Hi Folks
I have twins who are in year 6, so today they found out that they will not be going to their preferred secondary school. They have been allocated a place each on the school marked as 3rd choice on the application form.
Do you think it is worth appealing against this decision? The school in question is a Church Of England school and presumably they have already looked through the Supporting Evidence Form from our faith leader, but do you think I should try and gather more information from my faith representative in order to present it at the appeal (if I decide to go ahead with it).
Also, if I do appeal, I have the option of taking someone with me. Who would be the best person to take with me? Would it be someone from the Education dept in the council or my faith leader, or somebody else?
If my appeal gets rejected, do you think I should not persue it more or can I have some sort of a 2nd appeal?
By the way, I am a governor at that school !!
Thanks in advance for your response.
Hi, sounds like you're not alone
http://www.dadtalk.co.uk/education-news/1475-school-admissions-half-of-pupils-rejected-in-some-towns
As to whether it's worth appealing, all I can say is that if you don't appeal, then you are definitely stuck with the choice you have been given, so really you have nothing to lose but your time and effort, but if you are serious about it, you will be up against a lot of opposition from other parents and from the school itself.
Hi there
You need to ask yourself - what have you got to lose?
There are grounds for appealing - it is worth googling and then you will be invited to present your case
We appealed and won (but we were in catchment)
Good Luck
Two points
1.
Be wary of the various orgs that state they will take on appeal on your behalf at a cost or sell you information to put the appeal in your favour.
2.
Find out what the selection criteria is for the school, i.e. if it is the same as for the state schools.
If so find out where you were in distance from school and distance of last pupil to be admitted.
Think about your case and the reasons for the school being able to cope with additional children and why your children should be part of any additional children at the school
Be aware that there will be other appeals going on and consider why yours is more valid
Don't rubbish the school you have been given
Try your arguments out on yourself and see if they make sense or even here and let us ask searching questions of you to tighten up your reasons (no professional advice on appeals to be given, just another dad)
Think about your attendance at church and involvement at church and school and why this involvement would benefit them being at that school or benefit from them being at that school
Good Luck
Good Morning
Manyt hanks for your replies.
You stated
Be wary of the various orgs that state they will take on appeal on your behalf at a cost or sell you information to put the appeal in your favour.
I found a website which charge approx £2000 to take on an appal and say that they have an 80% success rate. My wife an I were considering contacting them. It does seem to be a lot of money, but then again, we are talking about my child's future.
Do you think we could be wasting our money with these people?
Thanks
Hi,
£2,000 does sound like a lot of money.I've been through the appeal process twice with my 2 daughters for a middle school we wanted them to go to. They got in without the £2,000. What does this company offer, for the 2 grand, that you couldn't do yourself?
The main thing that we looked at was what the school's criteria was for admitting children & their order for selecting children e.g. 1) lives in catchment 2) has siblings attending school etc.. & work out which of the criteria you can tick off. Also, find out how many spaces they offered & how many they are allowed to take it. Our daughters school was already over full, but because we were in catchment they offered her a place at appeal. If they are already over full you can state this in your favour (to some degree). Will 2 extra children make that much difference to their class sizes? I believe your religious grounds are very relevant if this is your nearest C of E church school and you are a regular attender/member of a church. Would definately advise taking evidence of this along if you do appeal. If you are unsuccessful I'm not sure if you can reappeal. You'll have to ask your local authority that deals with school appeals.
Do you have a partner/wife to take with you?
Hope my experience of this is of some help & hope you get your twins in!
Hi
Many thanks for you reply.
We are actually not Christians so had to apply in their category c, which is the intake from other faiths. Apparently, the school received 245 applications for this category and only 30 students got offered places. A reason which I think they refused my twins a place could be that they do not want to allocate 2 places to 1 household. Taking this into consideration, I am wondering if it is worth appealing.
Regarding the people who would charge £2k - They turn up to the appeal and do all the talking for you !! They state that they have an 80% success rate. Taking this into consideration, I am in 2 minds of whether or not to take up their offer for my twins.
Of course, there is always the chance that I could fail the appeal and thus my £2k would have been wasted.
What would you guys do if you were in my shoes?
I'd be reluctant to spend the £2k on the basis that they can't do any more than you can, but doing the appeal yourself is a different matter, but you do raise a good point about allocating 2 places, that is going to make it much harder. What were the figures for your second choice?
Hi
Many thanks for your reply.
Yes , £2k is a lot of money - for me anyway. However, if it gets our twins to the school of our choice then it would be worth it,
The professional people who charge £2k would probably only state the facts which they will get from me any way. But I thought the advantage of having them do all the talking is that they may be able to put a 'spin' on it - a bit like politicians !!
Am I not correct?
I'm afraid I have no experience of them at all, is there any way you can speak to anyone who they have represented?
I agree with Actd £2k is a lot of money and I would research like mad to understand the admissions criteria and how your kids fit in to that. Do you live in the catchment area?
Also have a look at the following pages
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Parents/Schoolslearninganddevelopment/ChoosingASchool/DG_4016309
http://www.childrenslegalcentre.com/userfiles/School%20admission%20appeals%281%29.pdf
I believe that the company you have looked at will only take on cases they have a 90% chance of success.
When I did my appeal I asked loads of people to help me, I asked the head teacher at my son's current school, many people I knew who could check my speech.
Above all it is your passion delivering it that shows the panel that you care about your children's education and not your wallet!!
I wish you all the best and would be happy to check over your speech - as would many people on here.
Hi there
FOund these too!!
http://www.schoolappeals.org.uk/downloads/digest.pdf
http://www.piggott.wokingham.sch.uk/Files/Applications/ACE_Appealing_for_school.pdf
There are loads more online - and you can buy books (or get from library)
I may also have my letters too!!