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Secondary education

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

Original poster

Has anyone won a school appeal (Sixth Form)?

76 replies

bendmeoverbackwards · 26/09/2023 16:41

We are submitting an appeal for a Year 12 place at dd's secondary school. They refused to accept her because she didn't quite achieve the entry requirements (46 points, she got 44).

Dh has been in touch with a specialist barrister who seems to think we have a good case. Dd is autistic and is extremely distressed at having to move schools. However I have also heard that school appeals generally don't go in the parents favour.

Any words of advice please?

OP posts:
Jackydaytona · 26/09/2023 16:55

So, she didn't get the required points as stated in the admissions policy?

You won't get in on that basis, then.

Does she have an ehcp? Is she on the send register?

Your best bet would be to focus on her send and any potential discrimination on that basis.

Original poster
bendmeoverbackwards · 26/09/2023 16:59

No, she didn't but when I spoke to a member of the SLT a few months ago, she said there might be some leeway.

No EHCP but she is on the SEND register. She missed quite a lot of school in Years 10 and 11 due to ill health hence disappointing results. She is very able and should have achieved the required results.

OP posts:
Jackydaytona · 26/09/2023 17:46

So, I'd be getting as much medical evidence as possible as mitigating factors and focusing on her semh.

battlelines · 26/09/2023 18:55

@bendmeoverbackwards is the sixth form full? If it isn't you will have more chance. (Though I suspect it is - if it wasn't full they'd probably have been much more flexible as they'd be glad of the extra funding).

Also, were any of her marks very close to the grade boundary? If so, that might help to demonstrate that she was only marginally below the threshold.

Does the school offer vocational courses in its sixth form to cater for students who might struggle to meet the demands of A Level courses? If not, the school's case may focus on the non-suitability of A Level study for your child, so you should build a good case for why she wants/needs to do her chosen courses.

Original poster
bendmeoverbackwards · 26/09/2023 19:19

Thank you @battlelines I'm not sure if the school is full, I also suspect it is.

English Language was one mark off a 7.

No vocational courses are offered, it is an academic (semi-selective) school. I too am not 100% sure if A Levels are right for her, although if she attends regularly she should have no trouble coping with the courses. She is academically very able (top 1% from assessment aged 11). But she has to be happy at school, she has pointed out to me (quite rightly) that if she's unhappy she won't learn. The course is important but the environment is also important.

OP posts:
cansu · 26/09/2023 19:24

I would consider carefully whether this is in fact in her best interests.

  1. She has missed a lot of school. They may say that if she misses similar amounts she will continue to struggle with keeping up. You say it affected her GCSE marks. It will certainly affect her a levels where there is a huge step up in workload. Is the health problem now resolved?
  2. She will be joining late if she did get in as the course will have already begun by the time the appeal is heard.
battlelines · 26/09/2023 19:24

English Language was one mark off a 7.

Have you asked for the marking to be reviewed? Many papers get uplifted - there's a whole other thread about that.

LadyLapsang · 26/09/2023 19:26

Apart from her overall score, did she achieve the minimum grades set in the individual subject areas for the A-Levels she wants to study? Has she achieved a good pass in maths?

Original poster
bendmeoverbackwards · 26/09/2023 19:42

@battlelines we did submit a marking review for 5 GCSE papers including English Language. There was no change unfortunately.

She got 6s in Maths, English Language, English Lit and Dual Science. 5s in History and RS, 4 in Spanish and a 3 in Classics. Her school ask for 6s for A Level subjects which she has.

In terms of missing school, I am trying to find out the exam boards/spec/textbooks for her subjects so she can make a start at home. I've heard from dd's best friend's mum that there is a lot of chopping and changing of subjects even this week.

OP posts:
ChalkMyDrive · 26/09/2023 21:51

Going to tag some admissions experts for you bend to see what their take is because the sixth form is a different admissions policy I believe than a secondary. I am sorry she didn't manage to get in to sixth form.

To the brilliant MNetters named below, any experience on this sort of thing?

@PatriciaHolm @prh47bridge @PanelChair @admission

LIZS · 26/09/2023 21:56

Does she have a place elsewhere? I'm not sure having the school forced to take her will work out positively.

Original poster
bendmeoverbackwards · 26/09/2023 22:00

@LIZS she did one day at a local independent school then said she hated it and refused to go back. I’ve told her many many times she needs to give it more time but she is point blank refusing. She doesn’t want a college (we have some good local ones).

OP posts:
clerkhaton · 26/09/2023 22:09

I have been clerking appeals and this is from the guidance:

Appeals for school sixth forms

If the school sixth form did not offer your child a place, both you and your child have the right to appeal.

If they did not offer your child a place because there were others that more closely met the school’s admissions criteria, then the appeals process is the same as all other school admission appeals.
If your child was refused admission because they did not meet the entry requirements specified by the school (for example 5 GCSEs grade 4 or above), the panel will only uphold the appeal if it considers that the admission authority’s decision was unreasonable based on the information available. For example, if there are specific reasons or special circumstances that meant your child was not able to get the required GCSEs at the relevant grades.

The 3rd para is your situation. So worth submitting an appeal but you will need some very good evidence.

