Second choice school appeal

[blessedmum]

Please i need advice. Can i appeal to my second choice school if i get allocated my first choice. My second choice school is also an out of county school. My dd passed both the Bexley and Kent test and I am in county for Bexley and our first choice school is a Bexley school. We have been thinking hard and believe she may do better at the smaller out of county Kent school.

What are our chances of a successful appeal?

[Etienne]

Can i appeal to my second choice school if i get allocated my first choice.

Yes, I think so.

What are our chances of a successful appeal?

Impossible to say. If it were the other way round, I'd be warning you that Bexley appeals are thought to be quite tough!

You could write to the admission authority for the school you're interested in to ask for the number of appeals to the school in each of the last 5 years, and the percentage succeeding. You're entitled to this information under Freedom of Information. That will give you an idea of what has happened in the past, even though it doesn't guarantee what will happen in future.

[blessedmum]

Thanks Etienne,

I will request for the information and take it from there. am not sure if I should just give it all up and go the Indie route as she has already got a place at an Indie near us. i just felt the second choice school is more on par with the indie

[capers123]

I'm sure you can appeal for a 2nd placed school. We (in Gloucestershire) used to have this happen a lot, in the days when some schools (primarily a non-selective Catholic) insisted that you put them in first position, so the child was allocated that school over & above the grammar for which they'd passed. Of course, that is now against the Schools Admissions Code.

The school you're offered isn't important to the appeals panel - it's the reasons you want your child to go to the one you're appealing for, not why you don't want your child to go to the offered school.

If you do decide to go down the private route, please, please let the LEA / first choice school know as soon as possible, so that they can offer the vacant place to the next child on the list. Some parents have been known to not bother and the first the school knows is when the child isn't there at the start of term.

Good luck whichever way you decide to go.

[blessedmum]

Thank you. i will consider appealing and if we go the indie route, will definitely let the LEA know. It was a good thing you mentioned that because I honestly was not thinking about it that way.

things will become clearer in a couple of weeks.