Grammar School Appeal - Trafford Council

[SisterAnna]

Hi Everyone,

I was hoping for some direction prior to sending the appeal documentation and tackling the whole process.
We have applied to 4 schools with grammar school where my daughter passed being our 1st choice. Unfortunately were declined all 4 offers due to oversubscription criteria. We got a place in school in Manchester Council which was re-branded under new name following its closure in 2021 (school was inadequate in majority of categories). The situation is beyond desperate!!! 😩

I am preparing evidence to appeal to the grammar school based on the following and would appreciate MumsNet Panel members for any advice. It needs fine tuning and good presentation strategy but main points are below:

1. Daughter has passed the entrance exam with 370 marks, pass rate was 360 but due to such high amount of applications the cut off was actually 379 marks. However she demonstrated to be of grammar school standard as she passed above the required pass mark.

2. Mention the importance of religion to our family and moral and ethical alignment with the grammar school's ethos (school is of catholic faith).

3. From the young age DD had suspicion of development issues with possible mild form of autism and was under the Community Peadiatrician care between 2016-2017 when she was discharged. I am in possession of all medial letters stating this fact as well as supporting report from the childminder who looked after her for 2 years.
   The evidence is rather old and due to mild spectrum we found ways to manage her oversensitivity. She has not been tested since 2017. Is this still relevant as I don't have hard evidence she still suffers - which she does and will all her life.

4. Report from the school will be provided describing daughter's ability to learn and above the standard, her kind nature and attitude to work but also the issues she had to go through – even in year 5 she was still not coping with the noise and had to stay in Headteacher’s office to tackle the stress

5. Mention replacement school as inadequate in standard, same management board, all below the standard incl. SEND and not adequate for the child that is talented but also fragile – this will only be briefly described without trying to slam the school but more as a contra to what awaits DD if she goes to preferred school.

6. I wanted to submit a couple of pictures of art projects DD did at home – pastels and paints – she is making amazing progress and is very creative. The grammar school provides curriculum in arts and design and sports. Daughter excels in all those disciplines as well as learning.

7. Not sure if I should mention myself at all with FCCA and MBA degrees. The school ethos is to nurture young women to become strong and independent leaders. I would like to think that I can be a role model, that anything is possible if she works hard for it.

We are on waiting lists everywhere possible and rejected place in the replacement school (they still hold her place regardless).

Thank you all so much for taking time to read.

This is what you should be doing if you think the school you've been allocated won't meet your child's needs. You have a much better chance of achieving it than appealling to Trafford.

There will be plenty of other candidates in a similar boat fighting the same arguement in Trafford who live in Trafford.

Pick your battle. What is ultimately going to be the best option from the situation you are in.

I have now extended and requested the change of preferred schools with Manchester Council following the advice of the members here. And included many more, still the catchment plays a part.
Apparently lists like the one below are not firm as yet and this Friday is the deadline when offers get rejected/accepted and the list completed.
Secondary School Demand Manchester Council

@SisterAnna the list is the only one ever published & it as it stands on offer day. Tons of changes follow. Private school places are accepted & state places released. You can go up & down wait lists.
Two years ago Didsbury High were still offering places into November.. albeit I wouldn't bank on there as distance tiny. People who had by then started at ParrsWood / Chorlton South did not move even when got an offer so they carry on down the list etc
Others will also be the same as you.
Try get your wait list places from LA

Honestly, if the OP lives down by the Sale/Alty borders there is zero point putting William Hulme down. Or Didsbury High, or Chorlton High.

Loreto Chorlton possibly...CHS South decent chance...somewhere like Barlow, Parrswood, possibly....MEA South, St Paul's, much much more likely.

Fwiw a brand new setting with only 50 or 60 kids will be able to give them loads of attention and nurture, and with no higher year groups she won't have to worry about being bullied by year 11 or whatever.

