Help with Appeal - Academy

[Nickw87]

Hi all, looking for some advice regarding the Secondary School appeals process. I'm currently trying to gathering evidence any and making notes.

We emotionally (rushed) submitted an appeal to the council however it was passed onto the school due to it being run by an academy the council does not deal with. We are currently awaiting and appeals date.

How do people win these things ?? What's the process

The school our daughter had her heart set on suits her much better - She is heavily invested in dance and preforming arts and that is what this school offers and is renowned for. We are very worries her mental health will suffer as a result.

All admission authorities (whether the LA or an individual school) must adhere to the Appeals Code. You might find it helpful to go through this document (I really do think that it should be sent to all parents who appeal, at least, or preferably made part of the LAs' information for parents applying for schools).

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/admission-appeals-for-school-places/advice-for-parents-and-guardians-on-school-admission-appeals

Remember that you are appealing for the school you want, not against the allocation of the school you have been allocated.

If you think that a mistake has been made (where do you think that your DD should have been ranked for the school? You should be able to find out how far down the criteria the last offer was made - if it was e.g. to all except the applicants in the 'all other' category who live more than 5Km from the school, and you made an on-time application and the LA confirms that your DD should have been ranked under a higher criterion, then something has gone wrong), then this should really be addressed now, rather than going to appeal, but unfortunately this doesn't always happen.

There are two ways you can win an appeal. One is to show that a mistake has been made and your daughter should have been admitted. Check that they have put your daughter in the correct admissions category and that the home to school distance looks about right. If those things are correct, it is unlikely that there has been a mistake.

The other way of winning is to show that the disadvantage to your daughter from not being admitted outweighs any problems the school will face from having to cope with an additional pupil. You can talk about your daughter's mental health, but that is unlikely to carry any weight unless a medical professional is willing to say that, in their professional opinion, your daughter needs to go to this school. Assuming you can't get that, your best approach is to identify what this school offers your daughter that is not available at the allocated school - subjects, extra-curricular activities, etc. If you can identify things that are particularly relevant to her, that can help you win your appeal.

Thank you for the information - She has been accepted for an Autism assessment and her schools SENco has offered to write us a letter to say that due to her social and emotional need she feels out first choice school would be best suited.

We are also hoping to lean on the schools dance and performing arts offerings - She currently does both outside of school and they really do help her. The school we applied for has a huge performing arts scene and offers this as a year 9 subject and enrichment program. Her allocated school does not.

It is difficult to say how much weight the SENCo's letter will carry, but I would definitely include it.

The dance and performing arts offerings should give you a decent case.

Just had an E-mail to say they are waiting to see how many appeals they are dealing with and then will set dates for early June - I am guessing we can not do much more until this time.

Except make sure you are on the waiting list for the preferred school, and any others you think would meet her needs.

You should check whether the school has been over PAN for Y7 at any time in the last 5 years. If they have, that will help you. You should also ask about their calculated net capacity. If it shows that they are under capacity, that will also help. You can ask the school for these things. They have to answer any reasonable question you ask to help you prepare for your appeal.

Thank you - For the last two years they have been oversubscribed however they have accommodated all 1st choices (no refusals). They have taken over the capacity again this year however this year they had 69 refusals

Our council say that previous expansion to PAN will bear no relevance in appeals.

Being oversubscribed and taking all first preferences tells you nothing of use. Most schools are oversubscribed because of the way the application system works (with each child making multiple applications). The equal preference system also means that first/second:third preference etc. is largely irrelevant to anything other than your own application.

What you need to know is the PAN - the Published Admissions Number (for secondaries, often but not always a multiple of 30). This is the number of spaces they have.

If they have gone over PAN in previous year groups, this can help because you can generally show that they coped ok with extra pupils and no disasters occurred because of it.

Your council is wrong. If a school has been over PAN in the past it suggests that they can cope going over PAN again, thereby weakening the case to refuse admission.

Hi, really appreciate your help with this - Our daughter and us as parents are really suffering - Its going to be a long wait for the appeal !

We are starting to put something's together and wondered if you could let me know if we are on the right path or not....

Needs for her to go to this school over any other

*Life Passions are related to Dance and Preforming arts, these are her reasons to strive. The school we are renowned for Dance and Preforming arts. (Dance teacher are happy to write evidence letters about how passionate she is)

*The school we are appealing for offer a large amount of extra curricular actives including, preforming arts, dance and cheerleading. No other schools offers these.

*Our daughter is keen to take Spanish and Preforming arts in GCSEs and no other school offers both of these subjects.

*Our Daughter has suspected Autism - Mainly relating to emotional and social needs. Her need to be around friendship groups is extremely strong. She can struggle to cope with to many changes and taking her away from her life long group would be detrimental to her well-being. (Her primary schools Senco teacher can pull documents and write a letter as evidence)

*All of her life long friends (including those and her dance and preforming arts class) have been offered a place at the appeal school. (One of her teachers is writing a report to confirm her needs to be around this social group due to her anxieties).

*We had arrangements with her friends so she could walk with them to their houses after school (We live the other side of our town). With the school she has been placed we have no after school arrangements.

