 8.

Would it help my appeal by using this as an argument for why if my daughter is a high achiever and very good at maths etc that the school that introduces banding immediately would be a better fit for her?

Also as she is musical would the fact that one school has a lot more in the way of musical clubs like choirs and a school orchestra whereas the other school does not make any difference?

Many thanks-hoping someone can help.

Cheers

The music is a good argument as the school you are appealing for specifically offers good provision in this area. Can you prove your daughter is musical?

Not an expert but I can't imagine that banding would be a strong argument as it would be hard to prove that this will really benefit your DC. Presumably the school has other DC like yours, whom they would argue do well under their system.

Can you evidence the musical ability? Grade certificates etc?

Also as she is musical would the fact that one school has a lot more in the way of musical clubs like choirs and a school orchestra whereas the other school does not make any difference

Concentrate on this. It is a much better argument than trying to suggest that banding will help your daughter.

Thankyou so much for your advice. Much appreciated. The aternative school i notice does not even offer music as a subject in year 7-just expressive arts (which i suppose will include an element of music)

The secondary school that my daughter is on a waiting list for has before now always had places available. This is the first year that there are not enough places. There are 8 forms of entry in september and admissions number is 240- 8 x 30 i guess.

I have found out that there are lots of places left in the higher years because they have not filled all their spaces in the past. Also that in year 8 we have a friend who son was in a smaller class and as not enough pupils he was moves to another class which meant that there were 34 kids in his class and there were then only 7 classes in his year.

Taking this into account and the fact that they have gone over 30 in this case, would i have a good case in saying that admitting over the admissions number in september and allowing my daughter should be considered because there are examples of older classes where the 30 pupil max has been breached and there is obviously capacity in the school overall as there have always been places free in the past which means years 8, 9, 10, and 11 have less pupils than there will be in september.

That certainly helps your case. It would be even better if they've gone over 240 in some years. However, you can't rely on there being places free in future so you may need to convince the appeal panel that the school can cope with an additional pupil even if all other years are full.

Thanks for that- they have never gone over the 240 in the past because there was not the demand. Surely if they have allowed a class of 34 this year because they did not have enough pupils to fill 8 x 30 classes so instead went with 7 classes with the one class being 34 then they could allow an extra child into a class meaning one class would be 31, even though this would mean breaching the 240 admissions number?

Yes, it suggests they can cope with more than 30 pupils in a class. However, the school may also argue that they can't cope with more than 240 in the year.