ParrsWood is only about 1.7 miles at the mo. Didsbury 0.8 miles. Chorlton 1.6 miles. So it very much depends on location. CH South is full too

@AvaCallanach where only has 50-60 kids?

Has anyone found the list for Trafford like OP has linked above for Manchester?

I live in Trafford and have a child in year 8. It was the most stressful thing ever doing the entrance exams. He passed for two of them but decided against them in the end and is at the local comp and is really happy. The competition is absolutely fierce and the schools do prioritise rightly in my view, local children. If I knew then what I know now I would not have put me and him through all the stress. Unfortunately i do not think you will be successful in your appeal, if you decide to do so. I know others this year who live in the Trafford area and haven’t got in. So I agree with the others focus on getting your child in a more local school, good luck.

Dixons Newall Green at the moment. It's opening in temp classrooms while they have a refurb and will fill up from Year 7 each year.

Sorry that's a reply to @snowtrees

www.trafford.gov.uk/residents/schools/school-admissions/2023/2023-secondary-admission-outcomes.aspx

@Hazey19

Where's the admissions data for there then? I hadn't seen that

@SisterAnna i am not sure why you might look for a remark? As I understand it, unless your DD was a top 20 scorer, as long as she passes (which she has), it’s on distance not score ranking.

Hi @SheilaFentiman , I was asking member here of such option, that's all.

Hi @Hazey19 , it is extremely stressful, for both parents and children and the system is also questionable as many here mentioned. And what if they actually don't enjoy the school they worked so hard for? Thank you for wishing good luck.

Many thanks for so many valuable posts @snowtrees , I have defo made some mistakes when putting the school application through which I am now trying to rectify. Not losing hope just trying to catch up with the system. As it appears not all is common knowledge and after speaking to the Head of DD school yesterday I could not believe now complicated and illogical the admissions system is. Best of luck to us all.

@SisterAnna It is complicated as different LAs operate different system and even within an LAs the individual schools can have different ones again.
It's a massive barrier to those whose first language isn't English / those who assume you just put nearest schools as opposed to read the policy for each one / those parents who struggle with it all etc.
So the most savvy are able to navigate to best schools

I don't think you said where you are @SisterAnna but get on wait list for nearest Manchester school and others then you should get a place. You can then accept another if you get a better offer. At least she'd be local.
I knew Newall Green had closed but hadn't realised it's reopened afresh.
Can't see how many allocated it either

Looking at this, Urmston Grammar was the one to apply for. Depending on where you are, a fair journey each way though.

Yes this was very interesting. What’s happening at Urmston?! A few years ago it was considered more highly than Stretford but application data looks like things have changed.

Can't find the data for offers made but definitely reopening www.dixonsng.com/
The whole council website is a right mess for finding schools.

I was baffled by UG as the data indicates it's not over subscribed really & possibly not first choice for a lot that got it

Urmston value added and results lower than STRETFORD iirc

OP have a look on elevenplus and then on the Appeals Forum and search for Loreto. You have nothing to lose, but you'll see (admittedly there are not very many appeals on the forum) they have all failed - even one living 0.5 miles from the school, demonstrating all the skills that Loreto would cater for. As is the case for Trafford Schools, the appeals are notoriously difficult to win (I think Loreto ranks up there with AGGS for being the most difficult to win at appeal). Given the number of local children who now don't get places (as has already been described above) there are tens (if not hundreds) of appeals each year.

Whilst it wasn't Loreto, I know of one grammar school appeal (slightly different to yours as it was non-qualification, but only missed by 2 or 3) who could show top academic evidence and a parent dying in the week of the test and the child still didn't get in on appeal.

Possibly, and its only a guess, because the distance offered for AGGS/AGSB was so far (9+ and almost 12miles according to that report - which is unusual) it means that almost anyone who passed for Urmston and Altrincham would have been offered Altrincham if they ranked it higher. Thats not usually the case - the distances are closer usually to AGGS/AGSB.