*As an addition our youngest will need to go to the same school, she has been diagnosed with ADHD. The school we are appealing for has a much better SEN Centre along with gardens and large calm areas that would really help her in high school.

*The school we are appealing for have taken over the PAN number for the last few year and coped - They have taken over again this year so would another child really out way the detriment to our daughter health and well-being.

Basically the link for all the above is that removing her Friends, passions, interests and enrichment are taking away her whole identity. She has Emotional and social needs that can only be fulfilled by going to the school we are appealing for.

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

@prh47bridge apologies missed tagging you in the above reply - Any advise you can offer would be truly appreciated

@EduCated these are the current numbers

2023

PAN - 168
Allocated - 219
Refused - 0

2024

PAN - 168
Allocated - 217
Refused - 0

2025

PAN - 168
Allocated - 247
Refused - 69

This seems to be one of the schools that has a PAN and then admits lots of extra pupils - that's not really how a PAN is supposed to work!

However, I'm guessing the 168 is based on 6 classes of 28. They have then been able to fit in more classes (8 or 9 classes), keeping the classes more or less the same size You should ask them to clarify this. If they are managing at this level, could they not squeeze in an extra pupil. Many secondary schools, at least in my area, work with an average of 30 per class.

Thank you, I will try to find out more information.

Hey sorry to jump in can I get some advice too please?

My daughter was refused ALL 4 schools we applied for and has been placed in a school 4miles away which is a 1 hour bus journey and 2 bus changes which my daughter just cannot do as she suffers from bad travel sickness - can this be used in the appeal?
i have also found out today that another child from her class who lives further away from our 2nd preference school and has no older siblings has been given this school even though he didn’t apply for it - which clearly shows admission policy has been breached right? Can I use this in my appeal?

You might want to start your own thread?

Did you list your catchment or closest school? – that’s always a good idea (too late for you I know, sorry).

Not sure about the travel sickness but issues with getting to school are not usually a factor tbf.

The other child in her class getting the place does seem odd if you listed it and they did not; if that is actually the case then it does suggest a mistake somewhere. I would want to be certain that that was correct though – did they definitely not list it? did the child have some other reason such as LAC, EHCP that would put them higher than you?

Hey sorry where are you finding this information from?

It's always best to start your own thread - you're more likely to get responses that way.

First of all, try to work out why your daughter was refused all 4 places. For example were they church schools, and you are not church goers, or are they all too far away? You can probably find this on the local authority website - it will tell you what was the furthest distance place offered, for example.

It's always possible that a mistake has occurred with allocations, although they are rare. It's much more likely that the other child falls into a higher admissions category (e.g. child of staff member, previously looked after child) and you might not know the circumstances. So if you do raise it, frame it as a 'could someone check this please' rather than going in all guns blazing!

I do know of a case where severe travel sickness case won an appeal, so it's possible. Has your daughter consulted a GP about this? You would be better with some medical evidence. Also look at all the other aspects that mean that this school would suit your daughter better than the offered school. You want as good a case as possible to outweigh the school's case that they can't take any more pupils.

Thankyou will make my own post - but yes i spoke to the child’s mum, she said they did not list that school as they have no means of getting the child there! He has no special needs and no older siblings.

And yes all the schools we listed were within our catchment area - all within 1.5miles from us and we got nothing! Not even the one the council listed as our catchment school, we just needed a school that she would be able to walk to or was no longer than 20mins on the bus, as anything longer results in travel sickness and giving her travel sickness medication everyday will impact her education as this leaves her feeling drowsy 😣

@Akh8 that does sound odd. Did the LA definitely get your application? A friend of mine was offered a random school when her DH put the wrong name on the form (it was all sorted as a clerical error thank goodness).

Yes you can ask the LA for the furthest distance offered for the second choice school (or any) and then raise it with them that child x was offered a place at the school even though they live further away from it that you do. It may be that the distance was measured in a different way – or wrongly of course, mistakes do happen.

@Nickw87 Looking at your points, the first three are absolutely fine.

The next two are around friendship issues that don't normally carry any weight at appeal. However, if you can get the evidence to support the point that she has a greater need than other children of her age to stay with the same friendship group, these points can work.

The next point is about travel arrangements. These generally don't carry any weight for appeal. It won't harm your case to leave this point in, but it probably won't help either. Don't spend too much time on this point. Concentrate on your stronger points.

The point about your youngest needing to attend this school isn't relevant, I'm afraid. The panel is looking for things that disadvantage your daughter, not things that disadvantage your youngest.

Your final point is good, although personally I wouldn't put that in the case. I would bring that up in the form of questions to the school's representative in the hearing.

You have a decent case. That doesn't guarantee success, but you definitely have a chance.

Thank you your help is appreciated. If you csn offer
any other guidance on anything else I can include that would be great

If you can identify anything else that the appeal school offers that is not available at the offered school and is relevant for your daughter, you should add that. Every little bit helps. I can't think of anything else you should include. Good luck! And feel free to ask more questions if you need more advice.