Waiting list/Appeal Secondary Place

[MrsNothing]

First of all, thank you to all who contribute to the threads on here. I have been reading them for a few hours and I am learning a lot.

Unfortunately I have found myself in a situation where I need to fight for my daughter's secondary place as we weren't succesfull in securing any of her choices. I will outline the main points which I feel are relevant and would be very grateful for any advice/pointers you can offer.

1st choice school - All girls high school 3.88 miles away. Last child to be admitted was 2.65 miles away. We chose this high school due to its fantastic music facilities. Daughter is a skilled pianist who consistently performs at piano festivals and secures top awards. She has also secured a place at the upcoming Royal Albert Hall festival. The school exceeds National Curriculum standards and is aligned with the Model Music Curriculum. It has a strong focus on performance, composition, and listening/appraising, has numerous music groups, and performance opportunities as well as frequent concerts and support for high achieving music students.

2ns choice school - a CofE school. Admission criteria favour children living in the local parishes with a faith commitment. Admission criteria require church attendance for a year in the year PRIOR to applying. Unfortunately, despite me being a baptised and confirmed Catholic, the faith reference was not taken into consideration as we only moved into the area in April 2025 and I started attending the local church weekly soon after. Prior to this move, the plan was for my daughter to attend another (secular) school and I was not aware that church attendance might be needed. I have previously explored different churches but am not on any lists for any of them.
I believe we have been discriminated against as we physically weren't in the area in the time required. This school also offers progression into advanced composition and performance at GCSE/BTEC level as well as ensemble and solo performance opportunities, and bands as well as personalised support from specialised staff.

Offered school - Progress 8 score -0.39
Attainment 8 score 38.3
Strong pass in English & Maths (Basics 5+) 33%
Standard pass in English & Maths (Basics 4+) 54%
Entering the English Baccalaureate 37%
Achieving the English Baccalaureate (pupils that were entered for it) 67%* Achieving English Baccalaureate (whole cohort) 26%

No Music GCSE offered (Only BTEC Tech Award in Music), only 1.5 hrs a week commited to Music, Performing Arts, Computing on a 'carousel' basis. Zero mention of extra clubs/performance opportunities apart from breakfast club, homework club and library on the school website.

I hope this is enough info. Do you think we might have a chance? Thank you for any advice you can offer.

You may have a case for your dd’s musical ability on choice 1 but no one on here can predict what the panel will decide on the day without knowing what the school will present. The panel weigh both sides. You could have the best case in the world but if the school present a robust case for prejudice it’ll be down to the decision making on the day.

Thanks so much. What do you think of choice 2 (faith reference) with us only just recently moving into the area and me attending church ever since + me being a baptised Catholic etc ? I believe I can obtain letters from two vicars at that church as well.

I would explore the music case for option 1. That seems like your vest option.

I wouldn't pursue the discrimination for school 2. They have applied their criteria correctly. Also you chose not to regularly attend church. It appears you started attending regularly when you realised you needed to for the school. Arguably if it had been that important to you, you would have been attending before moving. However this doesn't really matter, they have to follow the admissions criteria which is objective (how often you attend) and not subjective (what you believe).

You are correct I started attending as soon as I realised that it would be needed. I appreciate you taking the time to comment, thank you.

Music provision is your best bet.

Stay away from GCSE results.

I don't think the church attendance thing will fly. As pp says, if church was important to you, you would have been going in your old location.

Reading back my comment comes across as a bit harsh, which was not intended. Unfortunately admissions is fairly 'black and white'.

They have correctly applied their policy. Your argument would presumably be that you are religious and therefore would like a religious school. That's not a particularly strong argument at appeal unfortunately. In addition you may get questions about why you weren't regularly attending church in your old area if it's that important to you. I don't think being baptised (presumably as a child?) is a particularly strong indicator of faith as an adult.

Your arguments about your DDs music ability are stronger and more worth pursuing. Good luck!

Roger that, thank you!

Not at all, it's completely shifted mine and DP's perspective so that's super valuable. We will pursue the music angle.

Do you know what kind of counter arguments we might encounter from the school at the hearing?

Is her primary school particularly musical or is it done primarily out of school?

I agree that music provision is your best bet.

Her music education is mostly done outside of her primary school but she always performs at school events and during the trips children take to the local care home to interact with the residents there.

The counter argument from the school will be that the school has offered its PAN for that year. This is a set number of places agreed with the council based on space on site & other resources. They will then argue that taking any extra children would disadvantage the admitted children - reasons might be that there is only space for X number of bodies in the classroom/corridors/dining room, it would mean reduced teacher time per pupil, reduced pastoral time per pupil, sharing computers etc.

