School appeals/waiting list

[CJOJ]

Hi all new to the page. My dc did not get into 1st or second choice school. Has been offered the 3rd the issue we have is that this school is no longer an option.

After putting it down as 3rd choice my dc was attacked by several pupils from this school and is now to scared to leave the house on his own. If he goes to this school the only way to get there is to get on the bus provide by the school with the same pupils. He is the only child form his primary school going to said school so will have no support. As you can imagine as parents wil can not send him with the chance it will put him in direct danger. As it stands come September he will not have a school.

He has lost over a stone in weight since finding out he has to go there he has been crying nearly every night since .We are going out of our minds with worry. Any suggestions would be a big help.

Also we are 3rd on the wating list for 1st choice school. If we were to move house closer to said school would he move up the list ?

Thanks for any help

Moving up the list will depend on the selection criteria, and it would need to be a genuine move, cutting all ties with existing property.

Did you report the original incident? Ideally to the police? Has he seen a medical professional about his anxiety? GP? Psychologist? I would get some external reports. Can you get him to the school without taking that bus? Have you contacted the 3rd school again to see how they can safeguard him?

Make sure you show in an appeal why the preferred school suits him not just why he can't go to school 3.

So the list is based on a banding system and distance in that band. As for the moving we own 2 property's and would move into the one that is closest to the school and rent out the other.

The incident was reported to the school and also the police. But as we didn't know the children or were they live wasn't anything they could do.

We can't get him to the school without the bus. He cold take public transport but would be 2 buses and a 30 minute walk (1hour and 50 minute journey in total)

Thanks

Generally, I would say that you won’t win an appeal by arguing about why you don’t want the allocated school; you need to present positive arguments for why your child needs a place at the preferred school and will be disadvantaged if they don’t get one.

In your circumstances, though, I would provide evidence of the attack (assuming you reported it to the police) and argue that for your child’s well-being they need an alternative place. You can then identify any other reasons (curriculum, clubs, pastoral care, whatever) why your child would benefit from attending the preferred school.

If the admissions criteria give priority to children living closest to the school, then moving closer to the school may move you up the waiting list, but you must check this against the published oversubscription criteria.

Just seen your latest post about your two addresses.

This is exactly the sort of situation which for some LEAs would set alarm bells ringing for a potential house move of convenience. You would need to check what your LEA says (probably in its school admissions booklet) about how it decides which address to use when there’s more than one possibility, and what evidence it will require before it accepts your change of address.

So 1st choice school have a program to help with his anxiety and mental health that we think will do him good . He will not go out on his own. His sister goes to 1st choice school so would be able to walk with her.

He wants to join the music programme thats on offer (he plays the guitar). Wants to do extra sports after school. All he has ever wanted to be when he leaves school is a chef and this school has programs to help him in this area. He would be unable to do any of this if he goes to offered school if he is not on the school bus he can not get home.

We have spoken to the school and its distance in each band.

Those are all things you can mention in the appeal. It will help if you have evidence to support these arguments (eg, already plays two musical instruments, took part in Junior Masterchef, whatever). Why did they not get a place as a sibling? Is there any chance that a mistake had been made here?

Take a breath.

First, make a cup of tea.

Then go onto the website for School #1 and follow the instructions for submitting an appeal today. The Sibling, the music, the catering, are all good reasons why the benefit to your DS could outweigh any potential detriment to the school of having him there.

After that, remember that he is extremely high up the waiting list and it is very, very likely that, if not over the next four weeks, by August, enough people will have got places at schools they preferred, submitted appeals of their own or moved into/stayed with the private sector that he will be offered a place in any case. If somehow it did get to September, there is almost always a handful of children that do not arrive at school because of all of the above or have moved home themselves. A ballpark estimate for normal movements would be 6-10% over the period - and then, by the end of September, it isn't unusual for there to be another handful kids moving to other schools.

You can also contact your local authority and ask that he is added to the waiting lists of any other schools that you haven't applied to before.

As much as anybody can say (because this is predicting on normal trends), I really, really think that he will have a place somewhere else just because that is what is normal in Year 7 Admissions.

The school doesn't offer priority to siblings.

@CJOJ presumably you reported the attack to the police? If you have a crime number and some sort of incident report confirming the circumstances, and evidence that the perpertrators were from the offered school, it might help your case.

I wish you success in your appeal. Is it possible to arrange a taxi to school?

If you don’t work outside the home or work from home could you consider home educating in September if he does not yet have a place by then.

Maybe removing the possibility of having to attend the school will help his well being.

