In year admission appeal

[Myspace123]

Can anybody help me and give me some advice please, my daughter started at her chosen secondary school in 2021 year 7 , she was doing well until the end of last year when she had a silly fall out with some girls , she mentioned moving to another school , and stupidly I moved her to this school in march this year , well after the first week she pretty much hated it and was very unhappy and she said she wanted to go back to her old school and since then it’s been a downward spiral that’s got worse and worse , I called her old school and asked for her to go back but they are full and she’s been put on the waiting list (she was number 4 now she’s number 5😭) she has barely attended the new school she will not go, obviously now I’ve received a letter from the attendance officer about her attendance now to, she is crying everyday and not doing one bit of work all she keeps on about is going back to her old school, I’ve tried everything possible to try and get her back asap , I now have a appeal hearing on June 1st , I really need some advice on what to say and how to go about it ,this is not only stressing her it’s stressing me to, I wish I never moved her now . She’s not learning anything and just upset all the time , it’s currently 9am and I’m begging her to go to school . I don’t know what else to do 😔

Whilst you obviously need to prepare for the appeal as best you can, I'd say take a deep breath and accept that what's done is done. She moved from her old school for good (or maybe not so good) reasons.

The real issue (and of course this isn't what the appeal is about) is that she is not thriving at her new school and won't attend. If you were approaching it fresh, having moved into the area and sent her to her current school, what would you be doing? Would you still be appealing for the original school or is there another option?

@Bramshott Thank you for replying , the thing is if she started fresh somewhere I guess she would have just got on with it and not known any different but because she just wants to go back to her old school that’s all she seems interested in “getting back there” I honestly wish I never took her out now , it’s my fault and I can only blame myself ☹️ but I guess that doesn’t help the situation now

At the appeal, you need to persuade the panel that the prejudice (detriment) to your daughter if she’s not admitted to the school outweighs any prejudice to the school in having to accommodate an additional pupil. You can mention her poor attendance at the current school; the panel might be sympathetic to the argument that if she’s admitted to this school she’ll be motivated to attend school and will get back on track. You can mention anything else about the school that will particularly suit your child and she won’t get at the current school (subjects on the curriculum, extra-curricular offer, pastoral care, whatever).

To be frank, I think the difficulty here is that you’ll be arguing that this school will be the best possible fit for your child, but the panel may be scratching their heads about why then you removed her from it. You need to prepare yourself for questions about that.

@PanelChair thank you so much for your response , I know I made the biggest mistake of my life and I’m paying for that now and so is my daughter, honestly I’m angry with myself , I really need to win this appeal Its really a nightmare right now . Since march she has been off school 21 days and every day is a struggle to get her there . I feel like I have no idea how schools work out admissions and for that I feel like I could mess it up as I don’t know what I’m talking about. the only thing I can say for sure is it’s affecting my daughters mental health and she’s not learning anything and won’t go to this school, the appeal is on the 1st June im so nervous because I feel like if I don’t get her in with this appeal I won’t know what else to do

@PanelChair i would really appreciate your advice please, I just received my appeal case via email , can I ask if a child is still on roll to a school would that mean they could still attend the school , it’s very strange because when I called [redacted] admissions and explained I wanted my daughter to go back to her former school she told me my daughter was still on roll there , now I have seen the appeal there is a email sent to the school from [redacted] admissions asking them if my daughter is still on roll as she hasn’t been taken off roll and this is one month after she left the school , I don’t know if this would help as I have no idea what these things mean but in my head I’m thinking does that mean she could have gone back as she was still on roll at the time ? I maybe clutching at straws but I’m just trying whatever I can at this point . 22 days since march my daughter hasn’t gone to school I really need to win this ,

@PanelChair also they have 300 students each year group and they say they have exactly 300 students , my daughter told me 3 new students have joined the year group since she left and the waiting list never changed so how does that work ?

New ones join the waiting list who will rank higher than your daughter. I am currently looking at an in - year transfer and it goes on merits, not catchment, echp, siblings etc.

@Cantwaitforsummertime hi my daughter is at number 4 but she told me 3 new students have started since she left so I’m baffled how we’re still at number 4 if that’s the case ,

Are they suggesting that your daughter is still on roll now, or that she was for a month after she changed schools? I would normally expect a child to be taken off roll at the old school as soon as they were on roll at the new school (which sometimes takes a few weeks if it’s a managed move). You need to get to the bottom of this because, if she is still on roll at the old school, then she’s still counted in their pupil numbers and you can tell them she’ll be coming back to reclaim her place.

