Friend won appeal based on lie

[Cartwrightandson]

Just found out a friend has won her appeal based on a lie.

For admission to church of England school, it's church attendance every 2 weeks for over 2 years, friend was awarded 25 points when minimum or last child admitted received 30 points. Friend has got member of the catholic church to write a supporting letter stating church attendance was over 2 years. When it wasn't.

I'm just stunned..this isn't the person I know, lying like this. It means someone else's child won't get a place, as it was oversubscribed..

I didn't know CofE schools did this. Many villages the CofE is the local school, are non church attending families forced to go elsewhere if the school is oversubscribed?

You have two choices, tell the school or don’t tell the school.

Did you want your child to go there?

Yes they will. Schools only go over numbers temporarily. The next person who gives up an offer (or a place after term starts) won't be replaced, so that the cohort size drops back to PAN. That means the person at the top of the waiting list won't get an offer.

Why did this win the appeal? Did she not have this document before?

Am not sure WTF it has got to do with you

@Cartwrightandson for what it's worth, it's probably not unusual for people to win appeals based on lies. I represent my school at appeals. One parent who recently won an appeal told the panel that all of her daughter's vitally supportive friendship group would be coming to our school. She must have told another school the same thing because she won appeals at both, and then accepted the other one.

Once an appeal panel has been persuaded, the only thing a school can do to overturn the decision is to request a very expensive and time consuming judicial review..So it's unlikely to be challenged.

@S0livagant CofE primary schools are usually different, and don't have any faith based entry criteria.

Thinking about it, I don't know why but it must be to do with catchment areas being much wider for secondaries or something.

Unless this exact scenario has happened elsewhere, then I have also heard this same scenario today.
Shame for all the other appeals who didn't get the place as there had to be a cut off somewhere.

Send in a letter saying that you have evidence that she walks with Satan. And doesn’t recycle as a result of this.

Forget about it.
There are much worse things going on in the world than this.

The church is full of liars.

I am sceptical this happened, but if it did it would be easy enough to report the priest to the church in question.

There’s no school good enough to make me sit through church services for two years.

The priest lied on the form? Can't trust anyone 😂

Whether there is a faith criteria in your admissions policy can depend on the Diocese. Our Diocese stipulates that CofE schools should not have a faith criteria as they are inclusive not faith schools. Most of the CofE Primaries are in villages/small towns with no other school in the catchment area.

I doubt you are a ‘friend’ and your concern is probably jealousy based on hearsay.

A panel would look at all the evidence and not rely on a random letter. It’s likely the appeal was allowed on completely different grounds which they are perfectly entitled to not share with you.

Exactly. They could have put themselves on the church electoral roll in 2020 and couldn't attend until they started going.

Mind your own business 🙄

What difference will this make to your life?

I’m not sure you have the right facts here op. Your ‘friend’ would have completed the church attendance paperwork when they first applied, and the decision would have been based on that information. They then appealed and provided different church attendance paperwork? From a different church? And then got a place? It just doesn’t ring true.

How can you possibly know if someone was / was not watching an online service each Sunday morning?

so what? The priests in many parishes check and note only attendance to the masses for 1 yeatr. Honestly, they would go completely mad if after each mass they would check the presence of every single family for 5 years.

If you are so jealous why you have not started attending and baptised your child?

Meh.

Like others have said, state education shouldn't be allowed to discriminate based on faith.

I couldn't get worked up about this. Our kids go to a church of England school too with the same admissions criteria. It's the best school in the area and nearly everyone we know had lied about their church attendance to get in! Others started going to church even though they weren't religious simply to get their child into the school. As soon as they got a place they stopped going to church.
Yes, it's unethical but people are happy to be slightly dishonest if it's in the best interests of their child.

But then, state schools should not discriminate based on the amount of money the parents have- and expensive properties near well-performing state schools.

Also, Grammar schools are discrimination and in so called county grammars where acceptance is of up to 24% of the top performing cohort it drowns the local state schools down down down. Terrible segregation

So either there should not be any discrimination including driving property prices up around schools.... or keep it as it is.

So you think religious discrimination is perfectly acceptable?

The others are irrelevant as this is about religion.

Imagine a state funded hospital that discriminated based on religion.