We didn’t get any of our choices - appeals & what next

[Switchy111]

I’m devastated that we didn’t get any of our 3 choices.
we have been allocated a school, we never discussed or even considered as it is required improvement and 7 miles in opposite direction to where we work/ nearest town. I tried to put a positive spin on it but my son just cried and said he didn’t even know where it was.

His first choice school, offers aptitude places, which he passed the test for (we got a letter after test to say he was in top 15%, you don’t get exact score). Based on this I was quietly confident he might get through.

I would have been equally pleased with school 1, 2 or 3 - but to have missed all 3 is gutting. All 3 are outstanding and oversubscribed.

ive added him to the waiting list for all 3 schools and now starting appeals.

School 1 & 2 are effectively sister schools. So children take a single cat4 test for entry to both, the school then band the children into 5 groupings and take an equal number from this band (to prove they are taking a mix of abilities).

school 3 has faith criteria.

the basis of my appeal for school 1 is;
— the day before his cat4 test, he was ill - 16 hours before the test I had to take him to the gp and they diagnosed tonsillitis and gave antibiotics (I now have doctors notes to confirm this) therefore he testing ability was compromised and he is likely to have been incorrectly banded
-he has an aptitude for drama, which they have recognised, this school is a performing arts school gives him the chances to develop his aptitude, which other school cannot offer
-his dad, my husband, is acting as a carer for his father who lives 300m from the school (inside catchment). This means our son frequently needs to stay at his grandparents, and only this school would allow this with minimal impact on his schooling (my husband is registered with his gp as a carer, and is on the electoral role of address within catchment)

Appeal for school 2; (sister school of school 1, but single sex)

• same as above, in terms of cat4 test/ illness: antibiotics/ doctors notes to be provided

appeal for school 3:

• the independent application to the school was not competed correctly, i genuinely believed I had completed everything but hadn’t submitted the full application
• because of this the supporting evidence for faith criteria wasn’t considered
• i am now providing baptismal certificate, holy communion certificate and letter for priest to demonstrate with are practising catholics (school is actually CofE, but any faith is considered)
• we are a long term religious family, and need our son to be in an environment that fosters this

apologies this is very long, but just wanted peoples feedback or experiences.
can I boost appeals or add anything?
for example would a letter from his teacher or head teacher help, if added to supporting evidence.
is it worth mentioning in the appeal that we didn’t receive any of our choices and have been allocated an unsuitable school.

im so devastated for our son and for me/ our family. My husband has worked as a state school teacher for over 20 years, in good and outstanding school, so it’s a kick in the teeth that we can’t access the prvovision he has worked so hard to provide to other people’s children.

I know appeals are a longshot but feel like we have some strong points- rather than just saying we want him to go there.

if we are unsuccessful, we will need to remortgage the house for private school fees which would be awful…but i really don’t want him at a required improvement school.

there is no other school with spaces within 20 miles of us. It’s ridiculous.

All 3 are outstanding and oversubscribed - and you messed up the application for number 3 of them now stating you are a long term religious family and need your DS to be in an environment that fosters religion (CofE not Catholic school) - because 1 and 2 turned you down? He was in top top 15%. I wouldn't expect a doctor's note to change a lot.

Secondary School is a shit show to enter into. I hope you'll work it out. I would put my faith into the waiting lists. Have you got an idea of his place on waiting lists for the three schools?
Good luck.

He is on the waiting lists…but I am now wondering if I should email admission and ask his place on the waiting lists.i think I have the right to?

also is it worth asking for aptitude score so we know how close he was to being selected (top 5% get a place, we only know he was within the top 15%)

Of course you can ask about % but does it change outcome? I wouldn't hope too much.

You can now go on waiting lists for any other schools you would consider acceptable.

Was your closest school with ‘distance’ criteria on your list? Is it better than the allocated school? In which case I would ask to go on this waiting list.

Did you meet the distance criterion? Did you only have choices?

Only 1 of the schools have a catchment (school #1). But the catchment is linked to anew build estate which isn’t complete, so school places aren’t filled by the catchment area.

school 2 is a boys school, so no catchment.

school 3 distance is a tie breaker but not man criteria.

How many choices could you have? Did you put your nearest non selective school? Are you now on the waiting list for your nearest school?

Yes you can ask where you are on the list, but be aware this changes regularly, people join the list and go above you, people accept other places but don’t remove themselves from the list etc.

The other nearest non-selective is oversubscribed, and have a waiting list which I can’t go on as we didn’t originally apply. I have to wait until April.

Are you 100% sure of that. It will vary by area but in our area you can be added to as many lists as you want once offers have gone out. You are far more likely to get movement on your catchment school list then the other selective schools.

I note you are ignoring the other questions.

is it worth mentioning in the appeal that we didn’t receive any of our choices and have been allocated an unsuitable school.

No. The advice for appeals is that you appeal FOR the school you want in the grounds that that school alone can meet specific needs of your child, not against an allocated school. It isn’t the school’s or LA’s responsibility that you listed 3 outstanding oversubscribed schools for which you needed luck to get in on.

