Daughter not happy with choice

[mumoftwogirls2017]

We got offered the 2nd choice. I know the 2nd school is closer to us so I think that’s why. But she was crying her eyes out she wanted to go to the other one.
im not sure whether to appeal or not. It looks like they require a lot of information.
Im going to let her think about it. She gone to school so once talking to her friends she may change her mind.
I personally had reasons why I didn’t want 2nd choice but at the end day I guess it’s for her.
it’s so hard being a parent! 😒

Are you on the waitlist for your first school? You need to accept the choice they've given you (so as to avoid being taken off the system completely) but make sure the first school knows you are still interested.

Appeals depend on specific criteria: you would need to show either that the LA has made a mistake, or that the disadvantage for your DD of NOT going to her first choice outweighs the disadvantage to the school of taking on an extra student.

There is a lot more info on MN, look for posts by someone with a name like @prh47bridge (not sure if I got that right, sorry)

You’ll have been offered School 2 because you didn’t qualify highly enough for School 1. No human has looked at it and gone ‘ah they live closer to 2, let’s give them that one’.

I know it’s silly, but reassure her that School 1 haven’t ‘turned her down’ and it’s not because they don’t like her/don’t want her. It’s purely a numbers thing - there are more children who live closer than she does (assuming it’s done on distance). Kids often don’t understand that bit.

@Educated is correct.

You won't lose anything by appealing for your first choice. If you can show that your daughter will be disadvantaged if she isn't admitted, you can give it a go. If you lose, you will be in exactly the same position as you are today. If you win, your daughter will get a place.

I’ll speak to her later. She may feel differently when she had a chat with her friends.
I know why that school was chosen and had a feeling it would be that one. I think even if we appealed we would be rejected. The 1st choice was further across down. I would have to drive her there and collect. With the 2nd choice she can walk when she feels comfortable. It will also make the transition easier as the primary school is connected with the secondary.

I think you need to accept but then go on the wait list for the other school.

She might feel better once she knows who else is going to school B and they all plan to walk up together etc. Nothing to stop you going on the waiting list for school A and even appealing.

I know why that school was chosen and had a feeling it would be that one
It was allocated because you ranked it as your second preference, and you didn't qualify for your first choice.
Why put it as a preference if you actively didn't want it?

I put 2 schools as preference. I thought I would have to put another one incase we didn’t get the first school. If they didn’t accept the first one be a bit stuck

It was sensible to put a second. If you hadn’t, you’d have been allocated whichever school still had spaces after everyone who had applied was allocated. So you could have ended up further away/somewhere you wanted even less.

It wasn't particularly sensible to put one you had personal reasons for hoping to avoid

Its not to late to apply to go onto the waiting list of any other schools you prefer to the closest one.

Not really - it depends how many realistic options there are. If the other options are worse for whatever reason it is sensible to include one that is close and she's likely to get in, even if it wouldn't be your first choice.

You can hope to avoid a school and also recognise that it’s a better choice than other schools. Many areas really don’t have that many schools - perhaps others options would have been miles and miles away.

It feels like wasting an awful lot of peoples time to do that.

Far better just to go on a waiting list than the pain of appeal when there’s no genuine reason it was misallocated.

Also, if the school isn’t horrendous and you’re “happy enough” with it, you might find that once she’s been on a settling in day and met a few people she will feel a lot more positive. It can often work out really well so don’t be too disheartened just get. And stay breezy about it in front of her just in case!

Appeals will happen whether OP appeals or not. One more appeal makes little difference. If OP can come up with a good case that her daughter needs this school, she may win.

It will be difficult for her to see the pros of school 2 until she’s older and knows how crap it is not living walking distance of her friends. While it may be hard for her if her primary friends go to school 1, in time she’ll enjoy the convenience of school 2’s location.

But it doesn’t sound like she DOES have a good case. I’m also sure the person with a desk full of appeals doesn’t feel like one less appeal would make much difference.

I’m sure they don’t, but underfunding and under resourcing by authorities isn’t a reason for the OP not to use the process available to her.

We don’t know how strong a case the OP may be able to make, and we don’t know how strong the school’s case may be. Around 1 in 5 appeals are successful nationally - it’s not impossible at all that OP’s case could be one of those.

You’ve literally just said in your post that you don’t think she has a good case either! Why not just go on the waiting list?

Sometimes you don't need a good case to win an appeal. Sometimes the school's case to refuse admission is so weak that any appeal will succeed.

If OP doesn't appeal and some appeals are successful, she will be less likely to get a place through the waiting list. If, say, 10 appeals are successful, no places will be offered to the waiting list until 11 pupils have dropped out.

The school will almost certainly put forward the same case for every appeal. They won't have to prepare a case specifically for OP's appeal. There is a little bit of extra admin for the clerk, and the panel have to read OP's case. That is pretty much it. The cost is in having an appeals system at all. The incremental cost of one appeal is minimal.

That school was not 'chosen' for you. They had a load of children who put the first school as their first choice, and probably many of them lived closer to that first school than you do, so the system allocated the places to children in distance order until that school was full. You were too far down the 'distance' list, that's all. So then the system moves to your second choice school and looks to see if it can allocate you a space there. Luckily it could.

In about 2 weeks, waiting lists will be ready, and you can call the first school to see what number you are in their waiting list. If it's somewhere quite high up, then you stand a good chance of getting a place between now and September.

If this was to me, I can’t see that I did. What we don’t know is what case OP may be able to make - she hasn’t actually said a huge amount about her reasons for wanting School 1. If it is just a case that it’s closer, then no, that’s not a great case, but she may have other things that would make it a stronger case.

And yes, absolutely go on the waiting list whilst deciding whether or not to pursue an appeal. It’s not an either or situation.

You can't appeal on those grounds

You can appeal on any grounds you want. Those grounds are unlikely to succeed unless the school's case is very weak, so OP needs to make a stronger case if she can.