Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

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dgajjar
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2016 10:45 am

Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

Post by dgajjar »

Hi,

We live in an area where there are no secondary schools within the catchment area defined by the council. We applied for 6 schools and got none. The school we were offered was a school that is currently heavily under subscribed, has had poor results and recently during a school visit were told that there is no headteacher.

We are appealing against some of our chosen schools but the only thing I can appeal is against the sibling rule as this is for my first born. We have no chance on the distance either as the closest school is 2 miles away and distance criteria for the schools we have chosen is around 0.9 miles.

Can anyone recommend any points on discrimination against first born vs siblings who are probably further away in distance? and this impact my other daughter who has no chance as my son did not get a place.
hermanmunster
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
Location: The Seaside

Re: Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

Post by hermanmunster »

hi and welcome to the forum

I am sorry to hear that you haven't got any of the schools you applied for - presumably none of these are selective schools and you are appealing for oversubscription?

Appealing on the grounds of being the eldest child and not being a sibling is really a non starter. The oversubscription criteria are defined for each school and you won;t get anywhere appealing against them. They may not feel fair but they are not changeable.

You can appeal FOR a school - you have to demonstrate why that school would be the right school for your child.

Which area are you in ? Some posters may be able to help further.

http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... bed-school" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
dgajjar
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2016 10:45 am

Re: Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

Post by dgajjar »

Thank you for the reply

We are in Barnet and all our schools were state schools. The unfortunate thing is that we are not near any school to fall into the catchment areas of any school.
hermanmunster
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Location: The Seaside

Re: Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

Post by hermanmunster »

I am sorry that you didn't get any schools that you wanted - did you put any very local schools down? Was there really no schools you were likely to get a place at ?
satkat
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 10:02 pm

Re: Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

Post by satkat »

Where about in Barnet? all barnet schools are oversubscribed
hermanmunster
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Joined: Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:51 am
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Re: Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

Post by hermanmunster »

satkat wrote:Where about in Barnet? all barnet schools are oversubscribed
That is difficult - I was aware that some areas were struggling
dgajjar
Posts: 3
Joined: Mon Mar 14, 2016 10:45 am

Re: Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

Post by dgajjar »

satkat wrote:Where about in Barnet? all barnet schools are oversubscribed
We are in NW7 and there is only a girls secondary school and the other 2 are Jewish faith schools.
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

Post by southbucks3 »

Is there really an area that has no state funded secondary schools for non Jewish/religious boys.....I haven't done my own research, but from your information I'm rather shocked. I feel incredibly frustrated for you, discrimination in education is such a contentious issue, but this does sound like an appalling situation, how on earth was it allowed to arise?
I think hermanmunster's advice to find a very positive reason for appealing for a school is your only way forward, or moving of course, but it is a shame.
hermanmunster
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Location: The Seaside

Re: Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

Post by hermanmunster »

I have had a look at the schools in Barnet - a lot do appear to have religious affiliations however there are others, presume these are too far away or have other reasons making a place unlikely?


http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/sch ... sec&no=302" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Sally-Anne
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Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2006 8:10 pm
Location: Buckinghamshire

Re: Appeal Help - Distance Criteria

Post by Sally-Anne »

I had a look on Google Maps for secondary schools in NW7 (not an exact science). If the OP is roughly based in Mill Hill, it does appear to be an almost complete desert for non-faith boys'/mixed state schools. Quite extraordinary.
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