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Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Unsuccessful appeal

44 replies

bags0455 · 20/05/2023 15:47

Please please help me with any advice.

I was not given the secondary school I put as my first and only choice. My son and 2 younger children currently attend the feeder school however the criteria is catchment and feeder and I'm out the feeder due to moving in COVID. I went to plea my case with multiple reasons for my appeal being out entire support network is were the school is
We have no one in our new area. He plays for both the local football teams. All his friends are there and I will be dropping his siblings there for 5 more years so distance will not matter due to me driving. I'm also the only driver in my house. There was a few more personal reasons however I won't go into them. I have found out we was not successful and I am truly devastated. My son has cried for 2 days. What can I do now to try and get more help to get the school
Has anyone ever contacted there local MP.

Thank you

OP posts:
Itmakesnosense · 20/05/2023 18:49

ThickSkinnedSoWhat · 20/05/2023 18:29

Like second-class citizens basically. In my own experience, my child’s peers found out their school for primary weeks ago, mine still has no place and may not gain one. In which case I will then have to home school as mainstream is not an option with their needs. Alternatively, by the time I am finally told where, I will likely need to drop out of uni or certainly try and defer because trying to get childcare for children with SEN/severe learning disabilities is next to impossible as it is, without it being left this late. But unfortunately, I cannot find any childcare until I know her school, as the nearest are miles away from each other meaning no childcare is likely to travel to collect unless nearby. I wish my biggest problem trying to find my child a place was being entitled and therefore placing one choice on a form then whinging when I didn’t get it and using the excuses provided in this post as to why it is unsuitable. People don’t know they are living.

Thank you for explaining. I had no idea. That sounds very stressful and sounds like you can't make any plans until that is resolved. I hope your LA can allocate your daughter a school that will meet her needs and that you won't have to drop out of Uni. All the very best.

ThickSkinnedSoWhat · 20/05/2023 18:52

Itmakesnosense · 20/05/2023 18:49

Thank you for explaining. I had no idea. That sounds very stressful and sounds like you can't make any plans until that is resolved. I hope your LA can allocate your daughter a school that will meet her needs and that you won't have to drop out of Uni. All the very best.

Thanks very much. I honestly wouldn't wish it on anyone, my little one has been very much let down. Had a statement in place since before even starting preschool, so not as if they didn't know of my child before now. I am a lone parent which doesn't help as I can't try and make temporary arrangements for now as a back up 🙈 anyway, it just winds me up when I see posts like this when actually the situation could be a hell of a lot worse. For both child and parent.

PanelChair · 20/05/2023 19:43

I appreciate that there were additional arguments which you haven’t included here, but the other arguments for your child to be admitted to the school were never likely to succeed and, sadly, I’m not surprised you lost the appeal.

As others have asked, have you got a place for your child from September? Are you on the waiting list for any school you’d be willing to accept?

Figgygal · 20/05/2023 19:47

That sounds like a logistical nightmare is he on the waiting list? Sounds like That's your only hope now

SummerHouse · 20/05/2023 20:04

Really feel for you OP it's a really hard situation. I think some people posting here should have a word with themselves as I really don't see why you would kick a person when they are down.

I think you have to accept this is not the school DS is going to start yr 7 in. However you can be on the waiting list and ask where you are on that list.

You can appeal for year 8 so and might have a better chance at that point. I know that will not feel much of positive at the moment but it's potentially a longer term plan.

I think mainly you need to dust yourself off and head back into a different battle. You can't get this school, so what can you do? You have to find all your strength to be positive about whatever the alternative is. When I was facing a tough time my mantra was "I will make this ok". The "what ifs" were running riot in my mind but to each and every one I would say to myself "I will make it ok". You can do this OP. I really understand where you are coming from and that this feels like a disaster but you will make it ok.

Starlightstarbright1 · 20/05/2023 20:19

For now you are in a position he doesn’t have a place in that school . Look around allocated school . Look at transport links . Help him see it positively . If it’s not closest look at that one possible waiting lists ? But preparing your child for new school . I know friends children who have not moved with peers have done very well

clary · 20/05/2023 20:49

I think some people posting here should have a word with themselves as I really don't see why you would kick a person when they are down

I think that's a bit harsh @SummerHouse .
Virtually every post on here offers advice on the lines of "talk up the offered school" and "if you appeal next year, you need better reasons" and "for future applications for yoir younger children, it's wise to put three schools down".

All sensible and practical advice and not at all aggressive. Maybe not what the op wants to hear but if what you want is impossible, it's not helpful if ppl say it is possible tbh.

