Secondary School Appeal - In Year Transfer - Please Help!

[Elfin80]

This is very hard to write in a concise way but I will try my best to get to the point.
My children have been in private education since nursery and are currently Year 5 and Year 9.
I found out approximately 8 weeks ago my husband (whom I am now separated from) has not been paying the fees. He has intercepted all communication from the school and it has got to the point where the children were told they could not return to school for the start of term on Monday 6th Janaury.
I immediately applied for school places and my son has got into my local primary school but there are no places at any of the 3 local secondary schools, there is only possibility of a place at a school 6 miles away.
You can imagine how traumatic this has been for my children, having to explain they are simply not allowed to go back into their school or see their friends and have to move school all in one go was horrific. I am still trying to find my way around the financial situation that has led us here and it has been a truly awful time at home for the past few weeks.
I have an appeal on Monday for a secondary school I want my daughter to attend, she has played sport there and knows a number of students and it is situated less than 1/2 mile from my house. The curriculum matches well to her previous school and she is obviously entering the most critical years of her education needing to select options for her GCSE subjects.
The admissions department have only just got the paperwork to me regarding the appeal, which as I say is on Monday. I don't feel I wrote a very comprehensive argument in my initial appeal application as I was just in such a rush to get it submitted.
My daughter is very anxious and upset about the situation, she isn't sleeping and I am beside myself with what is going to happen. I believe she is in a very vulnerable position, she is as such out of education as it stands. I know she is currently number 1 on the waiting list for the school.
I would be just so grateful for any advice how I can try and formulate a realistic argument to voice at the appeal to try and strengthen my case as to why she should be given a place. I am so worried about her mental health she is a very quiet, reserved girl and I just think this is going to impact her so much.

This things are exactly what you should be saying for an appeal. Especially in year nine. My sister won a year nine appeal for an oversubscribed school because my nephew wanted to do a certain subject (textiles) at gcse and this was the nearest school that offered it. She was able to show in the appeal that he participated in sewing and designing out of school. She had a letter from his sewing teacher.

So things like the sport she does will help but there needs to be some history there and proof.

There is plenty of opportunity in an appeal to say what you want to say.

You say the curriculum is a good match. If this is the only school that offers the languages she has been doing, or the only one that offers a subject for GCSE that she would have been planning to take, those are strong arguments. Also, if this school has the best opportunities for her chosen sport(s) (within lessons or in clubs), that's also something to mention. You need to be clear as to why this is relevant to her particularly - not just "there's a netball club", but "one of her main interests is netball, and in her previous school she was on the team, training or playing fixtures twice a week; this school has a netball team which would enable her to pursue this further".

If she is number 1 on the waiting list, then she stands a good chance of getting in by September (unless they have very little movement in and out of the school). I don't know whether admissions panels are allowed to take into account "she will very likely be moving to this school in due course, and granting her a place now will give her an opportunity to do so without having to go somewhere else first" - which is undoubtedly of value to her - and actually arguably for the school, as any differences in what she's covered can be ironed out before year 10 starts.

@Elfin80 you shouldn't mention the waiting list position at the appeal as the panel are not allowed to take it into account.

Via the Clerk you can ask the Chair's permission to submit additional evidence before the appeal. It is very common for people to do that and the Chair usually says yes in my experience (I am a presenting officer for an admissions authority).

Thank you @LadySnoresMuchly @lanthanum @springcleaned that's all very helpful.
She is a county level netball and hockey player, which would continue to be supported at this school. Her hockey coaches actually work there in the Games department and training is there.
I know there is some subjects which she wanted to do for GCSE that they can offer her there and not at other schools.
The report I have received through from the school seems very damning about them simply not being able to take her. They have cited no availability in middle or higher maths groups or no availability for her to be in the French stream in the school. Surely these are all issues that would have to be dealt with in the normal course of the year with pupil internal movement and also if a pupil left and a new child was admitted. Her year group is at PAN but the school is not overall. Is this any benefit?

