Waiting list or transfer appeal
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The figure I'm looking at is definitely 513 transfer appeals for Secondary only (although only 381 of those were "heard"). That still seems a lot though. From the context, I assume it was for grammar and upper.
There were 150 lodged for Primary.
This is all tucked away in the May meeting minutes of you-know-what.....
I must confess I thought the default position for parents was to go straight on a waiting list and only then did decide whether or not to also launch an appeal. If this is right, there should always be more people on the waiting lists than lodging appeals.
Etienne's answer suggests I've still got this wrong and that parents may choose to do one, both or neither........?
There were 150 lodged for Primary.
This is all tucked away in the May meeting minutes of you-know-what.....
I must confess I thought the default position for parents was to go straight on a waiting list and only then did decide whether or not to also launch an appeal. If this is right, there should always be more people on the waiting lists than lodging appeals.
Etienne's answer suggests I've still got this wrong and that parents may choose to do one, both or neither........?
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Sally-Anne
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Goodness Dad40, that's some bedtime reading you've been doing!Dad40 wrote:I must confess I thought the default position for parents was to go straight on a waiting list and only then did decide whether or not to also launch an appeal. If this is right, there should always be more people on the waiting lists than lodging appeals.
Etienne's answer suggests I've still got this wrong and that parents may choose to do one, both or neither........?
Yes, the figure is 513 for Secondary, i.e. both Grammar and Upper Schools for 2005/6. For whatever reason, that is significantly higher than either the previous year (375) and the current year (242) for which figures would mainly have been complete by the time this document was published. There is no obvious explanation for that, as the Allocation Profiles were not significantly different between this year and last.
The drop out rate for Appeals remains similar - some 40 - 50% - for the first 2 years. Those will be parents who either changed their minds about appealing or gained a place from the waiting list before the appeal could be heard.
So, to answer your original question. Some parents who know they are very high on the waiting list after the first round of allocations might not lodge a transfer appeal, feeling that there is a good chance of them being allocated a place in the second round or later.
Other parents who are a long way from the school, and would therefore be very low on the waiting list, but believe that their child is particularly suited to that school, might not bother with the waiting list, but instead lodge an appeal as their best chance of getting a place. An example of that might be:
A girl lives to the west of Aylesbury, but her first choice was DCGS. She is exceptionally talented at sport, for which DCGS is a specialist school. She is allocated AHS on the distance rules. The parents know that she has no chance of a place via the waiting list, as that will still operate on distance, so they opt for a transfer appeal, as that is the only way that her special talents will be taken into account.
As you say, some parents will do neither and just accept what they're given. They probably knew that they weren't going to have much chance of getting their first preference anyway, but put it down more in hope than expectation.
Does that help?
Sally-Anne
Thanks for the link. I am wondering whether the correct figures have been inputted. Coincidentally(?), 381 was the number of successful 11+ selection appeals .....Dad40 wrote:The figure I'm looking at is definitely 513 transfer appeals for Secondary only (although only 381 of those were "heard").
I've spoken to an IAP member who is unaware of any additional workload in 2005/06 (one would have thought that if the number of secondary transfer appeals to be heard was more than double that for the previous year, somebody would have noticed
), and gave me the following figures:2005/06.........lodged heard
11+ upper........129......104
11+ grammar.....81.......65
total secondary..210......169
dropout rate: 19.5%
Sorry I can't be of more help.
Sally-Anne has already made some good points about the waiting list. When comparing what is involved in being on the waiting list and going down the appeal route, I would just add that it's very easy to tick a box to go on the waiting list, whereas reading all the appeals documentation and filling in a submission can be quite a challenge for some .......
Etienne