Note that the council pushes popular schools to set their PAN as high as possible - so generally if a school has hit their PAN they will have pretty good arguments about why they will struggle to take more.

Feel free to challenge what the school says on this however. For example ask if they have gone above PAN in prior years - if so then why can’t they do the same in this year as it seems like it’s manageable. Some schools don’t make a great case on this and then you will stand more chance of success.

Are you appealing for both schools ?

Thanks again, I'll make sure I digest those arguments and come up with sensible responses. I intend to appeal for both schools to increase our chances, yes.

I called the number 2 choice today and they said to put my name on the waiting list (done already) but also to file an appeal. I asked if they had gone over the PAN in previous years and was told 'oh yes, absolutely, by at least 5-6 pupils every year. I asked 'were all those from appeals' and was told yes. It's given me some hope that maybe not all is lost just yet!

That’s very helpful. Sounds like they are perfectly able to take 5-6+ above PAN then and the numbers in each year will demonstrate that.

However - note that there may be many more than 6 appeals for that school. If the panel reckons the school can take 6 extra pupils per year, but there are let’s say 30 appeals, the places will go to the 6 out of that 30 who can show most disadvantage from not being given that school.

(or those who have suffered from an admissions error, but I’m assuming there haven’t been any errors)

Definitely focus on the music provision for school 1. You're trying to demonstrate that the negative impact on your DD if she does not have access to those provisions outweighs the impact on the school of exceeding PAN.

Faith criteria - there's no discrimination in anything you've described and saying that you weren't attending church prior to last April because you didn't know yet that it would help with school admissions for your DD is at best meaningless to an appeals committee and at worst undermines your argument that your attendance since then is evidence of any faith commitment. It would be different if you had evidence church attendance at your prior residence or other evidence of a sustained faith practice (your own baptism and confirmation decades ago as a child are not evidence of that) that wasn't taken into account. Do make sure you're on the waitlist for this school though; some LAs do this automatically for first and second choices not offered, some don't.

Don't go after the offered school's lower GCSE results or progress-8 scores, it's not helpful. Some students have to attend that school and "but I just don't want it to be my child" isn't an appeal-winning argument. Limit your discussion of the offered school to explaining the music provisions that are available at school 1 but not school 3 (and any other specific programs or capacities that DD will demonstrably take advantage at school 1 that aren't available at school 3).

You mention you weren’t offered a place at any of the schools for which you expressed a preference, but you will have been able to make a minimum of three preferences, quite possibly more depending on where you live. Did you include your nearest school in your preferences? Did you use all your preferences?

Lots of Church of England schools don’t recruit based on Church attendance or faith, but given the preferred school does, I would expect you to give details of your Church attendance in your previous location were you to appeal or join the waiting list - I cringe at your comment about not attending Church previously because you were previously targeting a secular school.

If she is developing her music outside of primary school, your case for needing a musical secondary school is weak. The music angle will be covered whichever school she goes too.

I didn't think it's weak considering the offered school doesn't offer Music GCSE, any clubs/bands or performance opportunities ?

My family actually played a major role in the building of a church back where I come from, transporting materials free of charge for years during its construction. I’ve always valued my faith, but I just hadn’t found a local service that felt meaningful nor was I aware of the need for lists to prove anything.

Our third choice was a local Catholic school which is around a mile away, we did not get that choice either.

Both religious schools offer places without a faith commitment alongside the faith ones which naturally get higher priority.

@GravyBoatWars great points, thank you. We're on the waiting lists for both schools (plus a couple extras).

Agree with others that the music provision at your first choice is your best case. The poster who says that is weak is wrong.

The fact that school 2 regularly admits a few on appeal gives you a chance, but you need a better case. If there are more than 5 or 6 appellants the panel will have to compare cases to decide who to admit, so the stronger your case the better.

As others have said, the performance of the offered school is irrelevant. You are appealing for the school you want, not against the school you've got. At best, talking about these things won't help. At worst, it may actually hinder you. Whilst the panel won't have any connections with the school you are appealing for, one or more of them may be connected with the school you've been offered. If that is the case, saying negative things about that school isn't going to help you win them over.

I just thought I’d come back to this thread to thank you all for your help - we won the appeal! I am very grateful for all the advice you gave here and for anyone reading this thread in the coming years I would add - scrutinise closely what the school presents in the case vs any funding and developments they might have listed on the website or told you about during the open evening. In our case, the school didn’t mention substantial grants they received.

Stay on the waiting list for your first choice. There is always movement and a place may become available.

Congratulations! Was this for school 1? I'm glad it worked out for you.