"The report I have received through from the school seems very damning about them simply not being able to take her. They have cited no availability in middle or higher maths groups or no availability for her to be in the French stream in the school."

If those groups are full, adding another child will be to the detriment of others. The panel will weigh up your case against theirs.

You can't expect them to move a child out of those classes to accommodate yours - if your appeal is granted they will be pushed over numbers. That is why you need to present a strong case.

Just trio day both my DS were in year applicants to different schools (one year 7, one year 8) and weren't put in their true sets until the next academic year, when everyone was shuffled around. They were just put in the sets that the person who left had been in

"Her year group is at PAN but the school is not overall. Is this any benefit?"

Only if the school's case talks about space in communal areas being an issue.

That's just the way it is. Those are the facts. That's why they can't just let everyone in. That's another child for the French teacher to plan and assess. Another book to mark, another parents evening.

My appeal was a primary appeal and there was a lot of information about fire exits and space and ratios and when I won there were 31 dc in the class instead of 30. My dd didn't have a peg for her coat and she had to share a tray. That's the reality really.

My eldest transferred start of year ten. It took until start of year eleven to transfer to the top sets due to them being at capacity until that point. I suppose it depends if you prioritise her sports in school over eleventh educational streaming.

It sounds very stressful. It is good that your son has a got a place at a local primary and I hope he settles in quickly. What is the school that is 6 miles away like? You might have to consider your daughter going there, at least whilst you keep your fingers crossed on the other school. However, you can't be sure a place will come up at the school you would prefer, so you might need to be realistic about it being a longer term prospect. If it is a decent school, you may need to make the best of it. Good luck.

Thank you all for your posts, its just so helpful to get advice and talk it through.
I completely understand the points the school have presented and know being over numbers, ultimately will always been seen as a negative against my appeal.
That's my worry really, that I can't create a strong enough case to overcome these points, whereas I know my daughter's need is great and this is a huge impact on her life.
Should I be trying to counter the points they make or is it better to concentrate on why my daughter should be in that school? eg. subjects, GCSE options, emotional wellbeing.

The school case sounds fairly standard. Except in v v limited circumstances, schools can't let in another pupil when they are over PAN for the year but appeal panels can!
What you need to demonstrate is that the disadvantage to your daughter of not attending that particular school outweighs the disadvantage to existing pupils at the school of admitting another child.
You've got a fairly decent case. It's worth sending over any written evidence you have (letters from previous school, record of any GP appointments, evidence of sporting participation etc) across to the clerk ahead of the hearing. From what you've said, your key points are:

• your preferred school is the only one locally that offers the subjects she wants to study
• your preferred school offers high quality sports facilities and teaching, which is important to her as an accomplished sportsperson
• she is going through significant emotional upheaval - her parents have separated and she has been removed from a school where she was thriving and away from her friends. She already has friends at her preferred school and you are really concerned about the academic and emotional impact that having to start at a new school where she didn't know anyone would have on her at a critical point in her education.

Take some notes into your appeal - just bullet points of key info and some tissues. Please don't be embarrassed if you cry - panels are generally composed of very compassionate people.

Good luck!

I don’t believe that a school can cite that there’s no room in a particular ability for a student. After all, if one of their current students needed to move groups owing to progress then they would have to provide for them. They can only object on the grounds of overall numbers. All secondary schools will say that because all their forms have 30 students then they are full. However, no matter what the school’s policy, this is only a statutory requirement for Key Stage 1. At the end of the day, the Appeal is about whether the prejudice to the child outweighs the prejudice to the school.

I don’t believe that a school can cite that there’s no room in a particular ability for a student

I'd agree that sounds very weak - they could put her in one of the low ability groups to start, then move her at the beginning of year 10. No school would ever fix ability groups in year 9 without reviewing annually at least and moving kids up and down as needed.

Effectively they're saying they could take her if she was low ability - schools can't select in ability!

If that's their only argument, then yes. But presumably there is more to the case than that. Like appellants, schools tend to have multiple arguments, some stronger than others, and they are cumulative.