I can’t say how or why the other pupils joined the school. It might be because they joined the waiting list in a higher category than you (and so were first to be offered places) or they might have been admitted with an ECHP or via the Fair Access Protocol.

@PanelChair unfortunately I don’t think she is on the roll now , the email they sent was in April, but I emailed [redacted] admissions before in march about her going back to the school and I rang the school , so if I realised she was on roll still a month after she left I would have been able to take her back to the school ugh . Can I bring this up in the appeal ? Is it worth mentioning

@PanelChair sorry my daughter started the current school march 3rd 2023 and the email they sent asking the school if she was on roll - off roll was on April 5th 2023 , [redacted] still had her on roll at the school even though she had been at her current school a month

I don’t think that’s going to help - obviously, if you had been quicker to ask whether she could return, and if she had still been on roll, it would or should have been easy to move her back, but that ship has sailed. I think your strongest argument here is about her attendance and school refusal, but mention anything which shows that this school is the best fit for her.

@PanelChair i did contact the school and [redacted] admissions only two weeks after she started the new school , the lady at [redacted] admissions actually told me she was still down as being at Woodbridge but I didn’t think anything of it at that time because I just don’t know how these things work, if I had known it would have been possible to take her back I would have , this really makes me want to cry now ,

What’s done is done. Concentrate on putting forward the best case you can for her to be readmitted to the school.

You might want to report your posts, as you’ve named the borough and the school, which might make you identifiable.

@PanelChair oh I didn’t realise you couldn’t , can I delete this thread ? Thank you for your help I will do everything I can and hope for the best

Not directly about your appeal, but have you spoken to the new school about whether they would arrange a managed move back to the old school?

It’s not that you can’t, but most people prefer not to, because anyone who recognises the names of the borough and school might be able to work out who you are. If you’re not bothered by that, it’s fine.

If your appeal doesn’t succeed, talk to the new school about a managed move back to the old one. They might be willing to broker a move.

@Lightuptheroom i did actually ask about a managed move but he said it doesn’t work like that to just move her, basically she’s not done anything wrong to be moved , but to be honest it’s just ridiculous now she’s had so many days not attending and some lessons she won’t go to when she’s there ,she truanted a lesson Monday sat in the toilet by herself because she didn’t want to go into that lesson, every time I finally get her to go she’s messaging me at lunchtimes telling me she’s sitting by herself , no one talks to her , and she said I’m being so nice to everyone and they are just horrible to me . She sent me a video Wednesday of her sat in a lesson by herself on the table , the teacher told them to pair up to do the work and she was left by herself , honestly my heart breaks everyday , I wish I never moved her worse mistake I’ve ever made , and I don’t find this school very helpful with this situation tbh .

This isn’t a typical managed move situation, but i wonder whether the school might be willing to consider it, as possibly a way of addressing the poor attendance.

@PanelChair if I don’t succeed in this appeal I will definitely be mentioning a managed move again, honestly I don’t know how she will cope if she has to go back to this school again (she hasn’t gone the last two days because of what happened as written above)she was so upset about it , obviously it’s half term next week so it will be nice to not stress for a week knowing she hasn’t got school but after that I don’t know what I’m going to do if it’s not good news for her.

@PanelChair sorry to keep bothering you but reading the posts on here I can see you know a lot about admissions appeals , please Is there anything on the forms I’ve uploaded that I should mention in the hearing ? Anything there that I can mention and pick at ? Really appreciate it thank you

That is pretty much the standard case from any school. If you want to pick at it, you could ask them to be more specific about what the problems would be in going above 300 in the year group. They mention health and safety concerns about narrow corridors; you could ask them whether there have ever been any accidents attributable to overcrowding.

You can ask MN to redact the mentions of the authority and the school.

Actually I did it for you!

Well the appeal hearing was this morning , I feel deflated tbh , I don’t think I’ve done enough or more so didn’t word things right ,I was so nervous and I’m really not great at doing things like this, so now I feel like it’s just going to be a no , and now I’m sat here thinking I really don’t know what to do if it is a no, apparently if it’s a yes they will call me tomorrow morning , if it’s a no I won’t hear anything ☹️, I did ask the questions about being over pan and also I did ask if there has been any accidents due to being over pan , she didn’t really have a proper answer for these questions though ,I’m really not banking on the phone call tomorrow which has really ruined my day now , I just have no idea what the outcome will be , I really tried my best I just hope the fact that she’s not going to school and she’s really unhappy is enough to give mya the space . I don’t know 😞