11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi All

I wonder if anyone has the answer to this question? Do schools have to retain back spaces for successful appeals and if so what the % is? I just heard that last year out of 88 appeals only 1 was successful in the school we were looking at. Why put a process in place for parents and pupils to appeal if there is not a percentage held back for this purpose?
Many Thanks

No places are held back for appeals.

Appeal success rates vary wildly. In some areas it would seem lots of appeals are allowed, in others (like ours) virtually none.

The cynic in me says that it is the governments way of trying to make out you have a real say in where your child goes!

I'd still advise you to go for it. You never know, this year the appeals panel could be different and more lenient in their approach!

AppealingApple wrote:I wonder if anyone has the answer to this question? Do schools have to retain back spaces for successful appeals and if so what the % is? I just heard that last year out of 88 appeals only 1 was successful in the school we were looking at. Why put a process in place for parents and pupils to appeal if there is not a percentage held back for this purpose?

No, all schools are explicitly forbidden (by the Admissions Code) to keep places empty pending appeals. Every successful appeal takes a school over capacity.

Thanks for the replies. We are going ahead regardless fingers,legs and everything else crossed.

AppealingApple wrote:out of 88 appeals only 1 was successful

Wow! Which of the consortium schools is it?!

Good luck with your appeal - are you going down the maladminstration route? (if applicable). It seems that appeals are generally only successful in this area if the schools haven't applied the rules properly.

http://www.hertsdirect.org/infobase/doc ... ep0708.pdf

Here is the relevant document.