We know very little about the school. The implication of the one argument we've heard is that they have started key stage 4 in year 9 (if it were my school the GCSE options aren't yet chosen). Nevertheless, going over PAN would be an issue in our school for other reasons not mentioned here.

"being over numbers, ultimately will always been seen as a negative against my appeal."

It is literally the only reason why you need to appeal. If they weren't over-PAN then your child would have an offer by now.

The school's case will always describe the impact of going over PAN. That is par for the course in any appeal.

It is common practice for schools to fill their top groups up to capacity and have fewer children in lower ability groups so they get more attention. If this child were headed for the lower ability groups then the school could still quite legitimately argue that the education of the children in those classes would be impacted.

Thank you all so much, its all so helpful, and giving me the strength to write my case. We have so much to get through at the moment everything just seems so daunting!
I am just going to concentrate on why my daughter needs to attend that school rather than alternatives and the impact it would have on her, hopefully that's the right course.

Have you contacted the private school to explain the situation and see if there are any bursaries available which might mean she can stay, even if it's just until a state school place becomes available? I would definitely have a conversation with them. You and your children are in a situation through no fault of your own so they might be more sympathetic than you think.

Definitely give as much information and evidence as to why this school will benefit your daughter. Appeals are so stressful . We went through this many years ago with our daughter and the mistake that we made was that we emphasised too much as to why the other school wasn’t suitable over why the school we were appealing for was suitable! We did win eventually but it involved the ombudsman and it was a nightmare few months!!

Most schools review setting at regular intervals (and it would be a rare school that doesn't make any changes going into year 10). I worked in a school where we got quite a few coming in on in-year appeals. We could usually fit them into the right set; on one occasion we already had 36 in the top set, and the parents were understanding about why we'd put their child in set 2, especially as she was here temporarily from another country, so there was curriculum mismatch wherever we put her. On another, we had a sudden influx of about 6 top set kids due to an employer relocating a department - that time we had to redo the setting in the second week in September, and construct a letter explaining very carefully that the children moving sets had not got worse - we were just having to draw the set boundaries in different places.
You could perhaps counter the "no room in the top sets" with the suggestion that it would be no worse to be in a lower set in this school until September than in a different school altogether. With any luck, they review setting each term - is there any information about that anywhere?
Languages can be a problem - the school mentioned above had half the year doing French and half doing German - they'd learned over the years that they should fill the German classes fuller than the French ones in year 7, because incomers were more likely to be doing French. If they did take her, how would you feel about her doing another language for a couple of terms, and keeping her French up outside school?

Of course, if they are not above PAN at the moment, and one pupil leaves, and she is still top of the waiting list, then they will at that point be obliged to give her a place - even if the pupil who leaves is in the bottom set for everything and not doing French. You could ask the question of how they would manage that situation, and why they could not do the same in this situation.

Thank you, no they don't mention anything about the intervals they review set structure, however like you say I'd be surprised if it wasn't done at least before they start Year 10. I would have no problem her being put in a lower set due to this.
Yes this school has already split the year group into either French or German, and they have said there would be no capacity to go into the French stream. My daughter has actually studied both French and German so it isn't a problem, she isn't big on languages, so really wouldn't mind if she had to go into German instead of French, and has a background in both.
I feel like both of these problems are issues that would have to be dealt with with any new admission through the year, not simply an issue of going over number, as a child of any ability could be given a place.

I would make clear that she's happy to do either French or German, and that knocks the "no room in the French classes" out of the equation. The fact that they mentioned that as a specific reason perhaps suggests that there IS room in the German classes!

If the format of the appeal is that you get to ask questions, I do think it is worth raising the question in my last paragraph. (That is, unless they are already a few above PAN, in which case there would have to be several leave before they take her from the waiting list, and so there would likely be spaces in more suitable sets.)

(It is possible that the objections are more a matter of "managing expectations" - with the case of the child I put into set 2 because set 1 was full, it was a lot easier to explain to the parents because I could start with "you obviously know that we're quite full in this year group, as you had to appeal to get a place...")