Secondary school appeal

[Anneycul]

Hi,

Can anyone offer advice on secondary school appeals? We did not qualify for our first choice due to distance. Our first choice is our closest school but as we live in a rural village this school is about 7 miles away and their intake was a 5 mile radius. Instead we have been offered a school which is further away. Both schools require a school bus to travel to.

We are working parents who often have to work late and our child will require after school/ evening care. My child's grandparents live a very short walk from the school that didn't offer a place. The grandparents were going to be our after school provision. The school we were offered is too far to walk to the grandparents house and there is easy public transport either (two buses and a walk).

Now I would like to know if not being able to access his after school care would be a valid reason for an appeal?

Also, I feel it is mad that we are penalised for living in a rural village and can't access our closest school when other pupils who live in between the two schools could walk to either one.

If the teenagers living between the two schools can walk to the other one how far would your son need to walk to get to his grandparents/ a bus to the grandparents?

It's true that the logistical aspects of transport and childcare aren't usually taken into account but it might be the case that you can argue that these particular transport issues mean your child will be totally unable to participate in any extracurriculat activities and will therefore be socially isolated/have to abandon a promising talent in (insert extracurricular thing your DC thrives at) etc because xxx is the only school where it's at all possible for him to stay after school and do a club and still get home. You'd have to be really convincing on why it's genuinely only possible at that particular school - how would DC get home from grandparents house if at the preferred school and why can't the same method with a relatively small bit of extra driving work with the other school? The appeal panel won't be convinced if this is clearly being used as a fig leaf when the actual reason is "but we want our dc to go to the naice school not the one the rough children go to".

@YireosDodeAver But the OP said her closest school is already seven miles away in her original post so that would be the same for both schools.

@Tiredalwaystired that doesn't seem at all relevant. Whatever plan would have worked for the 7-mile-away school is unlikely to be significantly more difficult with an 8-mile-sway school.

Our child would just stay over at the grandparents and walk to school the next day whenever he wants to attend a club or we have to work excessively late hours (until 8-9pm). This would not be possible at his allocated school. Both schools are very good schools btw.

Are you sure there is no after school club bus? . Our school bus is run by the council, but the school uses a minibus to transport kids who stay late back to our village.

@Anneycul if you both work till 8-9pm on a regular basis, what does your DS do now? No afterschool care is available to that sort of time, even in primary. Or is his primary school near his GPs?

Is there any way you can between you flex your time a bit going forwards, so one parent is at home by 6-ish every day?

Also, op, do both parents have evidence that you have no choice but to work late sometimes, e.g. is it in your employment contracts?

Could you hire a flexible local childminder/babysitter with a car?

Or use a taxi service to either home or grandparents home.

The council doesn't even run a school bus. The bus that runs once a day to both schools is a public bus that only runs term time and only once a day. That is all there is. No mini bus or any other transport available. I guess the only choice will be not taking part in any extra curricular activities and as someone else commented 11 year olds are considered old enough to be left home alone.