Floralnomad · 20/05/2023 21:11

@SummerHouse , people have not been harsh , they’ve been realistic . The OP would have been better off moving all her children to schools where she currently lives - and that is what she should concentrate on now .

NeverDropYourMooncup · 20/05/2023 21:42

He's been automatically added to the waiting list since national offer day. It's a good time to find out where he is on the WL because, as appeals draw to a close, some may withdraw their places in favour of wherever they appealed for. Summer of Year 6 is also a prime time for people to move home altogether, which means that (hopefully) they will notify the LA of their move and new school place.

Other key times for places to open up are the second week of September, as movers are confirmed as attending their new schools, the end of September when others go to school that now have places that opened up a fortnight ago, and in the New Year.

You may need to confirm that you wish to stay on the waiting list or reapply as an in year admission after Christmas, depending upon whether the LA wipe everybody off the waiting list once the legal requirement to maintain it expires.

Unless your DS has particular SEND that makes it impossible for him to make his own way to and from the school he is allocated (because you do need to accept whatever you are offered), your driving is neither here nor there.

Depending upon the size of the intake at the school you want, it wouldn't be unusual for 5-10 to move over the summer or not turn up because they have places at private or miles away where they've moved to. In addition, 2-3 going at the end of September wouldn't be a surprise.

A lot of people who are still on the waiting list come September will, if offered, decline it, as they've just started, bought the uniform and so on, which also increases the likelihood of being high enough up the WL to be offered a place.

At no point does an email from the local MP make even the slightest bit of difference. The Law requires that school places are offered in accordance with the determined admissions policy and the legal oversubscription criteria. In short, nobody working in Admissions, nor their Headteacher, Chair of Governors, Parish Priest or pet cat pay the slightest bit of attention to whatever their constituency assistant has typed up for you. If they did, it would make a mockery of the Law - and would inevitably lead to mates of the MP being able to get their kids into the most oversubscribed schools at the expense of everybody else being treated fairly. If anybody ever claims it happened because their MP got in touch, they're experiencing real life correlation =/= causation; it's a pure coincidence.

It's tough and it's nerve wracking, and it's probably a bit scary thinking of your child travelling to school alone on the bus - but if you have been unable to evidence circumstances that made it necessary for your preferred school to offer him a place, it has been dealt with correctly and your choice is whether you equip him to go somewhere else and thrive whilst waiting in hope of moving up the waiting list or whether you contribute to his distress by focussing on something that the Law shows isn't feasible. For your DS's benefit, making the best of it is better than catastrophising.

bags0455 · 20/05/2023 22:13

Thank you so much to the people offering advice I genuinely appreciate it. I did have other things and reasons in my appeal but left them out for personal reasons and just wanted to see if anything was possible.

We have the other school and I'm boosting up my son to look forward to this new chapter in his life.

Definitely don't appreciate the posts from people telling me about how bad there battles are and I should basically get other it. I didn't post on here to hear about your struggles and if you require advise or want to moan about your situation create your own post. Bloody hell people have lost their minds. I genuinely posted for the first time ever on hear for any help I may get and some people are hear to just take their crap out on others 😔

OP posts:
Squiblet · 20/05/2023 22:16

ThickSkinnedSoWhat · 20/05/2023 18:29

Like second-class citizens basically. In my own experience, my child’s peers found out their school for primary weeks ago, mine still has no place and may not gain one. In which case I will then have to home school as mainstream is not an option with their needs. Alternatively, by the time I am finally told where, I will likely need to drop out of uni or certainly try and defer because trying to get childcare for children with SEN/severe learning disabilities is next to impossible as it is, without it being left this late. But unfortunately, I cannot find any childcare until I know her school, as the nearest are miles away from each other meaning no childcare is likely to travel to collect unless nearby. I wish my biggest problem trying to find my child a place was being entitled and therefore placing one choice on a form then whinging when I didn’t get it and using the excuses provided in this post as to why it is unsuitable. People don’t know they are living.

It makes my blood boil that they can treat your child like this. Absolutely shocking. Your child has as much right to an education as any - and you as a lone parent of a SEN student should get more support, not less!

If there's a campaign group working to get better outcomes for SEN children and parents in situations like these, point us to it, please? 🙏

TorviShieldMaiden · 21/05/2023 06:02

Square Peg is a campaign group who are trying to push a lot of these issues. They have a website too. They are highlighting the broken system which leads many children to be absent from school due to lack of suitable places and a rigid system that does not allow proper inclusion.

my dd (autistic) is currently out of school, waiting for EHCP. Although she has a mainstream secondary place for Sept, she can’t attend as she’s unable to manage mainstream primary. So it’s wait and wait and fight and fight.

