Sale admissions/appeals

[Manchestermum]

As I'm fairly new on here can I ask a question, especially to those of you who had successful appeals at Sale (many many congrats by the way!!!). I am sure this has been asked before on here but does it matter which school you put down as first choice if your child passes all the exams - oh I do live in hope don't I!?!?!?
I think you HAVE to put AGGS first which would mean putting Sale or a.n other second. Does putting them second mean you are in effect 'second best' when it comes to their selection process either in the first offers or via an appeal? Sorry if I'm being a bit behind here but it's a learning curve for me all of this!

[TIDDLYMUM]

Its actually a myth the schools have no idea what order you put them in- known as blind preference.

[Manchestermum]

Sorry Tiddlymum. Do you mean it's a myth that the schools know what order you've put them in? In other words, they don't know?

[TraffordMum]

You need to put the schools on your CAF in the order in which you want them.

None of the schools knows where you have put them on the CAF, nor where any of the other schools have been put. Each school just gets a list from the the LEA of who wants a place and the school has to rank that list in accordance with its oversubscription criteria.

You will be offered a place at the highest ranked school on your CAF that can offer you a place. Therefore, it is essential to put them in the right order. If you are not offered a place at your No 1 school (let's say it's AGGS and you don't pass the exam) then that falls away and the LEA will try to match you with your second choice school etc etc. Do not fall into the trap of putting AGGS first if AGGS is not the school you really want. This harks back to the bad old days when schools did know where you put them on the CAF and you could get more than one offer. However, if AGGS is your first choice then put it first. You are not jeopardising offers from your second choice etc if you then fail to qualify for AGGS.

Hope that makes sense.

[Manchestermum]

I think I'm getting there - thanks Traffordmum! So, next question (sorry). Can you still apply for AGGS and/or Sale even if DD doesn't pass their exam? What I mean is if they 'fail' but are near the pass mark would it still be worth applying in the hope you might be able to appeal? If so, what cut off should you use i.e. 5 marks below, 10 marks below....?

[TraffordMum]

You still need to put the schools down on your CAF in the order you want them.

eg:

1. AGGS
2. Sale
3. Urmston
4. Wellington
5. Knutsford
6. ACA

Let's say you fail AGGS and you fail Sale but you pass Urmston. The other three aren't grammar schools.

On 1st March you will get an offer from the school highest on the list that can offer you a place. That may be Urmston if you are high enough up on their list or it may be Wellington, let's say. You will also get notification that you couldn't be offered a place at AGGS or Sale because you did not qualify and you will be given the opportunity to appeal. It is up to you whether you appeal and only you can really decide what a near miss constitutes, or if your daughter had a dreadful experience and bombed the exam. There's no cut off mark under which you cannot appeal.

If, for example, you passed Urmston (as set out above) but didn't get offered a place there because you lived too far away as at 1st March then you could also appeal for Urmston. However, you could also make sure you are on the waiting list for Urmston as well (since you have qualified for Urmston as opposed to AGGS and Sale). You might find that a place comes up from the waiting list before your appeal and you can then choose to swap the place at Wellington for the one at Urmston. And then hopefully you might win your Sale appeal and would be able to swap Sale for Urmston etc etc.

The best piece of advice I can give you is to make sure that you have a banker school on that CAF somewhere, by which I mean a school that you know you will qualify for in terms of distance etc and which would be an OK school for your child to go to. Sometimes parents get so hung up on grammar schools and aspirational ambitions that they go for 6 schools that are all longshots and then they are devastated on 1st March when they get allocated a failing school a long way from their house. That's not a situation I would want anyone to be in. At least nowadays you find out exam results before the CAF goes in so you can be realistic as to chances a bit more than the old days when you didn't find out until much later.

And don't apologise for asking questions. That is why we are here.

[Manchestermum]

Thanks so much TraffordMum. You have just clarified what I suspected was the process but made it all so much clearer! Just wish there wasn't that gap between October and March but I guess it's the same for everyone. I am not looking forward to it (think I'm getting more anxious about it than DD!). I'm trying not to mention this at home too much, especially in front of her, as I don't want to think she's a failure if she doesn't pass the exams. That's why coming on here is such a relief.
Still not sure what 'banker' school(s) to go for though. If there was one I was happy with in our area then I wouldn't be putting myself/DD through all of this I can tell you!

[overanxious]

Actually, I think last year the deadline applications date in Manchester LEA was actually the day that the AGGS results were out! Manchester's deadline was a fortnight earlier than Trafford's; if you live in Manchester you have to apply to your own admission authority, so do check the timings!

We missed out on Alty and my daughter is going to a Manchester comp with average results - but she is still excited and still the same marvellous (and clever!) girl she was before she failed the exam

[TraffordMum]

Good point, overanxious.

[countrymum]

Thanks for bringing this up ManchesterMum as I am pretty clueless to how this all works, I thought a form arrives through the post even, but now obviously realise is all done online ( I think ) TM you mention 6 choices, is this with every LEA, pretty sure can only list 3 in mine but could be wrong.

I would like to know do people ie my DD's primary tell me what to do nearer the day? Or have I got to work this all out for myself ? Also as my top choice is a GS in Trafford though am not a Trafford resident to I apply to two different LEA's?

Am very confused.

Really stupid question, please remember it is my DD applying for GS and not me so hopefully I can be excused but please could someone tell me what a caf form is?

See Manchestermum I know nothing