School sibling link

[Eholme]

Hi, I don’t know if anyone can help me or has been in a similar situation.
We very recently won a school appeal as we didn’t get given sibling priority. We have a son who is/was year 11 and plans to stay on for years 12,13.
The admission criteria just mentioned you need to have a sibling at time of application and at time of admissions.

We are obviously over the moon we won our appeal but after speaking to someone they asked me what happens if my eldest doesn’t get the grades for sixth form?! I hadn’t really thought about this as he has been provisionally accepted and been for a taster session day and all his predicted grades are what he needs. Obviously this has now worried me as I guess we can’t be 100% sure until results day at the end of August.
Could my younger sons place be taken away if his sibling couldn’t go to the sixth form due to grades?

Really appreciate any advice as it’s now made me think/worry. I have no reason to think it could go this way but I guess I can’t guarantee it.

Hi @Eholme congratulations on winning your appeal! We lost ours but glad to hear when others do, as I know how important it can be! My understanding is that if you win your appeal then the school has to give your son a place and it would not be dependent on your older son’s results. The panel would have made their decision based on the evidence they had at the time, and no one could know at that stage whether your older son would get the necessary grades or not. So if you won your appeal
it will not be dependent on whether your older son will be there or not. I think others might know for sure so I will try and link them to this thread.

@lougle @panelchair @prh47bridge are you able to put OP’s mind at rest?

Are you sure you win on sibling link, and not any other grounds?
Did you only give sibling as your reason for appeal?

Presumably it was because the sibling rule wasn't applied in the OPs case and it should have been and the dc would have got a place if the rule was correctly applied.

Well that is clearly what the OP is implying, I'm just double checking.

Often schools exclude 6th form from sibling links just for this reason. I imagine they'll be tightening up the wording in future.

Thanks for your reply…
Yes. The school has recently become an 11-18 school and they make no mention of this not being included in the criteria for sibling link.
A lot of the other locals schools make a point of saying siblings in year groups 7-11 this one just said time of application(which he was) and time of admission which he has every intention to be. The panel said the school should have been clearer as they knew they were becoming an 11-18 school 2 years ago.
we won our appeal along with 2 other families with the same reason….we gave no other reason.

Thanks for your reply and advice.
Im so sorry to hear about your appeal. It’s such a stressful time.

You have won your appeal. The place is therefore yours. It doesn't matter whether your older son gets the grades for sixth form. They cannot take the place away.

Thank you. That’s reassured me. I didn’t even think about it until someone asked me…I was worried because the sibling criteria not being clear and my eldest son staying on for year 12 was the reason I won I didn't even think what could happen if it didn’t work out like that.
I know some schools word the sibling criteria for a 11-18 school as the sibling reasonably expected to still be at the school at time of admissions.

If it's a new sixth form, it may well not be full, and so if someone who was expected to get the grades they needed doesn't quite get them, they might well let them in anyway - unless it's the minimum maths/English (they have to provide teaching if someone hasn't got those, which they won't have planned for).

Well it currently has/had a year 13 as it shared a campus with another school but it has now got its own campus and this is the first year it can take a full intake.
As my eldest is an internal student they get priority. We got a letter recently about results day and it mentions on the day you collect your results you go to see them and confirm your courses/or if you want to change. It does also say if you don’t get the results they will work with you to find the best option.

The decision of the Independent Appeal Panel is binding on both parties.

Your appeal was upheld, your younger DC has a place for September; the panel's decision to uphold ensures this (assuming that you want to take up the place - people do appeal for more than one school and obviously can't take up both / all the places if successful in more than one).

Appeal panels look at the question of whether the admissions policy meets the requirements of / doesn't contravene the relevant legislation, did it, or the way that it was applied, deprive your DC of a place, etc - but outside of infant class size restrictions, also look at elements of the case not strictly pertaining to the admissions policy. e.g. a school may perfectly legally not have a 'medical / social need' criterion and therefore have perfectly legally ignored what someone says about their or their DC's needs in those areas in the 'free form' bit of the application - but the appeal panel can decide, on balance, that this is such a major issue for the appellant, that it outweighs the school's case not to go over its admission number.

It sounds like they are trying to build/improve their sixth form, so very, very unlikely they will turn your son away. If he doesn't get the grades he needs for the courses he wants, it's far more likely they will offer him alternative courses where he meets or is closer to the entry requirement.

Is him missing the grades for sixth form by a long way likely? Does he have a back up plan?

His predicted grades are all what he needs for the courses he wants, his recent Mock exams showed this also apart from a couple
of subjects were a grade lower, when I spoke to the teachers about this they were not worried and said the mocks are more difficult and they still think he can achieve what he needs.
He is also willing to take alternative courses at the sixth form if he has to as that’s really where he wants to stay and you could only pick 3/4 A levels to study and there was about 6 that he was interested in.

He did look at a local college and went to the open day which would be a last resort but sixth form is what he wants.

We have had the opposite experience. Son is yr11 and offered sixth form place which he intends to take up. School admissions says nothing about definition of sibling and we thought we had sibling status, I even asked staff about this on open day and they said yes we should have.
We were not given a place and our appeal has failed. As far as I am concerned they have not followed the government code as they have not made it clear, does anyone have any advise, I am thinking of taking legal advise. Thanks

Unfortunately, teachers often give poor advice on admissions. What matters, as far as compliance with the Admissions Code is concerned, is the clarity of their published information.

I am, however, somewhat confused by your post. You start by saying your son was offered a sixth form place, then say you were not given a place. Do you mean you have two children and the youngest was trying to get a place in Y7?

I will be happy to take a look at their published admission arrangements and give an opinion if you PM me the name of the school and the LA involved.