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.

If Appeal panel member has connections to the school that's in the appeal, and they potentially make a decision based on their personal feelings/involvement with the school - isn't that conflict of interest?

I am talking about saying negative things about the allotted school (North Road High, say).

But all appeals are for a school (South Road Comp, say) not against a school. So possible conflicts would only be flagged if the panel members for South Road Comp had kids/siblings etc at South Road Comp; North Road High would not be relevant.

That's irrelevant in terms of appeals. If the person representing your nephew didn't present a strong case for how a school would benefit him and why not admitting him would be detrimental, and the person representing your DD did present a strong case, then your DD would win the appeal and your nephew would lose.

In fact, it could be argued that your nephew's needs are so significant that it doesn't matter which school he goes to because wherever he goes will need to give him bespoke teaching with a dedicated staff member, etc. It could be argued that your DD's needs are such that differences between schools will seriously impact her ability to be independent, to learn, and to manage the school environment.

It really isn't about pitting different SEN against each other. It's about making sure that if a child would be disadvantaged by being refused a place at a specific school, that they get the opportunity to present their reasons to an impartial panel, who decide if their need for the place overcomes the difficulties that the school in question will face by having an extra pupil.

In my LA, I provided a list of schools with which I had a connection (e.g. 'my child attended' or 'I was a governor there', and in my case, 'my husband works there').

However, as @SheilaFentiman says, the appeal is for school A. Not against school B. So it may be that the admin team exclude someone who has declared a connection with School A and School B, but they won't be able to exclude someone because they know someone who works at school B, or have a neighbour whose child goes there, etc.

Regardless, the panel is not allowed to deem any school 'bad'. If they are a registered school and are open (i.e. haven't been closed by Ofsted) then they are good enough for pupils.

The only good reason to argue against a school is if there are no schools with places within commutable distance, and the allocated school would put the child at risk. For example, a police officer who serves the community in which the school is located and regularly makes arrests may argue that being the child of a local police officer would make the child a target. The appeal may succeed because there are no alternative schools with places so the child has to go somewhere other than the offered school. Even then, it would be better framed as "X school is essential for my child because I serve as a police officer in the catchment areas of schools A, B, C and D. My child was offered school B, which ordinarily I would be content with. However, the fact that I regularly arrest people in the catchment area of school B puts my child at risk by attending there. School X does not present this risk because it 10 miles away from the nearest edge of my patch."

I've reported your post @SchoolAppeal2026 as it is incorrect and misleading to the OP and anyone else who reads it; and I suspect you are simply advertising your FB page and the guide you are plugging.

Me too. Some of the advice given out on some of this posters other posts - all linking to the same page plugging a paid for guide - is also very misleading.

There is no reason for anyone to pay for Appeals advice. There are plenty of us here - including very experienced panelists, and governors - who will give a lot of free advice, even on personal messages if people don't want to share the full story.

Ah, isn't that encouraging. I imagine the appeals panel will also decide that the school should roll out a red carpet!

Did you say that parents can download your essential guide for just £24.99? Amazing value!

Did you say they can get their money back when they follow your advice and lose, as they almost certainly will?

Asking for a friend.

Am I correct in understanding your DC attends the primary where his dad is head? If that is the case your DH will have a good knowledge of leaver destinations and where the DC live and how they are likely to have qualified against the oversubscription criteria, e.g. Tom is a previously looked after child, Mary qualified for Pupil Premium and has passed the 11 plus, Joe has an EHCP naming that school etc. if this is the case, does he know of any child attending the primary from your village without special priority / siblings who gained a place at your named preferences?

I’m confused about why your DH is on the electoral roll at his DF’s rather than at home. Is he also registered as living there for Council Tax purposes? I know some families seek to protect having their parents home being sold to pay for care, and one of the ways they do this is having an older relative live there.

If he is party to such information he cannot disclose it though.

Agree, it’s confidential, but he could manage his DW’s expectations and explain that although their DC attends his school because they live so far away she should not expect their DC to secure a place in the same schools as their classmates.

Hmm...

I've known senior members of staff turn up to present their school's case at appeals with obviously not much familiarity with their own school's oversubscription criteria (let alone the Admissions Code), so I wouldn't necessarily expect the HT of a primary school - even one in the same area - to be up to speed with the admissions policies of the secondary schools. (The only presenting officer I've felt sympathy for on this score was someone literally days into her new job, thrust into an appeal on her own with a copy of an admissions policy 'for' the school in question which was significantly different from the one in the appeal pack, not to mentioned that it eventually turned out that neither document was the right one).

Yeah I've come across numerous HTs and other senior teachers who have no or very little idea of the admissions process ("put us first or you certainly won't get a place" and "he got a place even tho we are out of catchment as he's really sporty"*)

*Not an admissions criterion at the school

I also think you should find out more about the allocated school and what they do offer, should your appeals etc not succeed.

Why did they get RI, and when? Have they made changes and how is this going?

Do they offer drama on the syllabus and/or through after school clubs, for example? And are creative or performance subjects widely offered, or only to students who started studying music etc young and are more likely to get top grades?

I'm sorry you've felt interrogated on this thread. Your situation is highly stressful and i really feel for you!

I was wondering, is the school you've been allocated your catchment school?

And what is the tie break criteria for school 3, the religious school? If it is distance do you know the last year's data for how far they went to? I was thinking this hopefully is your best shot if they now accept the paperwork and you might be very high on the waiting list.

I hope you're all doing ok. I can totally understand how unfair it feels. We live in a village with an ok local school but wanted a school which we are just out of catchment for. Postcode data from previous years showed we had about a fifty fifty chance of getting in each year - if my DD passed the 11+. So I helped her and she did pass it and then we crossed fingers and were lucky that she got in. Now we're facing the exact same thing for my younger DD (as out of catchment siblings don't have priority). We could move house but our whole lives and support structure are in this village so we're not going to move. If she doesn't get in I'll feel awful. But it's a hard choice to uproot your whole family and make everyone's lives harder just to increase the chance of getting the school you want, when if you stayed put you might get the school plus have your home life continue.

Hope it works out somehow.