Can/should I appeal?

[ImpatientAnn]

Deadline for appealing is Monday. I hoped to know I’d be high on the waiting list before then but they aren’t releasing positions until after the appeal deadline.

I will not appeal on grounds of the school I want being able to offer anything that the school I’ve been allocated doesn’t as my dc (who is fabulous of course!) is not exceptional in anything which is only in the desired school. The only thing I can see is triple science and despite me being a science teacher they show no particular interest in it.

The only grounds I can see are related to how positions have been allocated due to circumstance beyond our/the council’s control.

There is a new school. The DFE funding was not signed off on 1st March but has just been signed off this week. Some children who wanted the new school were allocated our preferred school as well as a back up until the new school was funding signed off. This is because they live closer than we do. I know of at least 5 and there are probably more. These back up places have now been removed from the children wanting the new school and will be allocated to people off the waiting list. I am hopeful we will get one as we missed out by 0.06 miles (less than 10m) on 1st March.

My reason to appeal would be if we now don’t get a place because other children not in the first round of allocations have now decided to apply for the waiting list and are higher than us. I assume (but can’t know for definite) that had the new school been signed off that we would have been allocated one at the preferred school and now if we didn’t because of the waiting list with new applicants on it who are higher up the priority we would have been disadvantaged by the organisation of the DFE.

Im hoping I don’t need to appeal due to our likely high place on the waiting list but should I put something in just in case we are in this situation when places are reallocated after the appeals deadline?

Disclaimer - not an admissions expert; sure someone more knowledgeable will advise soon.

We had a similar situation locally and it stated in the admissions criteria for the "new school" that places to that school would be allocated separately from the main admissions round i.e pupils could hold an offer at the new school and an offer at another school and select which one they wanted. In other words, it was the fact the school wasn't complete when the admissions round started that was the issue. If that's also the case for you, then it's hard to argue you've been disadvantaged by disorganisation - you've been disadvantaged by virtue of the school being new.

If this is not the case, I can't see how you can appeal on the basis that you might be disadvantaged ... you surely have to actually wait for a child (who missed the first round of allocations) to get a place ahead of you first to show that you actually have been?

That’s the problem - if I don’t do it before I know (due to the deadline) then I won’t have my appeal heard any time soon - council website suggest until September. It’s more of an insurance appeal... this is why I asked the question. Am I just been silly to think of appealing?

The admissions criteria didn’t say the places at the new school would be allocated separately. There was a delay that shouldn’t have happened. They announced this on 1 March when all those who wanted it got two places.

I don’t know about the reasons for appeal, others will know better. But in general, the only thing you have to lose by appealing is time and mental energy, so you may feel it’s worth putting in even for the slimmest of chances.

Hopefully an expert will be along soon, but it may be possible to win an appeal based on unfair admissions policies. There is a clear procedure needed for setting up admissions for new schools and it sounds as if this possibly may not have been followed.
@admission @panelchair may be able to help.

The first thing to say is that there is no appeal deadline. The LA may say there is a deadline but actually it is a deadline set to ensure that the LA /admission authority can carry out all the admission appeals for that one school all together. If anybody else applies for the school then they will get an appeal hearing but not necessarily before the start of the school year in September.

You can appeal on the basis of any reason but the reasons have to be compelling enough to sway a panel to believing that the detriment to your child is more than the detriment to the school and other pupils. In order to register your appeal you should apply saying that you believe that your child has suffered detriment due to the situation around allocating places at the new school and that further information will be supplied prior to the appeal hearing.
In most similar cases the new school admissions will be handled separately. As such I am not sure that you have a reasonable case for appeal. However until you appeal and get the written case from the admission authority you will probably not know whether there were issues around places for the new school.

So put the short statement in for now then ask them for information about how many other people didn’t get offered a place above us between 0 and 0.06 m from the further child offered a place and then how many were given both a reserve place and a place at the new school because the administration on the new school was delayed? Would I need to do a freedom of information request or should they jus tell me for the appeal?

Thank you all for your responses. I guess there is nothing to lose. I just wish I didn’t have to waste everyone’s time and energy on it. If they could tell me now I was 1 or 2 on the waiting list I wouldn’t need to appeal as I know there are at least 5 spaces now, probably more.

I agree with admission. I’m struggling to see the alleged detriment here. Some children held a double offer (new school and preferred school) but have now given up their places at preferred school, freeing them up for children on the waiting list. So what’s the detriment? Is this about timing - if the funding had been resolved sooner, the places would have been freed up sooner and so you wouldn’t (potentially) have been bumped down the waiting list by any new additions to it?

I think you’ll struggle to convince a panel that this is an error that has deprived your child of a place. The LEA would probably argue that it’s an unfortunate chain of events but one over which they had no choice and I think it’s hard to argue against that. But, as we often say here, give it your best shot because you never know what will emerge at appeal. And bolster your case by identifying anything else about the preferred school that makes it the best one for your child - it doesn’t have to be about academics. A combination of several middling arguments can win an appeal, if you don’t have one compelling argument.

Yes you’ve summed up what I was thinking there - it about the timing.

If it isn’t the case that it would have any effect then I’ll leave it. It is all very frustrating though. As if good old Gavin’s department haven’t made enough errors in the last 12 months they can’t even do admin stuff on time. Yes I’m a bitter teacher...