Year 7 admission appeal

[Springtime7]

Hi,

I would really apprecaite any help - my DS has been allocated a secondary school which we did not list - this is an inadequate rated school and has been for many many years - got changed in to an academy 5 years ago and still inadequate - now they have a termination notice in place from DofE ofsted.

I am really upset we didnt get any of our preferred choices - and i am upset my DS will go from an outstanding primary to inadequate secondary.

i have placed him on waiting lists - but also want to appeal - anyone have any positive appeal help? I understand winning an appeal is difficult and I am appealing for a school not against one. I also understand i need to show the detriment of DS not getting a place is more than that if he was given a place.

Any help would really be appreciated.

thanks. X

attending

There’s lots of advice on this and many other threads about how to present your arguments in a way that maximises your chances of success. But you’re correct - arguing that the allocated school is poor and you don’t want your child to attend won’t succeed. The uncomfortable fact is that the local authority’s school places are spread across schools which are excellent, middling and poor and some children will be given places in the poor schools.

@Springtime7 on this, if you're re-using the same statement for multiple schools, e.g. using "find and replace" on the school name, just make sure you proof-read it carefully before you submit. It's surprisingly common for people to accidently leave references to reasons why they need a place at a completely different school in their appeal papers. 😁

should i get my appeal in ASAP or is there no negative effect just getting it in by the due date plz?

There’s no gain from submitting it immediately. Give yourself a bit of time to gather information and write it up. Just make sure you meet the deadline.

Does anybody know - if i put my child on waiting list again from Jan 2025 (school will only keep them on waiting list til dec 2024 from initial form) - will i just put them on list with school or with council aswell? Its an academy school. X

An academy is its own admission authority, so it looks after its own waiting list. You therefore need to speak to them. However, the admissions code only requires them to maintain a waiting list until the end of December. Thereafter, it is up to them whether they have a waiting list.

"An academy is its own admission authority, so it looks after its own waiting list. You therefore need to speak to them."

Not necessarily. Many academies use their Local Authority's service for this. Check the admissions page of the school website and it will tell you the arrangements.

Another question i have is when we tecieved the letter to say which school we were allocated - alongside our choices was written not offered - does thus mean that not a single one of our preffred school offered us a place? I thought schools were sent lists of children who listed them as preference - they decided if they could accept them or not - send list back to council and council allocate. If one of them has said yes surely council would have given us the school even if 5th choice. Or could one of the schools accepted us but council did not score us high enough?

1. another point is - in one of the school admission guides it states If you want your child to gain admission into the school, it is important that you put as your 1st preference school on the application form.
2. but the also states After the closing date for receipt of applications, ciuncil will provide details of all applications received to the school. Council will not provide the school with details of the rank order of preference of the applications. This is because, by law, all admission authorities must consider all preferences equally.

So why would we rank it as first if they can’t see that?

Did you list your catchment school in your preferred school choices?

You should rank the school you want most as first.

If you weren't offered a place at any of your preferred schools it means you didn't meet the criteria for a place at any of them.

What happens is the admissions will go to your first preference school, see if you meet the criteria for a place - if yes, they offer you a place.
If no, they go to your second preference and see if you meet the criteria.
Then 3rd, then 4th
If you also don't get a place at your 5th preference, they will look at which schools still have places, and then offer you whichever is closest to you.

When you were choosing schools, did you look at the admissions criteria? Were you likely to have got a place at any of them in previous years?

alongside our choices was written not offered - does thus mean that not a single one of our preffred school offered us a place?

Yes. It means that your son was not sufficiently high on the admission criteria for any of the schools to be offered a place.

Or could one of the schools accepted us but council did not score us high enough?

No. If your son qualified for a place at any of the schools, it would have been offered.

So why would we rank it as first if they can’t see that?

The point the school is making is that, if this is the school you really want, you should rank it first. Some parents don't understand how the system works and put their local school as first choice with the school they really want as second choice. That pretty much guarantees they are going to get the local school.