Original poster
bendmeoverbackwards · 26/09/2023 22:15

Thank you @clerkhaton The school authorised all her absences as illness. Her predicted grades pre mid year 10 (when the anxiety) started were very good (7s and some 8s) showing she is very able but her grades slipped after this point. Is this the sort of evidence you mean?

OP posts:
clerkhaton · 26/09/2023 22:29

In my experience, you will need more than just authorised illness. It's difficult to answer as the parameters vary with different establishments and can depend on numbers in cohort. But you will need clear evidence of why her grades were not as required. Not just, she was absent.

Personal opinion (and not with my clerk hat on!):
I would say that as the school already knows your DD well, it's not as if she is as 'newbie' applying, if they wanted her/thought she'd cope/accepted the drop in grades, they would have offered her a place.

prh47bridge · 27/09/2023 00:28

This is a case where your daughter failed to meet the entry requirements. I understand the reasons why, but we have to deal with how an appeal panel will consider this. The Appeals Code is clear that the panel must not make its own assessment of your daughter's ability. They can only look at whether the school's decision was reasonable given the information they had available. If the school has a process for considering such cases, the appeal panel must consider whether that was carried out in a consistent and objective way.

Your daughter's autism on its own does not give you a case, and I'm afraid her distress at having to change schools is irrelevant (although I would still raise it in the appeal - it may persuade the panel to give you the benefit of any doubt). On the information you have posted, I would concentrate on your daughter missing school due to ill health and the effect that had on her ability to prepare for the exams, particularly if the school did not put anything in place to help her catch up with those parts of the courses she had missed. I don't know if that will work, but I think that is your best chance.

battlelines · 27/09/2023 07:42

OP, if you know of other students who have been given some leeway, that may help your case. As Prh said, they need to have an objective, consistent process.

AnySoln · 27/09/2023 16:36

If she missed school due to anxiety it is surely unlikely that it will improve during alevels at the same school.
I would look elsewhere and maybe online where it might be easier to catch up.
Is she studying maths or sciences ? As with 6's she might struggle.

Also waiting for the appeal to be heard your dd is missing a lot of work.
We appealed a secondary place and despite great evidence were refused. The panel arent people who know about asd etc.
Also dd friend has had issues with attendance in y 5 and y6 and despite new secondary now it is still on on off issue.

Unless its a case of a subject or teacher she now wont have?

SilasMarnerJekyll · 27/09/2023 16:44

The problem is that even if you win the appeal your daughter will have missed so much of the course that it will not be practical to catch up on the missed workload.

Original poster
bendmeoverbackwards · 27/09/2023 18:18

Thank you for your honest frank replies. It doesn’t sound too hopeful does it? I’m at a complete loss what to do next. Meanwhile dd is in her room most of the day. Her chosen subjects are Sociology, Psychology and English lit and in the mean time I’m going to find the relevant boards, spec etc so she can do some reading.

Ive looked at Kings InterHigh which I’ve heard good things about but Dh is very wary of going down this path as he thinks dd will be even more isolated.

OP posts:
prh47bridge · 27/09/2023 18:57

Don't build up your hopes but I would definitely go for the appeal. If you lose you are in the same position as you are today. If you win your daughter will have a place. But you should also look at the alternatives.

yumumsun · 29/09/2023 21:39

I don’t understand why you would appeal. She did not make the grade, end of. Why would you want her to end up in a school where she is potentially the bottom in her year. Flabbergasted.

Original poster
bendmeoverbackwards · 30/09/2023 14:05

Because @yumumsun there is more to school than top grades and being top of the class.

My friend's dd got disappointing GCSE results and my friend encouraged her to leave her school and go to college instead. Her dd didn't want to and chose to go back to school and do A Levels even though it probably wasn't the best option academically. But she enjoyed her 2 years in the sixth form. She got very low grades for her A Levels (Ds and Es) but in spite of this has just started a fantastic degree apprenticeship course and is very happy.

Your post demonstrates what is so wrong with our education system, is it any wonder why there is a mental health crisis when the message that anything less than A and B grades is terrible?

OP posts:
AnySoln · 30/09/2023 14:13

I dont think pp means that just that emotionally for a student its not great being bottom or behind.

elkiedee · 30/09/2023 15:27

yumumsun · 29/09/2023 21:39

I don’t understand why you would appeal. She did not make the grade, end of. Why would you want her to end up in a school where she is potentially the bottom in her year. Flabbergasted.

OP says that her daughter did get the grades for the subjects she wants to do - grade 6 is a B, and it certainly shouldn't mean that students aren't capable of taking a subject further. She's chosen subjects she's interested in studying, and where she may have stronger skills/knowledge or be capable of acquiring them, not compulsory ones or choices within a particular area. She's not that far short of the required points. My son's chosen sixth form has a minimum requirement below that for A level study, though requirements for his options are a bit higher (4 A levels including FM), and their results are pretty good, though they do have to do well at the end of the first year to progress to the second.

You can't always predict A level results from O levels - I did better in one and worse in another than might have been predicted. My sister nearly missed out on a university place due to a difficult paper and a very disappointing result in the most relevant A level to her chosen course, but a remark got her up from D to B and she ended up with a First!

And I think we need to get out of a "bottom of the class" mentality for education (and life), and think what matters is that all students get an education in more useful skills than comparing themselves to each other.