Year 7 refusal – St Marylebone CE – any hope on appeal?

[LiliaCuciuc]

Hi everyone,
Looking for some honest advice.
My daughter was refused a Year 7 place at St Marylebone CE. It was our first choice and we’re quite surprised by the outcome.
We applied under the Church of England criteria and submitted a completed clergy form. We attend a CE church regularly (not St Marylebone parish specifically), and we provided confirmation of 32 services/mass attendances.
We live within around 6 miles (Tottenham Hale area).I’m prepared to go through the appeal process but would really appreciate honest experiences before getting my hopes too high.

I’m sorry you weren’t offered a place. St Marylebone is very oversubscribed and the likelihood is there were too many people with church applications who lived nearer. You don’t lose out by appealing, and you should also be automatically added to the waiting list. You may be lucky and get in that way as there is a lot of movement between now and Sept. Good luck.

I would give you a very strong chance of getting a place via the waiting list. There will be a lot of movement between now and September. Do you know which band and what place on the waiting list you are?

To win an appeal, you would need to evidence why your DC needs to attend that particular school. It would need to be factors relating to your DC individually, rather than general things e.g. good exam results, wanting a religious education.

The majority of appeals are unsuccessful but your chance of success will depend on the strength of your case.

@LiliaCuciuc I'm sorry your daughter hasn't gotten the news you were hoping for.

St Marylebone is always well oversubscribed and has a fairly complex oversubscription criteria. What specific applicant type and band was your DD placed into? Do you think the determination of applicant type (i.e. which specific category of CoE applicant she was) was in error?

Following on from my previous message, have just looked at the data. 3 out of the four bands have gone further than you OP, or to less church attendance. So the first thing is check what band you are in, in case there's been an error and they didn't get your clergy form or something. Otherwise, if your daughter is in the band which hasn't gone out as far as you, find out where you are on the waiting list. There will be at least some movement.

Thank you, I appreciate the response.
She was placed under clause 2.1.2 (26+ services per year for three years at a Church of England church, but not St Marylebone Parish). So I don’t believe there was an error in how her category was applied.
My understanding is that places are allocated across all bands, and then prioritised within each band according to the faith criteria. Does that effectively mean that many (or most) applicants in 2.1.2 would also have had a clergy form confirming 26+ attendances?
If that’s the case, I assume it then came down to oversubscription within that clause and distance as a tie-break.

Where did you find that data, @BananaDaiquiri? I’d be interested to see it.

Thank you, that’s reassuring to hear.
I don’t know our waiting list position yet. My understanding from the offer email is that she will be automatically placed on the waiting list and positions will be shared in due course (from 24 March), so I’m waiting for that information.
She was placed under clause 2.1.2 (26+ services per year at a Church of England church, but not St Marylebone Parish).

On Westminster council website

Thanks - I did look earlier but it hadn’t been published. Will check again!

She was placed under clause 2.1.2 -regular worship (26+ services per year for the past three years) at a Church of England church, but not St Marylebone Parish specifically.
So she wasn’t in the 2.1.1 parish priority category, but in the next Church of England category. From the communication we received from the admissions officer, the determination of applicant type appears to have been applied correctly, so I don’t believe there was an error in categorisation.
My understanding is that it likely came down to oversubscription within 2.1.2 and then distance as the tie-break.
We’re now trying to understand realistically whether appeal is worthwhile in that situation, or whether movement via the waiting list is more likely.

The offers breakdown is here:
https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/documents/how-places-were-offered-at-bi-borough-secondary-schools-2-march-2026.pdf

OP, did your daughter test in band C?

All applicants in 2.1.2 should have 26 plus attendances yes. 2.1.1 is same attendances but at St Marylebone church. 2.1.3 is 13+ attendances per year I believe.
So places in each band go to 2.1.1, then to 2.1.2 (prioritised in order of distance to school), if still space to 2.1.3 etc within in band, just as you described. This means that people in 2.1.3 have been admitted in other bands to you.

Thank you, that’s really helpful.
Would you mind sharing where you found the allocation data? I’ve looked but can’t seem to find the band breakdown online.
I know she was placed under clause 2.1.2 (26+ services at a Church of England church), but I haven’t yet been told which academic band she was allocated to.
Is the band information something Westminster publish publicly, or do I need to request it directly from the school?

OP, I know you're wanting to know about appeal chances.

By far the strongest chance of appeal is to demonstrate that a place wasn't offered in error. In this case that means the first thing you should do is check that she was placed in the right category (2.1.2 sounds correct, check that off), that her banding results were received/added to her application, and that they've used the correct distance measurement to your house. That's why the other poster and I are asking for details - we're wanting to make sure that there's no indication that this was an error.

Beyond that the chances of appeal being successful are really individual and it will be about what sort of case you can build to show that your daughter will be harmed by not being able to attend that specific school.

@LiliaCuciuc another poster has just added the link for the allocation data. The school will have the banding and when you ask for the waiting list they should tell you her position and in which band.

That is really useful.I’m slightly confused about the banding system and hoping someone can clarify.
I know my daughter was placed under faith criterion 2.1.2 (26+ services at a CoE church), but I’ve never been told which academic band (A, B, C or D) she was allocated to after the banding test.
Is the band normally shared with parents, or do you have to request it from the school?
I’ve seen the allocation table showing how far each band went, but without knowing her band I can’t interpret it properly. Thanks so much

that is really useful.Thank you!I’m slightly confused about the banding system and hoping someone can clarify.
I know my daughter was placed under faith criterion 2.1.2 (26+ services at a CoE church), but I’ve never been told which academic band (A, B, C or D) she was allocated to after the banding test.
Is the band normally shared with parents, or do you have to request it from the school?
I’ve seen the allocation table showing how far each band went, but without knowing her band I can’t interpret it properly.

The school has the banding. They will tell you when you ask for the waiting list position.

So essentially it now depends on which academic band she was placed in following the test.
I haven’t yet confirmed her academic band, so that seems to be the key missing piece before I can properly understand what happened.Thanks again

https://www.westminster.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/documents/how-places-were-offered-at-bi-borough-secondary-schools-2-march-2026.pdf

From the data, on Band C the offers was only 3.478 miles in criterion 2.1.2

So anyone further than that wont have got an offer - there must have been more people in band C than others.

Band B it was over 8 miles.

They took a child that lived in Uxbridge under the Church of England criteria!
They are not honest about their admissions. My niece is muslim, doesn't live close to the school and still got offered a place, and other children that are CoE faith, attend church and live closer, did not get a place. They take the children who get the highest results in the test first, then CoE faith.
Not much movement with waiting list, but if you even get offered a place on the waiting list then your very lucky, most kids won't even be placed on the waiting list after they get rejected.

It won't be that there were more people in band C than others - that's the whole point of banding. It just means that the people in band C who qualified lived closer to the school. For band B, once they got to 3.478 miles (the max distance for band C), they still had places, so they went to 4 miles, then 5 miles, etc., until finally at 8.647 miles they had their last applicant to fill the place before moving on to open applicants.

You need to stop saying this. You just don't understand how fair banding works. The whole point is that they don't take the people who scored highest in the test first.

There will be situations where a child doesn't get a place would have done if they had scored just one point higher or lower on the test, because they would have slipped into a different band, but that's just unfortunate.