Declined third choice school

[AmplePlumTraybake]

Hi there,
We have just found out my DS has got 3rd choice school. He is beyond upset by this as his 2 older siblings are currently pupils (year 9 and 7) at his first choice school. My sons are so close in age that they have gone through their whole school lives up until this current year. I'm his brothers leaving the school my ds started suffering anxiety and panic attacks and we had a really troublesome 6 months of refusal to go to school. Him finding out he hasn't got their school has put him back to that place. I have the support of my sons school, class teacher and head. Just this whole situation has put my son back to the beginning. How likely is my appeal to be accepted? I know there are so many variables. But surely having 2 siblings already on roll is part of criteria?

Any advice on the process of appealing and what comes next for us would be greatly recieved. This is unknown to us as I had no problem getting my other two into this said school.

I understand from your post on another thread that you have declined the offered school. That was a bad move. The LA is under no obligation to come up with an alternative offer for your son. Also, it may look to the appeal panel like you are trying to bully them into giving you the school you want, which won't go down well and will make them less inclined to give you the benefit of any doubt.

The big question is whether the school gives priority to siblings. Many do, but it is not compulsory. You should be able to find the school's admission criteria on their website. Check what they say. If you are unsure, send me a private message with the name of the school and LA involved and I will take a look.

If the school gives priority to siblings and has not put your son in the correct category, you have a very strong case for appeal. However, if it does not give priority to siblings, the fact that your son has two siblings on the roll is irrelevant for appeal purposes unless you can get evidence from your GP or similar saying that he needs to be in the same school as them. You need to show that your son will be disadvantaged if he does not attend this school. If the school offers things that are missing from the allocated school and that are particularly relevant to your son, that is the kind of thing you should bring up at appeal.

Nationally, a little over one in five appeals are successful, but that doesn't really tell us anything about your chances. It depends on the strength of the school's case to refuse admission and the appeal panel you get.

But surely having 2 siblings already on roll is part of criteria?

There's no mystery about whether having siblings at the school confers any advantage over any other oversubscription criterion - the criteria (which will have been used to rank applicants) will be stated in the school's admissions policy for entry this September. This must be available on the school's website currently (make sure to look at the correct one, as there is probably also the 2023 entry one on there, because it is relevant to mid-year applications, plus the deadline for publishing the 2025 entry one is tomorrow and it may have been put up early).

Your refusal / allocation letter should explain why you were not allocated either your first or second preferences (when you submit your CAF, you are expressing preferences in your personal ranked order, not 'choosing a school').

If there is a sibling criterion for your first preference, did you definitely indicate on your CAF that this applie to your DS?

One thought, though - national offer day was 13 days ago, so was your application late (submitted after 31st October)?

Regarding the process, the letter you received telling you that your son did not have a place at the school you want should have set out how you go about appealing. Make sure you submit your appeal by the deadline. You don't have to submit your full case at this stage. You will be able to update your case and add evidence before the hearing.

I was also coming on to say you should accept and then go from there.

And also to say the sibling thing only counts if the admissions criteria say it does. Does it?

Have you accepted 3rd choice? Is sibling link a priority admissions criteria for 1st preference, if so was it correctly applied ? Your letter should explain why he was refused a place,

Accept the place and go on waiting lists for first and second places. Is having a sibling in the admission criteria? You should also appeal. Good luck!

This is becoming more and more an issue. We got our 4th choice and have to drive past the first 3 schools to get to it. I really hope you haven’t declined your child’s place at school 3 as your child could end up anywhere now. Good luck with your appeal - good advice above. You need to demonstrate that the detriment to your child not attending out weighs any detriment to the school in accepting him over their capacity levels.

Ideally you would have a medical professionals view that he needs this school, not just his teachers/school - much more weight will be put on that. Did you see any professionals when he was school refusing earlier in Year 6?

As already said, turning down the school has now left you schoolless for sept if the appeal fails and nothing comes up from the waiting list.

