Appealing secondary school offer

[Umz2012]

Hello all,
I hope I’m posting in the right place. And sorry In advance if I rattle on-I’m so stressed and upset for my daughter who is devastated with her secondary school offer. I am appealing for our 1st choice school based on their science specialism in which my daughter excels at. In last ofsted of offered school 3 years ago it was highlighted science provision is poor and hasn’t improved since their previous inspection in 2016.

My daughter excels in all subjects especially science/maths subjects but is very interested in physics/astronomy. Our 1st choice has extra funding for stem subjects and has various connections with the local university in the astrophysics department which offered school doesn’t. The 1st choice school also has special offerings for girls in stem subjects to increase girls in this field as they are under represented in this field. Daughter also has after school online tutoring with an Astrophysics phd student at my daughters request as her current primary school does not cater science at her level. The tutor now offers tuition for free after I requested to cancel as we could no longer afford the tuition fees-she said she doesn’t know of any other child that age that has the same understanding in Physics/astronomy and wants to continue to nurture her talent in that field.

Do you think that is sufficient reason? 1st choice is also walking distance and offered school is 40 minutes on the bus- opposite direction to my younger ones school. Also no one from her current school is going to offered school. The appeals success rate is so low I don’t even know if I should go through the stress of appealing!

Also Iv been told LA/school will always challenge back on safety issues for taking in more children, but I’m not sure how I can challenge that?

I already have letters from her school teacher and her online tutor confirming her credentials in Science.

Any comments/help would be appreciated. Also is it ok to ask anyone experienced in this to read my draft appeal before I submit it?

I am going to tag an expert to help you @PatriciaHolm has just done another thread on what to do if you haven't been allocated your preferred school.
I am not an expert, but would say that if you live within walking distance and the other school is much further away then you have a good chance of being offered a place from the waiting list. I would make sure you are on the waiting list and find out where you are on it, if that makes sense.
Without seeing the admissions criteria for the school, I cannot be sure whether or not the science specialism is relevant for admissions. However I do know that it's not a good idea to criticise the school you have been offered when making an appeal.
Points such as school A offers GCSE Astronomy or has an astronomy club and dd has demonstrated interest in astronomy could be useful in an appeal, but you do need help from someone with more expertise.

Proximity and travel are not grounds for appeal unless there us documented reasons fir needing to be at a particular setting or near home. Ie. Medical issues or caring responsibilities. 40 minutes is not that unusual.

Your best grounds is the science interest and how the preferred school can specifically meet that, although things could change in 5years.

Thanks you Lizs and catsndogslife. We are already on waiting list. I had no intention of criticising the offered school, and from speaking to them it seems they are trying to improve by recruiting new science teachers but it’s no where near as good in terms of science offerings, and for my daughter I’m worried it will affect her enthusiasm for her learning if she’s not in an environment that nurtures that. I don’t know how to appeal without it sounding like I’m criticising the offered school. The 1st choice school has all sorts of additional offerings in science including annual science summer school, some of which has been attending last few years by an invite scheme from other students she knows in the secondary school.
I understand about the distance not being a good enough reason and if offered school had the science offerings, we would be prepared to travel so distance isn’t a major issue as such.

Hoping you get good news on the waiting list so you don’t have to go to appeal. Do you know what number you are?

This was us 3 years ago and how strange our daughters have similar interest. We won our appeal focussing on the science aspect of the school. Our daughter is now in year 9 but doing science and maths lessons with year 11 and some with Physics with A level students. Do your research about the gifted and talented opportunities the school offer with regards to science etc.

Much will depend on the strength of the school’s case not to admit, because the panel has to weigh that up too, but it sounds as if you have a decent argument. You’ll need, obviously, to detail your daughter’s talent for and interest in astrophysics.

The standard argument from schools is that admitting extra pupils would be against the interests of the pupils already there. Your argument (loosely speaking) is that the prejudice (ie disadvantage) to your daughter if she’s not admitted outweighs that.

To chip away at the school’s argument, you can ask how precisely the existing pupils would be disadvantaged. Often, there will be some vague statement about (say) risks from overcrowding in corridors. You could ask whether there have been any accidents caused by overcrowding. It’s very rare that there have.

Before any appeal hearing, ask the school for actual numbers in each year group. If there is any year group where numbers are above PAN, you can argue that that is evidence that the school can manage with additional pupils.

You can make a case for the science specialisation but I will guarantee you that there will be other parents saying exactly the same thing about their child excelling at science.
Your advantage is that your daughter is clearly scientifically inclined. You need to ensure that you put together the strongest possible case around her capabilities and her interest in astronomy. Think carefully about anything else that highlights her capabilities in the area, that will make you appeal document stand out from others.
You need to be careful about the comments about extra funding for Stem subjects. Is this still current and continuing into the future because I thought that this funding had now finished. Check carefully with the school before putting that in the appeal document because it will be detrimental to your case to be saying this if it is no longer a correct statement.

You can make a case for the science specialisation but I will guarantee you that there will be other parents saying exactly the same thing about their child excelling at science. Your advantage is that your daughter is clearly scientifically inclined. You need to ensure that you put together the strongest possible case around her capabilities and her interest in astronomy.

Yes, that's why I think OP has a decent case, although it's not a certainty that the appeal will succeed. In many appeals, parents argue (in not so many words) that this is a better school with better provision and so they'd prefer their child to attend there. That's understandable but it's never enough to win an appeal, so it's important that the tutor can confirm that the child has an interest in astrophysics beyond typical 11 year old curiosity and is already studying it at a depth not typical for her age.

Thank you all so much for your response, really appreciate it.

TheBestChild2
So good to hear about your success and about your daughter! It’s just amazing because I recognised her abilities from about year3 after her previous primary school teachers pointed it out. I didn't think much of it until then I just thought it was normal. But having now looked through her old reports from year1 it’s clear science/maths was a big interest for my daughter and has always excelled.

Panelchair
Thank you so much for your tips on how to challenge the schools arguments-reallly helpful! I have now contacted the school for the year group numbers to see how they compare with Pan numbers. I have already obtained letters from tutor and teacher which clearly highlights reasons which will support my argument for the appeal.

Admission
It is very clear to any body that speaks to my daughter about this subject-how talented she is especially in science/physics/astronomy/maths.And I have sufficient evidence going as far back as when she was in year1-at a point where even I didn’t know how talented she was as I thought that was normal. I’m not one to boast as I have another child who is at opposite ends when it comes to education. I really believe this school will nurture her abilities. My other child needs additional support just to bring him to his year group level and I would be looking at a completely different school for him based purely on his needs. it’s a challenge to even get him to focus, whereas my daughter is so focussed and always reading and asking me to order this book and that and knows exactly what she needs to learn and is always curious and got to a point last year where even I couldn’t understand the questions she was asking, which is why I ended up getting her a tutor.

Thanks for the advise about my comment on stem funding-I meant they get additional funding/support for stem subjects from local organisations and from the local universities the school has links with. Eg a science research centre was set up for the school and linked 6th form with the support of the linked university which replicates university style science labs supported by the academics from the university as well which is ongoing. But I will be looking further into this.