Secondary school offer day disaster – independent place but no bursary. Appeal chances?

[Putneyparent]

On offer day my DS wasn’t offered a place at any of the schools we put down. He’s one of only three children in his class who didn’t get a single choice and has instead been allocated a random school by the council which we really don’t want.

He sat a few 11+ tests and has been offered a place at an independent school - but he didn’t get a bursary or scholarship. I’d been fairly confident about an academic scholarship but I completely appreciate competition is fierce. As it stands, I would really struggle to pay the fees.

The indie have given me until tomorrow morning to accept or decline. I do intend to appeal the state school decisions.

My questions are:
• If I accept the independent school place, does that harm my appeal chances? I’m worried the panel will say “well, he has a school” and that will count against us.
• Conversely, would it be foolish to decline the indie place given I have no idea how the appeals will pan out?
• To accept the indie place I have to pay a £2,725 non-refundable holding deposit, which I absolutely cannot afford to lose if he doesn’t end up going there.

I feel completely stuck between a rock and a hard place and the clock is ticking. Has anyone been in a similar situation or has experience of appeals where there was also an independent offer on the table?

Any constructive advice very gratefully received.

To accept the indie place I have to pay a £2,725 non-refundable holding deposit, which I absolutely cannot afford to lose if he doesn’t end up going there

If he goes to private you will be paying way more than that and potentially a terms fees, if you sign a contract.

The appeals won't know or care about the private school place. I think it's more important to weigh up the chances of a place through waiting list or appeal.

If you were unsuccessful with a state school place can you afford private?

Is the allocated school really unacceptable? Do you know why your son wasn't offered his choices?

I feel for you as know it's extremely stressful and the uncertainty won't resolve quickly.

If you can't afford the deposit without significant stress, you can't afford the school place at the independent - however much you might want it. Set that option aside, accept the LA offer of a school place and focus on appealing your State school choices.

Accept the state place.
Get on waiting list for any state schools you prefer to the offered one.
Appeal if you have grounds.
You may well get a waiting place anyway.

If you can't afford the indie then don't accept it.

Re Appealing. Think what is better at the preferred schools. Not travel or ofsted rating or friends, but extra curricular, subjects at gcse that your DS has proven interest in, etc.

You e already said you would struggle to pay fees. What happens if you lose your job, are unwell and can’t afford the fees. The indie school is not an option for you.

you need to appeal the state school placing.

I'd suggest the first decision to make is whether you can afford the private school or not. Your post sounds like you can't. So maybe you just need to rule it out?

As well as appeals, you also have a chance to get a place through waiting lists. Make sure you are on the waiting lists for the state schools that you applied for, and any others that you would consider. There is generally a lot of movement between now and September.

Consider what your backstop is if you don't get a preferred state school. Is it to scrimp and save for private? Is it to home educate? Is it to find the "least worst" state school?

(Having a private offer does not affect appeals)

This was my thoughts too.

Would the potential fees be covered from your income?

If you can’t afford the deposit comfortably, please for the love of god don’t take on school fees. Trust me, they are a fucking bind.

The appeals panel will not know that your DS has a place at an independent school. Even if they did, they cannot take that into consideration when deciding the appeal.

Kindly, if you can’t afford to lose the independent school deposit, you can’t afford the fees.

There are several regular posters who are legal experts on the appeal process who give advice every year. @prh47bridge is very knowledgeable and helpful. I suggest you start a new thread to ask for advice on how to appeal.

This is perhaps somewhat cavalier as I don’t know your income or the school fees or any finer details but I honestly would sell my body rather than send my children to some of the secondary schools I’ve worked in.

Thats glib, I know, and a good state option is best but if that isn’t happening I would be very tempted to go with the independent school.

I agree with others – if the £2k deposit is a stretch it sounds as tho the private school is not an affordable option, so I would take that off the table.

• Accept the offered place (and maybe go and see it and big it up)
• Go on as many WLs as you can – did you apply to your most local school? If not that’s a good WL bet
• Appeal by all means – find things about the appealed-for schools that are not offered elsewhere as others say, such as a sporting offer that your DC is demonstrably able at, ditto music (orchestra and they play flute) or a subject such as MFL that they can show aptitude for or links to (German grandparents etc)

Hope you are able to find somewhere suitable.