Wrt to the banding case and his illness: only do this if you are sure he would have got in if he was in a different band - I. E that band had a much shorter waiting list or is not over subscribed. Do they not use distance within each band?

WRT the faith school have you now applied on the waiting list and asked to be considered under the faith criteria with the correct evidence supplied? So that your waiting list place is now under the faith criteria?

It’s hard when you only get the opportunity to list 3 preferences, but in hindsight it would have given you a fallback to list your closest non-selective that admits on distance. But do go on that waiting list in April.

How come you only used 3 choices? Surely there was more?

That depends on area, some only have three but OP isn’t answering the question.

There’s no harm in appealing. You need go through the criteria for each school and try and evidence how they made the wrong decision. I think you need to manage your expectations though. Even if you would have met the criteria for the church school, there will be lots of other families appealing, and there may only be a couple of extra places they can squeeze in. I feel for you but it’s a massive gamble only putting down the most popular schools and not including the nearest comp you’d be fine with him going to. Apologies if this is unfair but it feels a bit like you were trying to be a bit too clever, particularly using the grandfather’s address, and it’s backfired.

Hi @Switchy111 Your case is a little bit reminiscent of ours two years ago, which we won for DS1. The care issue that you describe is interesting. We made a similar case, saying that our son attending the appeal school would make it possible to continue caring appropriately for his brother (hospital visits, other therapy) based on location. We had other reasons too of course, focusing on DS1 (subject offers at appeal school, his own additional needs). Happy to PM if helpful.

I didn't reloaded that I thought all areas had 6 options

For applications to UK secondary schools it is strongly recommended to list between 3 and 6 schools depending on your local authority rules. We had 3 schools then we applied to list as I recall.
You can't expect to get a place if you only list the schools everyone wants. It can be a dangerous game.

None of the schools will know your place on the waiting list until all the offers have been accepted or declined. In the area I work, that is on 16th of March so there really isn’t any point contacting the schools to ask which position you are.

I’m also of the opinion it was very naive to not put a very local School on the form, even if it was last choice. You found out the hard way that if you are unplaced you’ll just get allocated wherever has a place left and that is always going to be an undesirable school that is undersubscribed.

I can’t really comment on your grounds for appeal because I don’t work in that area, but I I do know there is a lot of movement in the waitlist when offers start to be declined or accepted so hopefully you’ll get one of your top three at some point between now and September.

Oh, and accept the place from the undesirable school otherwise your child will not have anywhere to start in September worst-case scenario.

You needed to choose one school, that you would definitely get into and met the entry criteria for, as a backup. That's why he's been given whatever was left over with spaces.

Good luck with the appeals, but I wouldn't hold my breath tbh. I would get him on the waiting list for your local school.

You found out the hard way that if you are unplaced you’ll just get allocated wherever has a place left and that is always going to be an undesirable school that is undersubscribed.

It catches people out year after year. I was surprised to read you had 3 choices, isn't it 5 usually? Who advised you not to add your local catchment school?

Your appeal reasons sound like 'dog ate my home-work explanations' but you may get lucky.

I am convinced your son will get a place at a nearer school via the waiting list and hope he doesn't have to attend the school further away.

Your application was so risky!! You should always list catchment non-selective one as back-up! Since school 1 and 2 choose 20% from each ability group, I'm not sure arguing his score should have been higher will help. And school 3 application errors are unfortunate. Good luck, but your strategy has been too high risk here.

Just to flag, some areas do only offer three slots on the preference form (note - preference not choice). We only got three.

All the more reason then to put your actual local school as an option, especially if the ones you are listing otherwise are popular.

@Switchy111 you can surely go on the WL for your most local school, even if you did not apply. I am not an appeals expert (tho plenty on this board are) but I would say the strongest aspect is the drama one if you can evidence an interest (eg external drama groups he attends).

I don't really understand the banding argument – for schools that do a banding test (we have one locally) the school takes x number from each band so it doesn't matter how well you do really; but is the school also selective so takes y number from the top band? And the second choice school – it may not have a catchment as such but there must be a tie-breaker. Did you not get in based on distance? How far from the allocated distance were you?

I’m sorry but IME the fact that your ds can easily get to his GPs is not the kind of thing that is considered.

You can appeal tho for sure – and go on WLs of any schools that are preferable to the one allocated. Yes and accept that one.

Yes, ours used to be 3 but is now 5, a friends is still 3.

It varies according to area as to how many schools you can put down. Ours is six, the area next to us is four.

You don’t actually say how close the offered school is to your home, only that it’s 7miles from your work and nearest town. Is it in fact your closest school?

I don’t think any of what you outline is grounds for a successful appeal tbh. Stay on the waiting lists and be prepared to stay on them until early autumn.

Yikes, agree that was a risky top 3 to pick, esp with the application screw up for 3. Are 1&2 religious schools? If not, it’s a bit bogus to say he must have religious education. But anyway, get on all the waiting lists of closet schools whether you originally applied for them, that should be possible. Also accept the offered place and look into the positives more. Required improvement schools can and do improve and students’ experiences don’t always reflect ofsted. Hope it all works out.