What would be best ground for appeal?

[Polina314]

DS sat Kent Selection Test on 15/10/2020 and with a score of 395 and has been assessed suitable for admission to a Kent grammar school. Skinners school scoring threshold for admission is 360.
At the time of the Secondary School application submission on 31st October 2020, our address was way out of the catchment area of the school.
We moved near the school within 1.1 miles on 1st January 2021. It was too late to change the address on the secondary school application form.
DS was not offered a place in the school on 1st March 2021.
I have put him on the waiting list. I also would like to appeal. We have strong support from both headteachers (his previous and current primary school).

How would it be correct to formulate ground for appeal? If anyone has any expertise, I would be very grateful.

You can make any argument you choose at appeal. What you are seeking to do is to persuade the panel that the prejudice (ie disadvantage or detriment) to your child in not attending the school outweighs the prejudice to the school in having to cater for an additional pupil.

Your son evidently meets the academic standard for the school but it sounds as if they followed correct procedure in not accepting a late change of address. You therefore need to identify all the reasons why in your view he’ll be disadvantaged if he doesn’t attend the school. That might be in subjects offered, extra-curricular activities, pastoral care or anything else.

I don't think you have very strong grounds for appeal as it was correct that you didn't get a place in the first round of applications. Check where your DS has been placed on their waiting list though and whether any waiting list offers have already been made. He should be high on the waiting list as the waiting list application should now be using your new address. If they have incorrectly made a waiting list offer to someone else who should have been lower on the waiting list than your DS then that will be excellent grounds for appeal, much more likely to succeed than the "balance of prejudice" type argument.

Surely if you're now in catchment, the waiting list should reflect that and you would now be right at the top? Have you spoken to KCC? Worth a try - bound to be movement before then?

Not sure what your appeal would be - he passed the test it's just that there aren't enough spaces?

Kent Council replied, that as he is on the waiting list they will inform us of the results of reallocation on 21st April. As of now, they don't inform of the position on the waiting list.
I just thought to prepare for the worst (he would not get a place in April) and try to appeal.

Any appeal has in your situation to be based on two things.
Firstly the statement of the obvious, which is that if you had managed to move in the right time scale to be counted as an on time application (by 9th December ) your son would have in all probability have been offered a place.
In all honesty this statement will have no real immediate impact on you getting a place as the admission process would certainly seem to have been carried out correctly. However it then allows you to go on and talk about all the reasons why son was so looking forward to going to the school. As others have said this will be about subjects offered, extra-curricular activities, pastoral care. There will be many others who are in the same position as you, as having passed the 11+ but not getting a place, so you do need to recognise that the panel will only admit a few of this set of pupils who did not get a place and you really do need to be considering all angles of reasons to try and create if possible a bit of uniqueness of your reasons for admission under appeal.
If at appeal the panel is faced with far to many pupils who they consider should be offered a place then the panel will need to decide how many pupils they will admit and then put in order of strength of the case. That is where the score your son achieved may just be of benefit as the panel might in trying to place the pupils in strength of argument give some consideration to the 11+ score they achieved. A strong pass has got to be given some consideration against an otherwise identical pupil who only achieved a bare pass.

Hmm. Not informing you of your position on the waiting list is a bit dodgy but I guess you need to wait and see what happens on 21st April. The deadline for appealing is 17th May. If your DS does not get a place on 21st April you will needthe information about where he was placed on the waiting list, as this will be vital information for your appeal. Paragraph 2.14 of Section 2 of the School Admissions Code specifically requires them to keep a waiting list which must be ranked in line with the published oversubscription critera.

Skinners admissions arrangements document says: The school will maintain a waiting list for each year group at the school. The waiting list will be a live document and will be re-ranked upon the addition of any new eligible applicant to the school. This re-ranking will be in line with our published oversubscription criteria. Priority will not be given to children based on the date their application was received or their name added to the list.

That sounds to me like the school at least are activing in good faith in line with the admissions code, so maybe you will be OK. Of course there is no guarantee that places will become available to people on the waiting list but given your circumstances your DS should probably get a place if places are available - just so long as your ranking on the list is using your correct new address. If they can't tell you your current position on the waiting list they maybe could at least confirm that your ranking on the list is indeed being calculated using your current new address?

@Polina314

Kent Council replied, that as he is on the waiting list they will inform us of the results of reallocation on 21st April. As of now, they don't inform of the position on the waiting list. I just thought to prepare for the worst (he would not get a place in April) and try to appeal.

Have you confirmed with them that they have changed your address and are now using your new one?

The thing to remember is that information on a child’s waiting list position is only good at the moment it’s handed out - five minutes later, a late application could arrive for a Looked After Child (say) and everyone would move down a place.

Yes, I have informed the Kent admissions team about the change of address.

Thank you for your extended reply.
It feels that if the school will take on few more pupils through the appeals process (and I do realise the chances are very small) it will only be those who are most suitable for the place. A bit like applying and getting a position at a good company.

Well, not exactly. The appeal panel has to weigh up the prejudice to the child against the prejudice to the school - and that includes how the child will benefit from attending the school - but that’s not quite the same as saying they’ll admit the “best” or “most suitable” children. All the children are likely to be “suitable”, in that they’ll have got a good mark in the test, but they could all still lose their appeals on the balance of prejudice.

fingers crossed you get good news soon OP - surely if you're now in catchment you are now right at the top?

Both my sons went to Skinners and they had lots of boys who lived in East Sussex and Sevenoaks direction . The school doesn’t use catchment area for admissions, it is based on score ..that was how it was when they were there and the lowest score then was 405 to get in .If you appeal you need to base the appeal on why you consider it the right school for your son . Good luck ..can honestly say my boys had a happy,brilliant time there and achieved well academically as well . 💐

The school doesn’t use catchment area for admissions, it is based on score

That may have been correct when your sons went there but it is not correct now. Pupils qualifying for Pupil Premium are treated differently but in general, once you've achieved the pass mark, what matters is distance from the school, not highest score.