Admission Appeals

[FromIndia]

I am very confused. I applied for an in-year place for my daughter in Year 9. I have been offered a place at a school I did not apply to. I have been told if I am refusing this place, please let the LA know what arrangements you are making for my child’s education else I will be reported to Education Welfare Service. I am not sure what to do. The place being offered doesn’t offer the music curriculum she seeks but other than that is ranked Ofted “good”. Any suggestions as to what I should do?

Is it in your catchment area? (The school you initially applied for)

Any views on Richmond Park Academy (RPA)? My DD has been offered a place in Year 9 and I wanted some feedback.

Are you moving to a new area, or is she currently in school in the same area?

You will have been offered a different school because the one/s you applied for are full, and they would have offered you the nearest place with a vacancy

You can appeal for the school you want.

Now if its stuffed to the gunnels because they've already admitted pupils on appeal, you might have to be realistic about chances of success.

You need to find out what the PAN (permitted Admission Number) is, how many are actually on the roll for y9, and how many actually on roll in yr 9 in the last few years. This might show that they can actually accommodate more pupils without detriment

Because your appeal will be about "balance of prejudice" - why the disadvantage to the school and its current pupils in having an extra one is less than the disadvantage to your DD in not attending this school.

Building the case about why she needs this school can centre on her musical ability (prove track record) and the provision this school has (which the offered school does not - make the comparison, but always remember you are appealing for the school you want, not against the one you've been allocated. So what is it about their music provision that is of such great benefit to your DD?

You should accept the place, unless you can afford a private education, or home school.

The LA have offered you a place in the nearest school with spaces; the ones you applied for will be full.

Accepting the place just secures a place for her, as if you refuse, the LA have no obligation to find another. You can appeal for other schools, accepting does not mean you can't do that at all, it just locks in something otherwise your DD could be out of school for some time until a place comes up on a waiting list.

Appealing means, as Meditrina says, finding reasons why the appeal school offers things that suit your DDs' needs and requirements specifically - what is it about the music that is specific to her? are there other subjects or specialisms? Is the offered school a very long journey away? (journey won't win on its own but it can be a factor if it's a ridiculous one)

Moving to a new area from overseas. What difference would it make?

Yes, all of the 4 schools are closer to me than the school which has been offered.

thank you for your very
clear message. I will try to build a case around that.

No, it’s not a ridiculous journey to the school which has been offered. However, there are 4 children who did Music GCSEs whereas at the schools I’ve applied to to in excess of 20 children has done music gcse. She struggles a bit to make friends and music is her medium to find her groove.

It's also worth looking at whether they offer any other music qualifications. Eg Music Tech BTec is presented as an alternative to the GCSE at both my children's schools. It's more popular than the GCSE and growing. Maybe ask for a conversation with the head of music in. the school she's been offered.

Also worth finding out if preferred school has things like orchestras and ensembles (especially if offered school does not)

Yes, will look into that. One of my preferred schools has music tech in addition to music. The one offered does not.

Yes, will look into that in detail. The schools I applied to have orchestras and one of them organises music events for schools in the borough. This one offered says it has orchestra but I can’t see it on the extra curriculum other than to contact music head.

@FromIndia you've probably been offered a place at RPA because it is the nearest one with a space in year 9. The ones you applied for are likely to be full, with a waiting list. Where will you be living? RPA is a decent school. If you don't take the place, the Local Authority are not obliged to offer you another. But you can take it and still stay on the waiting list for preferred schools to move if a place comes up.

Your daughter can also join an orchestra outside of school. Check out the Richmond Music Trust if you'll be in Richmond Borough.

We are in Richmond. Thanks for referring us to the R

Sorry it sent before I finished. Thanks for the mention of the Richmond Music Trust, I will look into that. It’s so hard - we have just moved from India. My DD had a melt down because she had 2 academic years online school and lost her entire social network and confidence and then insisted on going to boarding school…. She’s happy at boarding school because there is so much music but the school is in India. Then I got an offer on London. Now we are here and she’s in India and she has been offered a place at RPA and it has 4 kids doing music gcse. I just don’t want her to leave her haven and come here and be miserable but I miss my baby so much….. we feel broken as a family without her.

On the bright side, 4 kids doing music GCSE means an enviable teacher-student ratio. It's very typical for a comprehensive school because students need to be of a high standard at music in order to do it, and many that have reached that standard already prefer to choose other options and keep their music as a hobby.

Unless I'm looking at the wrong school, there is quite a lot about music on the Richmond Park Academy website (including links with the local music service) and orchestra open to all year groups. Both GCSE and BTEC Music offered at KS4, apparently:

sites.google.com/aetinet.org/richmond-park-academy/teaching-learning/subjects/music

Have I managed to find archived pages and the school has stopped all that now?

Did you apply to Christ's (which is near RPA)?. From what I heard it has a thriving music department, and offers music A Level, so that might be an option for Sixth Form, even if no places come up before then. Don't be too put off by it being a Church school - it's relatively inclusive.

Post your question on the Richmond thread

With regard to "please let the LA know what arrangements you are making for my child’s education" it sounds like you could reasonably say she will stay at boarding school until a higher preference place comes up. But it would obviously help if you live close enough to the preferred school to be top of their waiting list.

Music gcse is not the be all and end all. She can do music lessons and activities out of school. If she is not actually resident it may affect your appeal and you have to wait until she is. Declining the offered place removes the obligation on the LA to offer another. To be honest given that she is already year 9 it would be best to accept the offer and move her to UK while going on waiting lists for the others. Your other option is to look at private schools locally.

If a place came up at one of your preferred schools would you be a position to have her start within a short period of time given she is at boarding school in India. They don't hold the place open for you for very long and will expect it to be taken up within a couple of weeks.

I would get her over ASAP and join the offered school so she is used to UK schooling before she stars on her GCSE courses.