Yes - my first two choices did not go on catchment area - they went on fair banding. And we sat a test for that. The other two schools very recently changed to a catchment area. But my 5th choice wasnt catchment either. I know of people who live further away from the school than me who got places. Schools say they use random allocation

First preferences don't get allocated before other preferences, but if you really want a school, you should put it first because otherwise you may get into the school you put first, and not the school you really want.

I think the way the school have phrased it is a bit confusing, but if you weren't offered any choices, it doesn't really matter which school was put first.

A school won't offer you a place and then the LA say no. Some schools/MATs are their own admissions authority, whilst the LA is the admissions authority for LA schools and may administer admissions for some academies. None of this is really relevant unless you think a mistake has been made?

In terms of your appeal, think about interests/hobbies/aptitudes your child has, and why they'd be more supported at the school(s) you want. For example, your child plays rugby, and school 1 has a rugby team and allocated school doesn't. Your child has an aptitude and interest in languages (you'd need to provide evidence for this) and school 1 offers two language options at KS3, whilst your allocated school only offers one. Your child is especially good at DT (again, you'd need to evidence this) , and school 1 has new DT studios plus offers additional relevant GCSE options e.g. graphics, engineering etc, whereas your allocated school doesn't. You can talk about pastoral facilities etc too if your child is likely to need these more than average.

The panel can't really agree that your child would e.g. do less well academically at your allocated school, even if that would likely be the case.

It can be helpful to prove that the school has gone over PAN before and coped, but this shouldn't be the whole basis of your case. To simplify, there might be 5 people appealing, and the school has never gone more than 3 over PAN without a bulge class (for example). The panel may agree that 3 additional pupils can be admitted, and admit those with the strongest arguments for the school.

Do you know your position on waiting lists?

@Postapocalypticcowgirl i have asked what number we are on waiting lists but i was told i need to until September to be given that info. When i rang back another person said i May know after acceptance day deadline.

Schools say they use random allocation

If they use random allocation, distance from school is irrelevant. Also, they can't really tell you where they are on the waiting list. The Admissions Code requires them to hold a fresh draw whenever there are places to be allocated.

@Springtime7 it doesn't sound like a mistake has been made from your posts. So the process was:

1. Each school had more applicants than places, so need to apply their oversubscription criteria.
2. Each school ranked applicants in order that they qualified for a place.
3. All applicants that secured a place at a school are looked at - if Johnny Blogs could have had a place at 4 schools, his place is confirmed at his highest preference school and his name removed from all the others.
4. The list is tidied (all remaining applicants are shuffled up to fill the gaps).
5. The whole process is repeated until all places at all schools are filled.
6. Any places that remain at any school are allocated to the applicants who didn't secure a place at the schools they expressed a preference for.

None of that matters now though. You don't need to worry about where you are in the waiting lists for appeal purposes, because if you were number 75 on the waiting list but you have a better case than number 1 on the waiting list, you get the place.

You say that you are hampered by not being able to argue against the weak school, but you aren't. What is bad about it? Use that to argue for what is good about your preferred school. Just make sure it's tailored to your child and you can say why they would benefit.

You also don't need 'the one thing that will sway the panel'. A successful case can be made up of several smaller arguments.

Avoid transport, the inconvenience of the location of the school, friendship groups, etc. Focus on the education your child will receive.

Hi, i submitted my appeal documents - however in the space where it said reasons to appeal only 3/4 of my wording would enter - there was no count limit shown. So then i attached the full reasons - including the first 3/4 bit as an attachment - i am hoping the appeal panel will not just assume its the same and not read the last 1/4? In hindsight - i should have just written please see attached in the box and totally put it as a seperate attachment.

also - the evidence would not load - i had to send this seperatly via an email - which the school have acknowledge reciept of.

i just feel an appeal i spent so long on now looks like a bit of a mish-mash. Do you think this will affect my appeal at all??

@Springtime7 It should all be fine, it'll all be printed out and collated to send to panelists in hard copy anyway.

@PatriciaHolm thanks x