Are you on waiting lists for the two schools above the one you were offered? If you’ve declined it, see if you can change that to an acceptance, otherwise the authority will expect you to have made your own arrangements for your son’s secondary education.

Hi there,
Thanks for all the replies. I had support from the school which has been outlined in the appeal and I have spoken to admissions, to determine whether he is allocation pool and waiting list for 1st choice school which he is. I understand he is schoolers at present and haven't taken this decision lightly as I have mobility issues and need my children to be able to travel to school together. Which is also outlined in appeal.

I am doubtful your mobility issues would be taken into account even if there is a health/social category. Typically secondary pupils travel independently. How far is the allocated school? Would he get transport funded?

I had support from the school which has been outlined in the appeal

Just to say, the school you are appealing for is not permitted to support your appeal in the appeal itself, or provide letters of support - this is expressly prohibited in the appeals code.

Children are also expected to be able to travel independently to secondary school - again, you would need evidence, ideally from a medical professional, that there are specific reasons he cannot do this, not just your preference.

What is the admissions criteria? This is the most important thing to look at to see if siblings do have priority.

I would go back to the school you were offered and see if you can accept the place.

Any school is better than no school, which is the situation you are facing now. If your appeal isn't successful the local authority has no obligation to find a school place for your DS as you have refused their offer.

Do you mean the primary school? This is good but it does not make it a sure bet necessarily. If you are citing a health issue, including mental health, then you really need support from a health professional if possible.

Normally secondary school pupils are expected to travel to school independently. If the third choice school is more than 3 miles away or there is no safe walking route, the council would provide transport for free.

Do you know the PAN for the secondary school, and have they gone over PAN in previous years? If not, they may be able to build a strong case around being completely full and unable to cope with even a single additional student.

What is your plan if your son is not offered a place in September?

Why will being at the same school as his brothers help your son? Some of these details may either help or hinder your appeal E.g if you wanted to say older brother could check in with him at lunch but the school has staggered lunch breaks.

Get on as many waiting lists as possible, unless you are prepared to homeschool. Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.

Did the preferred school have sibling priority? If it did and this was ignored then that is a definite reason to appeal. But perhaps it didn’t or perhaps there were simply too many siblings. If the latter you should be near the top of the waiting list

i’m surprised you didn’t check out sibling priority before applying. Perhaps your other two guys were just lucky.

I think waiting lists are more likely to be successful than appeals. They are different.

To confirm, have you actually already declined the offered school? If so, you will need to be prepared to homeschool from September as the LA is now under no obligation to find you another school if you don't get a place through appeals.

Op good advice here already.

You said on another thread that you declined the offered school (which I gather was on your preference list?). Are you aware that this means your ds may not have a school place in September? The LA has offered him a place and you declining it will nit help your appeal. There is no obligation from the LA to offer another place.

Maybe you will get in on appeal or from WL. If not you will have to HE from Sept. Is that feasible?

I agree that your mobility issues are not relevant to your DCs' school as they will be expected to get themselves there.

First check is whether siblings gave any priority- they don't always for secondary as the logistics of siblings at different schools are not an issue in the same way as primary.

As others have said, did you tick the box/complete the section on the form regarding siblings on roll?

If there is a sibling priority and the OP knows that the correct box was ticked, they should flag this up with the admissions team at their home LA now, and ask for them to invesigate, and correct the error immediately if one was made at the ranking stage, not just make it the basis of their appeal, which won't actually be heard for another couple of months.

But yes, it is also possible that even if there is a sibling priority criterion and the DS was correctly ranked, PAN was reached within that criterion, but this is usually more likely to happen with primary admissions than secondary, unless it's a very small intake, or siblings are ranked below other 'well populated' criteria.

OP, was it the catchment school for your eldest? Sometimes the ranking is 'siblings in catchment, other kids in catchment, siblings out of catchment' etc

Or have you moved since eldest was admitted?