TallerThanAverage · 21/05/2023 06:54

Definitely don't appreciate the posts from people telling me about how bad there battles are and I should basically get other it. I didn't post on here to hear about your struggles and if you require advise or want to moan about your situation create your own post.

would you rather no one told you the reality of the situation that you could potentially face, that they know from bitter experience, or do you just want everyone to give you false hope and say that it’s going to be okay? MN isn’t perfect but by someone else sharing their experience on your post there might be a reply that will help you somehow.

Babymamamama · 21/05/2023 07:12

Don’t understand this post at all. Parent is in the catchment of a school she’d like her DC to transition to. Parent decides to move house thereby taking family out of said catchment. Where is the injustice. You’re either in or outside of catchment.

TeenDivided · 21/05/2023 07:15

OP. Just so as you know, mini derails on MN are quite common, especially if someone posts then disappears for 6 hours, people tend to start chatting amongst themselves. It isn't personal.

I hope your DS gets used to the idea of a different school and makes a friend at the transition day

GreatOak · 21/05/2023 07:19

OP, I sympathise hugely as we were in catchment to the secondary school but a bit further out than others so were refused a place. Many years ago now.

To answer your query and echo a previous PP’s advice, a letter from your MP will not help you at all. I can tell you from experience because my MP wrote one in support of our appeal and we still lost.

HoisttheMainSail · 21/05/2023 07:24

bags0455 · 20/05/2023 22:13

Thank you so much to the people offering advice I genuinely appreciate it. I did have other things and reasons in my appeal but left them out for personal reasons and just wanted to see if anything was possible.

We have the other school and I'm boosting up my son to look forward to this new chapter in his life.

Definitely don't appreciate the posts from people telling me about how bad there battles are and I should basically get other it. I didn't post on here to hear about your struggles and if you require advise or want to moan about your situation create your own post. Bloody hell people have lost their minds. I genuinely posted for the first time ever on hear for any help I may get and some people are hear to just take their crap out on others 😔

Well, aren’t you charming? The only real digression I can see is someone explaining the issues for kids with SEN in response to a direct question. And since you omit the other “personal reasons” for your appeal, it’s not inconceivable that SEN issues could be in the mix.

Anyway, back to problem. Sadly I don’t think there is anything you can do re appeals this year but in practical terms you must (and apologies if you’ve done this already)

  1. accept the place offered
  2. ensure you are on waiting lists
  3. accept that your DS is going to named school and big it up
  4. decide what you want for other DCs and search through the countless threads on here on what to do. The most important thing is that you never just put one school down on your form.
ArdeteiMasazxu · 21/05/2023 07:40

I'm really sorry but I honestly think you need to focus your energies on accepting the assigned school and making the best of it.

The criteria are correctly applied. You moved away from the catchment of your own free will. The reasons you gave at appeal aren't very relevant to the appeal process and it's rather too late to revisit now the things that would have been better to do. The past is done.

Focus on being a good parent to your child - you may be devastated but you need to put a brave face on and help your child to do likewise. There will be good things about the assigned school. Big these up. Build up local contacts in your new area rather than relying on networks in the area you have moved away from.

Try your hardest to make the assigned school work. Give it at least 2 years. Schools with bad reputations often aren't all that bad as a lot of effort is being put into turning them around. As a backup plan, to be actioned only if the assigned school turns out to be really as bad as you fear, look into what it would take to relocate again around easter of when your child is in year 8, somewhere that is commutable to more than one alternative acceptable school but also commutable back to the existing school, and start putting in multiple in-year applications for places at any other school. Lots of kids moved between schools around the end of y8 and start of y9 so a place will come up somewhere.

ThickSkinnedSoWhat · 21/05/2023 08:48

bags0455 · 20/05/2023 22:13

Thank you so much to the people offering advice I genuinely appreciate it. I did have other things and reasons in my appeal but left them out for personal reasons and just wanted to see if anything was possible.

We have the other school and I'm boosting up my son to look forward to this new chapter in his life.

Definitely don't appreciate the posts from people telling me about how bad there battles are and I should basically get other it. I didn't post on here to hear about your struggles and if you require advise or want to moan about your situation create your own post. Bloody hell people have lost their minds. I genuinely posted for the first time ever on hear for any help I may get and some people are hear to just take their crap out on others 😔

I was responding to a question I was asked after saying your circumstances could be worse. Which they definitely could.

This post just shows further entitlement on your part quite honestly. If you don't like my post then report it.

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