Is Appeal for non-qualification or oversubscription

[lgasks]

On the appeal form and appeal notes sent by the LEA to me, there is no mention of whether the appeal would be for non-qualification or oversubscription or both. As the school I am appealing for is a grammar school should this be made clear to me by the LEA?

Thanks

[capers123]

Did your child pass the 11+? If not, then it's a non-qualification. If they did pass, but the school if full, then it's oversubscription. If they didn't pass, and the school is full anyway, then it's both.

[lgasks]

Thanks for that Capers123.

If the test for an oversubscription appeal is whether your child's reasons for needing a place are so strong as to outweigh the prejudice to the school, how are these two things measured against each other?

[Etienne]

It's a somewhat subjective judgement.

Easiest to understand by looking at an extreme example.

Let's say that on the one hand a child has a compelling medical/social need to attend the catchment school, backed up by strong evidence from doctors and social workers. And let's say that on the other hand the school just about has a case - the PAN is 180, and there are 5 forms with 31 children and 1 with 30. but no really serious problems in terms of accommodation, staff shortages, numbers of children with challenging behaviour, numbers on special needs.

Would you be inclined to uphold the appeal?

It gets harder of course when the cases are more evenly balanced.

[Bougalou]

Hi Etienne, we did have medical evidence from psychologists and the school had 9 forms of 30 and had stated they could take 9 forms of 32 but our case still wasn't strong enough ( for the grammar school or the nearest comprehensive)
Bougalou

[Etienne]

I would have upheld the appeal I gave as an example, and I suspect most panels might well do so - but, as I said, it's a subjective judgement .......

There can be other complicating factors - the Code of Practice says:

If there are several cases which outweigh the prejudice to the school and merit admission, but the panel determines that the school could not cope with that number of successful appeals, the panel must then compare all cases and decide which of them to uphold.

[Bougalou]

I think that was the case, in our case ( if that makes sense!) What did upset me was that another child in the same school was awarded a place on appeal just on the mother's assertion that her child would be bullied at the allocated school with no supporting evidence. This child is not bullied at primary school, far from it.
It seemed that our written evidence was not treated as seriously.
Bouga

[Etienne]

Dear Bouga

It is possible for a panel simply to accept what parents say, without supporting evidence, provided they find them very credible.

I hope this panel had good reasons for their decision, but, on the face of it, I agree, it doesn't sound fair.