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.

Good explanation @Lougle

This However by this point, schools which a child may have qualified for if they had been on their list may be full with children who did ask to go there. So you get situations where someone quite close to a school doesn't get a place there because they didn't list it in their preferences is the reason it’s important to list the close-to-you school that you are not that keen on. List it last for sure, but if you don't list it at all, you may well not be offered it.

We live very close to the school my DC went to. It’s not the most popular and a lot of parents locally prefer some other options in the city; but if they don't list the local school, they might come unstuck as, even though it’s not the most popular, it’s viewed as better than city schools X Y and Z and thus tends to be listed by people in far-away areas – who will then get a place above a family in the next street who did not list it.

@Putneyparent - so are you saying you did not specifically apply for a means tested bursary at any independent school?

Scholarships now are generally fairly nominal in terms of fee reduction - usually only a tiny percentage of fees. Bursaries can go up to 100% and are the only way parents with insufficient income can get their children into a school they can’t afford to pay for.

I’m a bit unclear as to why you mentioned bursaries in your title? Have you perhaps confused or conflated ‘scholarship’ and ‘bursary’ awards?

Your best bet is a waiting list for one of the schools you prefer. I think if you haven't got a space you can go on several waiting lists at once. Get his name down quickly.

They do have a place , just not at one of schools they listed.

Absolutely do not ho down the independent school route (although maybe speak to them if they might reconsider bursary/scholarship decision). My daughter is finishing her GCSEs at an independent school and has been in private education since Reception. It's an absolute noose around my neck and I would never ever go down the independent route again and I'm counting the days to the final bill I have to pay, after which she will go to a State Sixth Form.

@Putneyparent We’re in a very similar situation. We’re currently on the bursary reserve list, and our state school offer was quite a disaster. We were allocated a faith school that wasn’t even on our preference list.
The GCSE results there are not particularly strong, and the school only offers Combined Science, which we’re really not happy about. The only positive is that it’s a large school with relatively small class sizes – around 18–19 students per class.
At the moment we honestly don’t know what the best option is or what to do next.

What schools were you offered OP? I imagine in Putney there is a lot of movement