School Appeal

[Dashwood77]

My 11 year old twin boys have been turned down for their first choice of school. One of the boys suffers from anxiety and is under the GP. He has settled more recently due to his friendship group at school, however, his friends are all going to the first choice school. My sons are devastated and the anxiety is kicking in full force again. Would I have grounds for appeal if I had support from his school counsellor, headmaster and GP. The first choice was turned down for being over subscribed and of course I need both brothers to go to the same school. If anyone can help with advice I would be so grateful.

@Dashwood77 A lot depends on the local school landscape, but assuming the school can prove it is full and their admissions criteria have been correctly applied (which is always the first stage of any appeal) then in my experience this sort of case isn't usually successful because:

• Many children unfortunately suffer from anxiety - it is very common. GP's will write letters confirming the child has the condition, but that's not the same as having a medical reason for needing to attend the preferred school.
• All schools have pastoral procedures and similar staffing budgets for supporting children who are dealing with mental health issues. In practice, some schools may do it better than others, but that is difficult to prove at appeal. It's common for people to say how impressed they were with pastoral staff at one school's open day compared to another's, but that's not usually regarded as strong evidence.
• Many children transfer to secondary school without their friendship group - it's very common, and they usually make new friends quickly. As your children are twins they will at least have each other for support, which is more than many children have.

Do you know where you are on the waiting list? There may be some movement between now and September. In the meantime, hopefully you are doing what you can to help your children to feel positive about the places they have been offered. Setting aside the friendship group issue, how are you feeling about the offered school? Children do often pick up on parental anxiety too.

It will very much depend on what they say. If they write that in their professional opinion only x school will meet his needs, then maybe, but to be honest I would be surprised if they would write that. Has he been referred to CAMHS? Other than the friendships, is there anything particular that the school offers that your allocated school doesn't?

The other difficulty you have is that you wouldn't be seeking one place, you'd be seeking two. Even if you appeal and win for your son with anxiety, the panel can't give another place to his twin because it would benefit him.

In this situation, you would be best to stay on the wait list and prepare them both for the offered school.

Did you get one of your other preferences?

In terms of appeal, I don't believe it would be automatic that if Twin 1 got a place, then Twin 2 would also get one. This means you're effectively appealing for two places, which makes it harder. As only one twin has anxiety, then I'm not sure there is much argument for the other twin getting a place?

If you need both children to go to the same school, it may be best to stick with the school you have?

I got advice from the School Appeal Service and won the appeal for my son. They have a guide too, which was really useful.
https://schoolappeals.com

First call the council and find out where you are on the waiting list. You might be near the top and as other pp has said, there can be a lot of movement between now and even beyond start of term in September.

It might not hurt to appeal anyway. It will not affect your place on the waiting list either way.
Whatever your arguments and reasons for appeal, you need to back it up with strong evidence! Start making a list of everything you can think of for each child - both for the school you didn't get and against the school that's been offered. Then look at how you can prove each point.

Good luck!