Your application form expressed preferences, not "choices", so the fact that you got none of them is immaterial at an appeal hearing. Were they realistic preferences? It is always worth including one school on the list that you know you have a realistic chance of getting a place at, so that you don't end up with a random allocation.

You can now join the waiting list for as many schools as you want, so that may be worth doing.

You won't win an appeal just because you don't like the allocated school.

To accept the indie place I have to pay a £2,725 non-refundable holding deposit, which I absolutely cannot afford to lose if he doesn’t end up going there.

This doesnt make ANY sense...
You can find 25k net a year but you absolutely cannot afford 2.7k?

Assuming
A. my own finances ( which mean private is possible but a strain) and
b. that the state option is shit.

I'd 100% take the private place and look to waitlist for state ... thereby either losing the £2.7k or pay the fees and send him private with a view to transfering a 13+ or after gcses...once he's in if hes good you might be able to negotiate some bursary / scholarship.
Some of the state school I've seen make me shudder

What are you planning to put as the basis for your appeal op?

• call the independent school and ask if there is anything that can be done to lower the fees. It’s a long shot but you may be lucky.
• if they say no, then don’t pay the deposit. They’ll come after you for first term’s fees too if he doesn’t end up going there.
• get on the waitlist for the state schools you want. Waitlists do move quite a bit between now and Sept.

This

• get on the waitlist for the state schools you want. Waitlists do move quite a bit between now and Sept.

How would the appeals panel know you have the independent place?

Sadly though, if you can't afford to lose the deposit, you can't afford independent. The inflationary increases alone could come to that.

Agree with this. And if you have to hold out on waiting lists beyond the start of next term you would also be liable for a term’s fees if you then withdrew. Was he allocated any state school, were your preferences realistic? Are there others which are more acceptable to you but you did not list.

Phone round the schools today and find out where you are on the waiting lists

Firstly, academic scholarships are generally only up to 20/25% so not sure if that would have made fees affordable. There are exceptions but not many.

I assume you applied for a bursary but didn’t get it? Do you know why?

Accepting the indie place will not affect appeal chances but it sounds like you really can’t afford independent. As pp say the deposit is the tip of a very very large iceberg. So I would be very nervous about going that route.

Do you know your WL position for the 3 schools you applied for?

Do you have any grounds for appeal other than “we prefer these schools”?

When you selected your preferences, did you put any that your child was sure to get a place at? Did you fulfil the criteria for a place at any, or all of your preferences?

I know that people make sacrifices to send their children to fee paying schools, but if you look at the long term picture, can you realistically budget for at least five years of fees, also taking into account that these may rise, as will the cost of living expenses?

Have you visited the allocated school? Sometimes, you have form a different opinion when you’ve seen it.

Most WL won't be allocated for a couple of weeks so you'll be in limbo for a little bit.

Agree with PP. You can't afford the indie so rule it out now. Waitlists move a lot over the next 6 months so I think you have a good chance at getting a place somewhere you want.

Unless you are about to come into an inheritance or something, you can’t afford private school if you "absolutely cannot" afford to lose £2700.

The way you phrase it He sat a few 11+ tests and has been offered a place at an independent school sounds to me as if you really didn’t pay much attention to any bursary applications you made. (Assuming you did apply for them?)

In my experience, for parents applying for a significant bursary, it takes up your whole life for months - the process isn’t a throwaway add on to state school applications. So it looks as if you didn’t move heaven and earth to persuade the bursary assessors their school would be impossible without one.

I’m afraid I agree that if losing the deposit would be financially crushing, you really don’t want to find yourself paying fees.

I suggest you accept the state school place, appeal if realistic and, in the meantime, investigate whether there’s still time to apply and prepare for independent school 13+ exams - where you’ll have another opportunity to try (hard) for a bursary.

(But that’s looking at it from your point of view; it may feel different for your child.)

@Putneyparent you need to accept the state place you have been offered. Did you put your closest mainstream school on your CAF form? If you did, you'll be entitled for transport to the allocated school.

Do not take the private school place. You can't afford it. Unmanageable debt and the stress that brings, especially knowing that he is responsible, will do your DS more harm than a less than ideal school.

Get on every waiting list you can reasonably consider.

Have you looked at the allocated school? Even the prospectus/website? Is it ok, despite not being what you want, or is it in some way lacking something you think your DS needs that another school has? That's the starting place of an appeal.

Waiting lists do move - I turned down our state offer as my DS is going to an independent school. I expect there are other parents doing the same this week.