At they age, you could achieve in 1-2 hours of formal work per day what they cover in a whole day in school. And leaves time for lots of other hobbies and hands on learning.

well, I would suggest finding an option 4 for the time being, really, any school anywhere that you can reasonable reach, so he has somewhere to go while he is on the waiting list for the school you want.

He might get his place before September anyway

I personally would not send him to school 3, if you can avoid it, and him knowing he doesn't have to go there would help how he is feeling right now

Thanks for all the advice. We have a date for the appeal for 1st school. We are now looking into home schooling as he is getting no better even after visiting the 3rd school again and being told he will be safe when at school ( would not garantee when travelling to school). If anything it has made him go into himself even more.

If anyone has any advice on the appeal part we would really appreciate it.

Thanks

They usually release 2nd round of places end of April after people have confirmed whether they want the place offered. So it's possible you may not have to appeal. Have a look to see how many spaces came available last few years.

I think the assault and bullying are valid reasons. Ask you headteacher to write a supporting statement. Ask GP to support as well and mention weight loss.

Also sibling and music programme are relevant.

You can also find out what furthest distance was of place offered. Then use that to work out where to live.

Just stay on waiting list as 3rd is quite high up.

This website has forums that are really useful - lots of advice on appeals, plus specialist forums for different UK regions, so you may find a mention of your school #1 in the forum local to you. Wishing you luck!
https://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/forum/11plus/

Thanks all.

Can someone please confirm who it is that makes the final decision on appeals. We have spoken to a lot of people that have appealed in the past for 1st choice school. Some have been told by the school representative at the appeal that no one win an appeal for this school, its a waste of time bothering. After reaching out on other platforms we have not found a single person that has win one.

Is it possible that the decisions are pre determined?

They certainly shouldn’t be! The panel must be independent of the school and must determine appeals within the parameters set out in the appeals code (which you can find online). I guess that nobody has yet satisfied the panel that the prejudice (detriment) to their child if they’re not given a place outweighs the prejudice to the school in having to cater for an extra pupil. That doesn’t mean that you couldn’t, if you have strong arguments and evidence.

No, decisions are not pre-determined. They are made by the appeal panel. The members of the panel must be independent. If they are not acting independently, the ESFA or LGO (depending on the type of school) can step in and order a fresh hearing with a different panel.

The school representative is way out of line if they are telling people that no-one can win an appeal. However, given they have said this, make a note of anything that happens in the appeal hearing that concerns you. If you list any concerns here, you will get advice as to whether the appeal panel or school is acting incorrectly.

At an appeal hearong, th school's Presenting Officer makes the school's case for not admitting another pupil above the number already in the specified year group. For any mainstream state school other than a designated grammar school, the school must already be at least at PAN for the year group before they can turn an applicant down, but may be over PAN already by the time of appeals , for various reasons.

It is an Independent Appeal Panel to whom the case is made - if the panel accepts that the school has a case, the individual appellant's are heard, in private. They present their case to the panel, with the school's PO present.

Once all the appeals have been heard, the panel makes its decision with regard to each appeal, separately, as to whether the appellant's case outweighs the school's case. Neither the school's PO nor any appellant is present at this point. The decision of the panel is legally binding.

The school's representative takes no part in the decision making process.

Is this not about appeals specific to Gramar schools? - aren't regular mainstream appeals likely to be different?

The only difference is that, when appealing for a grammar school, the parent may need to convince the appeal panel that their child is of grammar school standard. In all other respects the appeal process is the same.

Thanks @prh47bridge I have been having a look at the website and been scrolling through some of the info. Not quite as useful as the advice provided on here by you and @PanelChair 😀

No, cases aren't predetermined, but in my experience (as a presenting officer) most appeal cases are pretty weak. I often raise eyebrows at some of the advice on here which, while correct in a technical sense, sometimes encourages parents to appeal with arguments that seem weak to me. If the school case is also weak, then they may win, but I haven't witnessed it - the success rates in my area are very low.

I sometimes raise eyebrows at people who try to discourage other people from exercising the right of appeal which the law has given them. The very many threads every year about appeals try (I think) to give people a realistic sense of whether the points they want to raise are likely to carry weight and likely to convince the panel to allow the appeal. Of course, it’s never a prediction because we can’t tell how strong (or weak) the school’s case is likely to be.

It would have to be a proper move to property number 2- putting all bills and council tax into your name, and staying there likely well into Y7. Would you be happy to do that?

Given you are already 3rd on the waiting list, and the others may be higher up for a reason other than distance, I'm not sure how much benefit it would give you.

I think, in this circumstance, you have a strong argument for being allocated a school other than school 3- but that doesn't necessarily mean you will get school 1. Have you considered appealing for school number 2 as well?

Are there any schools in the local area that currently have places?