Has anyone won a school appeal (Sixth Form)?

[bendmeoverbackwards]

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?

Not of itself, no. But the fact there have already been five successful appeals will make it a little harder to win your appeal.

It shouldn't, but having admitted 5 additional students may allow the school to argue they are now too full to accept another.

Are the students admitted on appeal the only students let in who had lower grades than the entry requirements?

As a general point, as an A-level teacher, we have now covered a full topic with y12. We've also reached our deadline for internal switches of course. I do think a student joining the course now having done no independent study would have a lot to catch up on and might struggle in general for a while. I also think it can be quite difficult for a new student to come into an established A-level class even if they are known to the school.

I know you are in a difficult situation and I fully understand why you are appealing, but I am concerned there is a possibility that even if your DD gets a place she may struggle.

Thank you. I too am very worried about the missed work. I keep going over in my mind why we didn’t submit the appeal earlier and I think the reasons were - we were trying to get her settled in a new school; we weren’t convinced her old school was the right place for her; and we were getting legal advice which takes time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I now feel so guilty for not submitting the appeal weeks ago.

I'm not blaming you at all- I think you are doing the best you can and your daughter's ASD is likely making this all more difficult. I know some students get very set on Plan A only- even when it may not be the best option.

I think any option that gets her to engage in education again is going to be better than nothing.

If she were back in school, would she engage with a tutor if she were struggling? Assuming that's a route you want to go down!

Thank you @Postapocalypticcowgirl unfortunaly I do blame myself but Dh says I’m being too hard on myself.

Ah tutors! We have been down this road so many times. Dd wanted tutors for some subjects on and off during years 10 and 11 but when it came to it, she just couldn’t manage. A particular low point was when an English tutor arrived at our house (with DD’s agreement), dd shut herself in her bedroom, tutor was outside in her car waiting and I was communicating with both parties. Had to pay £50 for nothing in the end and a lot of stress for me.

Why don’t you submit a new application for next year at sixth form? If she is a few marks off then get her to resit a few GCSE’s. Unfortunately the A’Levels subjects she has chosen are very popular in a lot of sixth form - perhaps she should have chosen different subjects. Good luck

This is so ignorant. The appeals process is created for mitigating circumstances.

I disagree. Mitigating would be a family death, illness etc. But if you have a child with a condition they live with then they would still be in a school they should not be in.
Social justice is profoundly unfair.

Update, our appeal hearing is tomorrow. Apparently there are several Year 12 appeals which are all being heard tomorrow. I'm not overly hopeful and not convinced that the school is now right for her but does anyone have any tips please?

Did the school submit a statement of their case in advance of the hearing?

No they didn't @battlelines the clerk called yesterday to say the school would state their case at the start of the hearing tomorrow.

Are you sure these were formal appeals, and not just exceptional circumstances decisions? Did you ever find out if anyone was admitted without the grades and without an appeal? If anyone who misses the grades was admitted without an appeal it's worth asking questions to make sure these clauses of the Admissions Code were adhered to:

Apparently there was an 'unofficial' appeal just after results day where students who were close to the entry requirements (including my dd) were invited to email the Head to state their case. These were all heard by a school panel the following week and (according to my dd) none were admitted after this.

I don't think anyone who didn't have the entry requirements was admitted without appeal.

Then they won't be able to provide any evidence to back it up, e.g written reports, unless the Chair allows the committee to adjourn to read them. If they do try to submit new evidence on the day, you could object (though it's only worth doing that if you think you'd be able to provide counter-evidence).

Then I would be asking questions about that early 'appeal panel' - was it an internal 'exceptional circumstances' committee formed of governors (ok, so long as there is an exceptional circumstances clause in the policy), or an independent appeal panel like yours (obviously ok) or some sort of internal staff committee (not ok).

Then I would be asking questions about that early 'appeal panel' - was it an internal 'exceptional circumstances' committee formed of governors (ok, so long as there is an exceptional circumstances clause in the policy), or an independent appeal panel like yours (obviously ok) or some sort of internal staff committee (not ok).

And of course, they will ask why your DD didn't respond to their email. But it may have gone to spam?

@battlelines I've had another look and the school has stated its case. It mostly refers to dd's GCSE grades not meeting their entry requirements (46 points from 8 best GCSEs; dd achieved 44). They are disputing that her predicted grades were 7s and 8s. However from her report at the end of Year 9, her predicted grades WERE very good, mostly 7s and 8s. Her grades started to dip in Year 10 coinciding with the time she became ill and her attendance dropped. Her absences were all authorised as illness. So isn't this discriminatory?

Not discrimatory, no. She missed lessons, therefore did worse than expected in her exams. That's cause-and-effect, not discrimination. She was simply not at the required level. The reasons for the grade dip are only material if you can succesfully argue she is now fully recovered from the illness and has compensated for the lost time by doing extra work to catch up with her peers (with evidence).

To be clear, you can't expect her to be treated equally with applicants who met the grade threshold, but you can expect her to be treated equally with other applicants who narrowly missed it. In an appeal situation, your daughter's case might be considered stronger than that of a similar appellant who doesn't have evidence of an illness impacting their grades.

Thank you @battlelines the school apparently has admitted 5 students who also had less than the required grades.

Are you saying DD’s autism and associated anxiety isn’t relevant?

I don't think they'll help your case that she will be able to cope academically, but they may help your case that it is the only school she is comfortable attending.

Good luck today, @bendmeoverbackwards

@bendmeoverbackwards I am in a similar situation and wonderd if you won the appeal?

Unfortunately not. Who knows if it would have been a different outcome had we appealed earlier but what’s done is done. Good luck @MyVividLurker when is your hearing?