Secondary school place appeal help please

[Beckilou12]

Found out on Monday that we have not got either of our school choices for year 7 and they want to give a place to my daughter at the village school which apart from being absolutely dreadful education wise, my main issue is due to my job occupation I have safe guarding concerns of her attending a local school as it would put her at risk.
I’m going to appeal this 100% as we are also just on the edge of the catchment area for the ones we didn’t get offered but was looking for some advice from anyone who has appealed for these reasons. My daughter is absolutely devastated when I told her 😕 TIA

The usual advice is that you are appealing for the school you want, not against the school you've got. However, if you can show that there is a genuine safeguarding risk at the allocated school, this is one of the rare cases where you can argue against that school. Having said that, it would still be helpful if you can identify things that the appeal school offers that are particularly relevant for your daughter and are not available at the allocated school.

Being on the edge of catchment is irrelevant for appeals. The panel isn't interested in how you fit the admission criteria or how close you came to getting a place. They are there to deal with mistakes and those cases where the child has a need for a particular school that isn't captured by the admission criteria.

It's a long time ago now, but a friend of mine who is a police officer successfully appealed against her DD being allocated a place at a school where she'd had significant professional dealings with a number of pupils and their families and where she could well be called in to deal with serious incidents in school. They'd applied for schools in the next town and been unsuccessful due to distance but at appeal my friend argued that her daughter would be at risk in the allocated school if their relationship became known, which it would be almost impossible to prevent happening.
As I say, this was over a decade ago and things may have changed, plus I presume things will vary from place to place so there's no guarantees but if you're in a similar kind of position I thought it might help to hear of a positive outcome. I hope you're successful in finding a school where your daughter can be safe and happy.

I have been on panels which have upheld an appeal due to safeguarding risk at the allocated school. It is important that you provide evidence from your employer about the safeguarding risk posed by the allocated school. You also need to be prepared for why this specific school re safeguarding risk. Is there another school out of area within reasonable distance that you could have got a place for/has places - you say that neither of the schools offered a place so did you use all your preferences?

It's valid to insist that the allocated school isn't suitable but that may not be sufficient to get you a place at the preferred school if there is another viable option.

The default policy is that if you don't qualify for a place at any of the preferred schools you listed, you will be offered a place at the closest school with places available. If there is a 4th school somewhere else within a commutable distance which is neither the local village school nor the 2 preferred but oversubscribed schools then you may be expected to go for that one (even if it performs academically worse)