Appealing a secondary school place

[Mevy]

Hi,
I have been offered a place for my daughter her second option. I wanted to ask can i appeal for the first choice solely just on what enrichment activities they offer and how it will be beneficial for my daughter who loves those subjects? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You need to look at the admissions criteria and see if the place has been allocated in accordance with those. If everything has been done according to the criteria, then no, you wouldn't be successful at an appeal.

When I worked in appeals it was always stressed that they were preferences and not choices you were submitting. Choosing the school with enrichment was a preference, that you and your child can make, but the allocation is made on the criteria, usually distance from school, siblings at school etc.

Unfortunately you don't get an allocation because of subjects and enrichment (unless there's a scholarship route?) If you still want to pursue a place at the other school the only option really is to see if there's a waiting list and where your child would be placed on it.

I may be wrong, but I believe this is only true for primary admissions, not secondary. OP, I believe you can appeal on those grounds. But hopefully someone in the know will chime in soon.

You can be placed on the waiting list for your preferred school.

Does the school you wanted offer subjects that your daughter excels in and the other school doesn’t? For example, she speaks Mandarin and the offered school has no tuition in that, but the preferred school does. Or a sport that the offered school doesn’t have, or any particular talent your daughter has that she needs to continue and can’t at the offered school.

Whilst you should check that the admission criteria have been applied correctly, the rest of @OShoey's post is wrong. If this was a primary school appeal being heard under infant class size regulations they would be correct. However, secondary school appeals can also be won on "balance of prejudice". This means that you can win by showing that the disadvantage to your daughter from not attending this school outweighs any problems the school will face from having to cope with an additional pupil.

You absolutely can appeal based on the enrichment activities this school offers. Provided you can show that your daughter will be disadvantaged if she does not have access to these activities, your appeal may succeed.

@prh47bridge thank you for your help. Just a quick question how would i show she would be disadvantaged if she does not have access to these activities? Any help would be appreciated.

Presumably all children allocated the other school would be equally disadvantaged?

@OShoey thanks for your help and information any help is appreciated.

You can only appeal if the legislation or admissions process hasn't been applied correctly not just because you didn't get your first choice.

@Bluevelvetsofa they have so many that my daughters interested in which current school doesn't offer just wouldn’t know how to word my appeal

Not necessarily. They may not be able to show that they would benefit from these enrichment activities. If, for example, they relate to subjects in which the child has no interest, the child is not disadvantaged.

Please see my posts. OShoey's post is largely wrong.

This is wrong. It would be correct if we were dealing with a primary school appeal that would be heard under infant class size rules. It is wrong for secondary school appeals as per my first post on this thread.

You can use plain language. Look at the things that your preferred school offer. Then state why those things are important to your DD. It will have more weight if you can be specific, so for example 'Lily has been playing chess for 2 years and is keen to progress. School x has a chess club, holds chess workshops and enters its pupils into chess competitions.', rather than 'Lily has always wanted to try chess.'

Show that these activities are not available at the offered school and that she is interested in the subjects concerned. That is enough to show disadvantage. Basically, you are showing that the appeal school has things that would help her perform better in the subjects she wants to pursue.

Bollocks.

I honestly do t know why people swarm on to these posts twice a year telling people things that are not true. It blows my mind.

Why would there even be an appeals process with a panel if you could only appeal admin errors? That could be investigated without a panel.

Appeals are there to as a course to rectifying errors against the admissions criteria.

You have every right to appeal, many, many do. And of course each case will be heard and considered. But they will only succeed against the appeals criteria.

In addition to administrative errors in applying the schools admission code lawfully (ie accordingly to the admissions criteria) there is:

• admitting another child at the school would not prejudice the provision of efficient education or the efficient use of resources.

I'm assuming this is what @prh47bridge is referring to. However it's a very high bar and I never saw a child admitted on this basis because of subject or enrichment preferences. By law schools must offer the National Curriculum.

Good luck to the OP and her child.

@OShoey No, that is not what I am referring to. I am referring to the Appeals Code, which says, "The panel must balance the prejudice to the school against the appellant’s case for the child to be admitted to the school. It must take into account the appellant’s reasons for expressing a preference for the school, including what that school can offer the child that the allocated or other schools cannot. If the panel considers that the appellant’s case outweighs the prejudice to the school, it must uphold the appeal."

Most successful secondary appeals are won on the balance of prejudice. As around 21% of secondary school appeals are successful, the bar is not as high as you think.

Appeals are not there just to rectify errors. They are also there to deal with cases where a child does not qualify under the normal admission criteria but will be disadvantaged if they are not admitted.

That might be true for Infant Class Size appeals. However, non Infant Class Size appeals for KS1, appeals for KS2, and appeals for KS3/4 are all prejudice appeals. That means even if the admissions criteria was applied absolutely correctly, and the child was rightly denied a place during the initial admissions round, they can still be awarded a place on appeal if they can show that the prejudice to them of not being awarded a place outweighs the prejudice to the school in having to take on an extra pupil.

It's vitally important that parents understand this so that they can advocate for their children. I have seen many children admitted because the curriculum offer is different at their preferred school and the bar isn't all that high if the admissions authority doesn't offer a case that makes it high.

However it's a very high bar and I never saw a child admitted on this basis because of subject or enrichment preferences. By law schools must offer the National Curriculum.

My sister appealed for a place at a school which offered textiles and was given a place. The school my niece was allocated didn't offer it.

My friend appealed for a place at a school that offered french as she is french at the school her son was given a place at only did German.

@YellowDots that is really hopeful. Do you know if you need to provide much supporting documents as this will be the reason I will be appealing.

It always helps to have evidence in addition to parental assertion.

So get letters from eg language tutors, music teachers, club leaders showing that your DC is already doing the activity/subject and is enthusiastic/talented

In my experience as a panel member, appeals based on extra-curricular activities are rarely successful. Many schools are already taking on extra pupils at the request of the LA because of school place shortages and coping with higher numbers of pupils with SEN.

Successful cases tend to be more of the 'my child was badly bullied at primary, needs to go in the opposite direction' or 'my child is vulnerable and needs to stay with supportive peers from primary' rather than the lack of a chess club.

So by all means appeal on those grounds, but be realistic about the chances of success. On the other hand, at this point in the year, you have a good chance to get a place through the waiting list - there is usually a lot of movement right up until September.

Also, bear in mind that this is the first batch of offers - hardly anybody has had a chance to accept or decline them yet - so you could easily be offered a place by shortly after Easter, never mind all the way up to September (and beyond, the Year 7 waiting list has to stay in place at least until Christmas). You will have a deadline for returning your appeal form, so it is best to

a) accept the place you already have, as this ensures that, whatever happens, you don't have a child with no school place at all in September - it makes no difference to the likelihood of success at appeal, as it isn't taken into account. Your acceptance may be automatic, but your offer will tell you if you have to accept it or whether it's assumed if you do not contact them that you've accepted.

b) ensure that she is on the waiting list for the preferred school (this may be automatic, but it's worth checking with your local authority admissions).

c) contact the preferred school admissions appeals contact (it'll be on their website) and start the process if you haven't already completed an online form/requested details/said you wish to appeal.

Yes, like @meditrina says my sister had letters from my nieces sewing teacher and she submitted one photo of a jumpsuit my niece made and a letter from her year six teacher about her artistic leanings. My niece is in her first year at the London School of Fashion now.

With my friend she didn't have any actual evidence as her son wasn't taking french lessons or anything as it was something that was just happening organically. But she wrote about it in her statement for appeal.