Appeal Secondary

[eantonopoulou]

Anyone having any advise will be greatly appreciated.

We are appealing against the decision of Secondary place that we were given. Our appeal date is16th of May.

My son is about to start year7 in September. And he was given a school that is over 3 km away from home. That would mean he will need to travel with the Tube plus over a km once having arrived at the closest station.

We've got Noone of the 6 schools that we applied for, that are also closer to home. Children from the area go either to a Catholic Or Church of England. The schools bring children from farther out because of religion, we are Orthodox so we fell short.

Additionally I have two more children that will be in a primary school on a completely different direction to where my eldest is going. We cannot move the other two as one of them gets help with his speach, so resetting everything up for him is impossible, it took us too long.

Meaning I cannot help him out on his daily life and attend to my my youngest two. We cannot hire help for drop off and pick up as we are an one income family.

Many thanks

You need to remember that you are not appealing against the school currently allocated, but for the school you want. You need to demonstrate that the disadvantage to your DS in not attending the appealed-for school is greater than the disadvantage to the school and its pupils in admitting over numbers.

So what is it about the school you want that benefits your DS so particularly? Does it offer particuiar languages in which he has a demonstrable interest, and which the other schoo does not? Or have other subjects that the other does not? Or a particuiar sport? Or if your DS is musical, how do things like choirs, orchestras and ensembles compare?

Transport issues will not win you an appeal. But even if it couid, a short tube ride plus a walk of about 15 minutes just doesn't sound like an unreasonable journey.

It might also help if you found out if the school is used to comping with additional pupils. What is the current size of each year group on the school (or the size of year 7 for the last few years) and is this greater than the published admission number?

3k is only about a mile and a half. He could walk that in 30-40 mins, or get there quicker on a bike.

Transport issues won't win you an appeal, especially for only 3km - thats entirely doable for a year 7, and secondary pupils are expected to travel by themselves.

Sorry pressed post too soon! So as meditrina says, you are appealing for a school not against one so you need to figure out what the school you want can offer that suits his needs specifically. Proximity to home/religious reasons won't help.

meditrina is right that you are appealing for a school and have to make a case that the disadvantage to your child of not attending that school is greater than the disadvantage to the school of admitting an extra pupil. Nothing you've said on here would do that, I'm sorry to say. You do need to think in terms of what the school can provide for your child that the allocated school can't.

Before the appeal you will get the school's case which will be focused on the difficulties an extra pupil would bring such as crowded classrooms and corridors, lack of IT facilities in class (more pupils than computers).

You mention the tube so I assume you are in/near London where there does seem to be a lot of pressure on school places - 7 schools within 3km of your house seems a lot to me but the other 6 are obviously full so that just shows the numbers involved!

It is a very stressful time and I hope it goes well for you, OP.

For those who don't think in metric, 3km is 1.86 miles.

Surely the 3km must be a typo. At my old house our catchment school was just under 3 miles away. (Large urban area) so 3km seems really near.

It is really not thar far and he will be expected to travel independently ( or most likely alongside others from your direction) at 11. You can appeal for other schools and go on lists but you need to come up with stronger arguments as to why your dc should have a place.

I don't thing you need any help with pick up and drop off? Unless I misunderstood that? Your primary aged children will carry on with what they are used to.

What do the schools you do like have over the school you've been allocated?

In my part of London, there are 4 secondary schools within a mile, at least another 6 if you go out to 2 mile- (probably more, I'm not sure I've thought of all of them, because they don't really seem 'local'

But London secondary pupils hop on and off the Tube with aplomb from year 7 onwards. So I think your worries on that are misplaced ,eantonopolou If he's not used to travelling on his own yet, you've still got plenty of time to change that.

You can by all means appeal if there is a good reason why you think another school will be better. Being closer doesnt count as a reason unless there are medical grounds for needing this.
But as others have said, 3km is really not far. Perhaps it's different in London as it's more built up, but loads of DC's friends were walking and cycling that distance alone in upper primary school, never mind secondary.

I would have thought it's a bit late to be thinking up your case now - doesn't everything have to be submitted 7 dats before? I didn't think you could bring in anything new at this stage?

Any written evidence needs to be in before the hearing but there is nothing to stop parents giving a different case in the hearing than one they have previously submitted in writing. I wouldn't recommend it but you can do it.

Dear all, thank you all for your comments. I do appreciate the fact what they are expected to do at certain ages.
He hasn't travelled alone, there hasn't been the need for. The direction that he will have he will be required to travel towards is based on heavy traffic, (towards Heathrow), so cycling and walking are out of the question. We are not appealing against the school which we got in. We are appealing on the basis that he will benefit immensely academically and socially, from being in faith school as we are very strong on our believes on faith schools. But unfortunately we didnt fell on the categories of Church of England or Catholics schools.