Phew. Done & dusted.

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

Phew. Done & dusted.

Post by capers123 »

Well, that's it for another year. All appeals heard & decided upon. And one thing is for certain: I won't be hearing appeals for that school again; not because of problems, but my child will be applying for the school-next-door next year and they have a joint Sixth Form and many of the extra-curricular activities are shared (as well as some buildings). Now whilst the schools are administered separately (including, bizarrely, each gender in the 6th), I feel I could be perceived as being too closely connected.

We rattled through the appeals. It seemed like that, although in reality it ran fairly close to schedule - a couple over-ran by 20 or 30 mins, others under-ran. Our last appeal was cancelled as we arrived, a place being offered under maladministration. The clerk had allowed extra time for a couple of appeals that she thought would take a long time, but in fact they were (to us) quite open & shut cases, so we had extra time for tea.

None of the parents were rushed or hurried by us, and nor was the school side; some of the parents were trembling, though. Our (new to us) Clerk did everything by the book, which concerned one of the panel members (used to doing it a different, but still fair, way), but I was delighted that procedures were stuck to. No ombudsman referrals for us!

As a result of the appeals, there will be some happy parents in a few days time, and sadly a few sad ones. We told them that they'll hear by the middle of next week, but hopefully the letters should go out tomorrow first class. For various reasons, it was the easiest set of appeals I've heard, and I'm happy about all our decisions.
Capers
dissapointed mum
Posts: 116
Joined: Fri Nov 24, 2006 2:05 pm

Post by dissapointed mum »

Well done to you Capers, its a tough job to do but I suppose somebody has to do it. It must be so hard to cut yourself off emotionally, as being on this side. it was 3rd time lucky for us, and I know each time I went to appeal, it was just as emotional as the first time.
Enjoy your break, and the good work and advise you give on this forum.
Best wishes
DM
Sam's Mum
Posts: 181
Joined: Wed Mar 05, 2008 12:58 pm

Re: Phew. Done & dusted.

Post by Sam's Mum »

capers123 wrote:

For various reasons, it was the easiest set of appeals I've heard, and I'm happy about all our decisions.
Is the school going to be full of people called Sweet, Lovely and Anteater by any chance? :lol:

Seriously though, well done. Whatever the outcome of our appeals I'm sure we all appreciate what a difficult job you appeal panel members have. So now you can put your feet up and enjoy the lovely British weather with a nice G & T.
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Phew. Done & dusted.

Post by capers123 »

Sam's Mum wrote:Seriously though, well done. Whatever the outcome of our appeals I'm sure we all appreciate what a difficult job you appeal panel members have. So now you can put your feet up and enjoy the lovely British weather with a nice G & T.
To be honest, it was the easiest set of decisions we've made. I've come away smiling - everything done according to the new rules & regs. There were only a few emotional decisions to make this time, as opposed to lots on previous occasions. I feel desperately sorry for the appeals we didn't allow, but a new admissions process in our county meant we had less appeals than before.

So the reasons I'm smiling is that I'm certain that the children we've spoken about will be going to the most appropriate schools for them, the parents (or those representing them) all did their very best, and that a reasonable number of families will be either celebrating or at least know their childs next school in the next week or so.
Capers
Jacknicmeg
Posts: 25
Joined: Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:54 am

Post by Jacknicmeg »

Capers, are you allowed to say which school you was at, was it a Foundation Office in Birmingham? We had our appeal today, sadly i couldnt control myself and was crying all through, unable to talk - it was a nightmare, so emotional to get our points across and im a 30 year old man!

Would that of gone against do you think. My wife and i said from the start though that we were very nervous. We gave our all for Jack, everything is crossed!
thaiboxer
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:45 am
Location: Kent

Phew! Done and dusted.

Post by thaiboxer »

Oh Capers,

I wish you had been one of our Appeal Panel. Actually I liked our 3 and came away thinking I had done a good job, sadly not to be. Perhaps this whole appeal procedure is rather a Government excuse to give false hope and earn some extra cash for Appeal Panel members, Clerks etc. I appealed for Newstead Wood, Super Selective school and now realise (although I probably truthfully knew all along) that if my daughter had not achieved the cut off score, 220, then there was NO POINT appealing. 3 points away was not enough. I gave good reasons, academic, needing the school, mitigating circumstances, everything by the book but it was still not meant to be.

I wish others the best of luck but question whether I would go through the last 6 months of "wishing my life away" days again.

Thanks for all your advice on this site and others for sharing their experiences.
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Post by capers123 »

Jacknicmeg wrote:Capers, are you allowed to say which school you was at, was it a Foundation Office in Birmingham?
No - somewhere in Gloucestershire. And we have a box of tissues on the table.
Capers
capers123
Posts: 1865
Joined: Sun May 13, 2007 9:03 pm
Location: Gloucestershire

Re: Phew! Done and dusted.

Post by capers123 »

thaiboxer wrote:Perhaps this whole appeal procedure is rather a Government excuse to give false hope and earn some extra cash for Appeal Panel members, Clerks etc. I appealed for Newstead Wood, Super Selective school and now realise (although I probably truthfully knew all along) that if my daughter had not achieved the cut off score, 220, then there was NO POINT appealing.
Earn extra cash? Show me how! It's a voluntary thing, unpaid. We can claim travelling expenses, but when you live within walking distance of the venue, that's a bit hard.

In the past we have allowed appeals where the child didn't reach the cut-off scores, even when we didn't allow appeals for children who had passed. It depends on the mitigating circumstances, reports from existing schools and the like. I can't say too much about this year as the parents haven't got their letters yet, and anyway it's -er- confidential. But false hope? Not in all cases. There's always athe odd strongish case where the school prejudice outweighs the pupils & we can't allow the appeal, but there's often many that are the other way around, so they can't be 'false' hope.
Capers
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