Appeal to a non-grammar school?

bc · Post by bc » Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:03 pm

Thank you Etienne for the advice - much appreciated.

bc · Post by bc » Thu Apr 17, 2008 6:45 pm

Just an update to say that we have now been offered a place at our chosen school from the waiting list. DS is ecstatic!

Thanks again to all who advised on the appeal - I'm very pleased not to have to face an appeals panel after all, although a tiny, tiny piece of me would quite like to know whether it would have succeeded!

Guest55 · Post by **Guest55** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:04 pm

Great news bc - delighted to hear it!

Believe me you would not have enjoyed the experience of facing an appeal panel even if you had won

Charlotte67 · Post by **Charlotte67** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 7:12 pm

Super news bc!

Perhaps the last few weeks of torture have made this offer all the sweeter?

2nd time arround · Post by **2nd time arround** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:23 pm

bc congratulations to you and your ds

ealingmum · Post by **ealingmum** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:19 pm

I am sorry to be negative but realistically none of these are grounds for appeal. It might be that the child wasn't offered a place because other children (catholics) met the admission's criteria more fully than your application. You have to show that the admission's authority didn't apply their criteria correctly.

Guest55 · Post by **Guest55** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:29 pm

Ealingmum,

You can appeal if you are not offered a place - you need to show that the prejudice to your child of not being admitted is greater than the prejudice to the school of one more pupil. You do not need to show that the admission criteria were wrongly applied.

ealingmum · Post by **ealingmum** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 10:43 pm

I understand the basis of such an appeal - but my understanding was that it was not the prejudice in relation to the appealant but rather that by admitting one more pupil (beyond admission number) the prejudice to the education of the children already in the class. That's why I am not sure that building a case one why a child hates his/her current school is relevant.
In this particular case it seems that it was more about getting an place at an academic school (having failed to get the grammar place) and not the desire for a catholic education.

Post by **Etienne** » Fri Apr 18, 2008 11:56 pm

In an oversubscription appeal there are three issues for the panel to consider:

Have the admission criteria been correctly applied (as far as one can tell)? - If so, the appeal moves on to the two-stage process. If not, and provided the child has been denied a place to which he/she would otherwise have been entitled, the appeal is upheld.

Is the school full in the relevant year group and would the admission of another child cause prejudice? ("Stage 1")

Is the parental case for admission so strong that it outweighs any prejudice to the school? ("Stage 2")

Parental cases are not compared with one another, except when the panel is minded to uphold so many appeals that it decides the school could not cope. In this situation it ranks the cases and upholds the strongest, one by one, until it reaches the point where the prejudice to the school is so great that none of the remaining cases is strong enough to outweigh it.

ealingmum · Post by **ealingmum** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 4:04 pm

Thank you for this clarification.