Urgent appeal: Faith criteria incorrectly applied

[aquarimum]

Hi,
A school we are on the waitlist for has incorrectly applied the faith criteria- it changed this year to prioritise baptism over siblings, but siblings have gotten in ahead of baptised eldest children. How do we challenge this?
Can provide links if necessary
thanks!

Gosh it sounds like school has changed its criteria but the LA computer systems etc not updated to reflect it.

I suspect this is a VA school, in which case this is on the school. A VA school sets its own admission criteria and is responsible for putting the applications in rank order using the criteria.

@prh47bridge I was assuming it was a school that still used LA to do it's admissions

The LA always co-ordinates admissions for all schools, but it only sets the admission criteria and sorts the applications into priority order for community and VC schools.

Thanks all. I’ve read the admissions arrangements and yes, the school do the rankings and provide the list to the LA.

If these are friends of yours who you feel don’t meet the criteria and you ‘report them’ that will be the end of your friendship. I’ve seen this happen when an offer of a place was withdrawn.

@fiorentina but what else is @aquarimum supposed to do?!?! Miss out on a school she should rightly have been given?

I’m absolutely not saying it’s right, I would feel aggrieved but it’s a tricky dilemma.

Personally, I can't get past the ridiculousness of the idea that state schools might prioritise some children simply for having been baptised. Utterly wrong imo, and discriminatory.

But since that's the system, I think it's reasonable for the OP to challenge the school if she believes that the published criteria haven't been applied. Hopefully they have just missed counting her dc amongst the baptised cohort and it will be put right soon.

If someone has fucked up the admissions process for the whole cohort, I wonder what they would do. They can't exactly withdraw offers that have already been made, can they? Perhaps they would have to find a way of accommodating everyone?

surely you’re one of a few in this situation at this school?

i’m willing on the families who have got a place on grounds of sibling!!

you got your third choice op

what were the grounds for not being offered the second choice school?

I must have missed op saying the allocated school was her third choice.

But it’s not relevant anyway - if the published criteria were applied wrongly, she has good grounds for appeal (unless the school just corrects the error).

yesterday offer day thread

@MrsBennetsPoorNerves They can withdraw offers that have already been made provided they do so quickly. If they haven't withdrawn any offers by the middle of next week, it will be too late (although that may not necessarily stop them from trying).

Assuming they don't withdraw offers, what happens next depends on the numbers involved. If it is only a few pupils, they may just bite the bullet and admit them all. Alternatively, it will be up to an appeal panel to decide how many additional pupils the school can handle and then admit those appellants with the strongest case.

It is not necessarily the case that places will be withdrawn. If they had been obtained fraudulently it would be another matter, but for a mistake like this there is a good chance the school would simply accommodate the additional pupils rather than withdrawing any offers. And OP isn't reporting anyone. She is just highlighting the fact that the school appears to have failed to follow its published admission arrangements.

Personally, I can't get past the ridiculousness of the idea that state schools might prioritise some children simply for having been baptised. Utterly wrong imo, and discriminatory.

This. In the 21st century, in a supposedly democratic, modern democracy, OP is arguing for a child to have their school place rescinded because their parents aren't religious enough.

Utterly batshit.

Go for it, OP. The Dark Ages are calling.

@MrsTerryPratchett she is not arguing for anyone to get rescinded. She applied under certain criteria and they weren’t considered correctly

If a school had a certain number of places for language aptitude or whatever and op’s kid did well in the test but the school forgot to consider that category and allotted all places on distance, she would have the exact same argument - incorrect application of published criteria

did you fill in the supplementary form on addition to your online app if you are applying under the baptised criteria? You have to go on to the school’s website to get the form.

Related question: if the admissions authority admits they made a mistake, do they then rejig the waiting list in the correct order whilst the appeals are going on? Or does the original, incorrect order remain?

did you fill in the supplementary form required by cambridge secondaries for faith applications?

the supplementary form is not t provided by the LEA. You have to go on the individual school websites to get and then send direct to the school

Are you sure exactly what the SIF asks for? My DS school ask for 7 years attendance at church rather than baptism as some faiths don't baptise till older. Unless your school is a Catholic school, this could be the case. If it's Catholic then check if there are other criteria for other churches such as the form being signed off by the minister regarding weekly attendance.

Yes we all have filled in the SIF and the religious criteria are extremely straightforward and very clear.