How much do the appeals panel know?

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Twins mum
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:13 am

How much do the appeals panel know?

Post by Twins mum »

Hi there

It may be blindingly obvious but there is one question that keeps popping up in my head.

Do the appeals panel know what school your child has been offered?

DS2 has been offered Slough Grammar and we have accepted but nevertheless we are considering an appeal for Langley as his twin brother has been offered a place there. Is there a possibility they may ask me the school that has been offered and accepted?

Thanks any advice would be most welcome as this is the first and last time I would be going through this whole process.

Thanks in advance :roll: :roll:
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: How much do the appeals panel know?

Post by capers123 »

Twins mum wrote:It may be blindingly obvious but there is one question that keeps popping up in my head.

Do the appeals panel know what school your child has been offered?
No, we don't. We sometimes ask, but don't forget that we're independent of both the school & the admissions authority. We also don't know where your child is on the waiting list.
DS2 has been offered Slough Grammar and we have accepted but nevertheless we are considering an appeal for Langley as his twin brother has been offered a place there. Is there a possibility they may ask me the school that has been offered and accepted?
In fact in your case, it would be sensible to mention it - and you can say "we've accepted it so at least there's a place for him somewhere, but he'd be so much better off at Langley because - for a start, his twin brother will be here and we can't possibly transport two children to different places at the same time, and ..." - fill in reasons here.
Capers
Appeal Mum
Posts: 2049
Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:29 pm
Location: Wirral

Post by Appeal Mum »

Hi Twins Mum,

I think it depends on what area you are in. Our area has your offered school stated on the first page of the appeal forms.

However I don't think this will have any baring on your appeal what so ever. Remember your not appealing against the school you have been offered, but for the school you want.

AM
Twins mum
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:13 am

Post by Twins mum »

Thanks capers123

We thought mentioning Slough Grammar may have lessened his chances as other children have no other offer but I do understand it could work in my favour.

Would it be worthwhile to take along his scores (124 average) for Slough?

Thanks - Back to collating his academic certificates for the appeal.
brainache
Posts: 6
Joined: Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:53 pm

Twin brothers

Post by brainache »

Hope nobody minds me butting in but I just wanted to say I thought the job of the person appealing was to prove to the panel why their child should be accepted for the school they are appealing for, ie, the school is actually taking a number of pupils below its allocated intake, the school has the room capacity for more children, the child was ill on the day, someone close to the child died around the period of the exam, etc. I am no expert but I can't see why having a twin brother who has been offered a place at another grammar should actually make a difference. Don't get me wrong, of course I'm not saying it won't and all panels are different but when parents put twins in for the exam they must understand that the outcome may be that they are allocated to different schools. In reality, it there was such a concern about them staying together, then they could both have gone to their catchment school. It may be a bad school but the fact is they would not have had to be separated.

I do understand, I have mentioned somewhere else in 'Appeals' that we appealed for a daughter to attend the same grammar as her two siblings so we tried the 'bond thing" too but in all honesty, I know that if we had chosen to send our girls to the local comp (and its not a bad school) they would all have been in the same place. Painful one this, I know.
langley/mum
Posts: 53
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2008 10:33 pm
Location: Langley,Berkshire.

Post by langley/mum »

Hi Twins Mum.
Just out of interest did DS1 that has the offer for Langley Grammar, also get an offer for Slough Grammar?
What score did DS2 get for Langley?
LM
Twins mum
Posts: 32
Joined: Tue Oct 02, 2007 11:13 am

Post by Twins mum »

langley/mum

DS1 did not get offered Slough as he was offered his first preference which was Langley.

DS2 had an average score of 116 and has been placed on the waiting list as his first choice was Langley.

At least the two schools are not too far from each other. It could have been worse if we also went for Tiffin in Kingston. This is why we went for the Berkshire schools as they are relatively close. Initially I will be doing the school runs!

Thanks
TM
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Post by capers123 »

Twins mum wrote: We thought mentioning Slough Grammar may have lessened his chances as other children have no other offer but I do understand it could work in my favour.l.
If the schools were equidistant from you, or even closer to your allocated school, that might come up in the panels minds - but primarily if you were appealing to get a place in a 'better' school. However, you've got a different reason for appealing - the twin brother, which makes it (to me, at least) a perfectly valid reason for appealing and would carry some weight.
Capers
Apial
Posts: 18
Joined: Sun Dec 30, 2007 2:51 pm
Location: Lincolnshire

Re: How much do the appeals panel know?

Post by Apial »

capers123 wrote: We also don't know where your child is on the waiting list.
In my appeal over over-subscription the school submitted evidence saying my son was number 2 on the waiting list. Was this wrong of them to do this?
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: How much do the appeals panel know?

Post by capers123 »

Apial wrote:In my appeal over over-subscription the school submitted evidence saying my son was number 2 on the waiting list. Was this wrong of them to do this?
Not at all. Either side can bring any evidence they wish to the appeal. But the panel works from a position of ignorance - we only know what we're presented with by the parents or by the school. We are not given a copy of the waiting list, nor privately the position of an appellants child. But if we're given it in the appeal (or in the written evidence before hand, which all parties to the appeal get a copy of) then that's OK.

Likewise, my county says to head teachers not to support any appeals - but some choose to and we look at that information. Just because we don't have a letter from a head doesn't prejudice us - in all cases we look at the other supporting docs to see either if what the head says is matched, or what the head might have said if they had done so!

To be honest, it's actually quite a hard job being on a panel. Unpaid, unloved...

All together now... "ahhh"
Capers
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