11 Plus Exams Forum

Just received my DC's school offer letter and he has been allocated our second choice Secondary.

But I don't understand the bit about waiting lists; it states that whatever schools I put down on the list will become our new preference list from now on. As we are planning to appeal for non-qualification to a GS do we need to put the GS down on the waiting list? I don't want to win an appeal (ho ho) and then find I can't get a place because I'm not on the waiting list.

Secondly, I will apply to go on the waiting list for my first choice Secondary, but should I also lodge an appeal for that school?

Hope that makes sense to someone out there And sorry if there is already a thread about this but I can't find it anywhere.

I've just been on the phone to county about transport and the recorded message mentioned something about an "appeals pack " might be worth giving them a ring. The lady was very helpful. Dollyx

Did you name any grammar schools on your CAF? Usually you can only appeal for a place at a school which has turned your application down. Apologies if I have misunderstood your post.

I did put a couple of GS on my CAF and plan to appeal to them but just don't understand the link between appeals and waiting lists and these "new preferences". And now just looking on BCC website for the appeal pack and it doesn't seem to mention anything about getting the pack for non-qualification, just for if a place wasn't available... do you know if that is the same thing?

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I suspect that the place was not available because you did not get the qualifying score so best to name the school on the online form and they will send you a pack.

In the 'How to appeal' guide to which Herman refers, I've now added the following just above A1:

• • If you have been refused a grammar school for which you applied, you can:
    • ask to go on the waiting list (if qualified)
    • or appeal (whether qualified or not)
    
    Normally you should ask to go on the waiting list (if qualified) and ask for an appeal.
    
    Please note that the waiting list is handled by Admissions, and is a completely separate procedure from an appeal.

Thanks for that help, but I am still slightly confused about the waiting list form and "new preferences" If I add a new school that wasn't on my original CAF, am I right in thinking I put any non-grammars down in the right order, but I leave out the GS because of non-qual so I can't go on their waiting list, but if I win an appeal for non-qual I will then go on the GS waiting list? Thanks again.

If I add a new school that wasn't on my original CAF, am I right in thinking I put any non-grammars down in the right order, but I leave out the GS because of non-qual

No! You won't be able to appeal if the GS isn't one of your preferences.

but if I win an appeal for non-qual I will then go on the GS waiting list?

That bit looks all right!


From the Introduction to the 'How to appeal' guide:

(ii) Waiting lists & appeals
If you have been refused a grammar school for which you applied, you can:

• • • ask to go on the waiting list (if qualified)
    • or appeal (whether qualified or not)

Normally you should ask to go on the waiting list (if qualified) and ask for an appeal.

Please note that the waiting list is handled by Admissions, and is a completely separate procedure from an appeal.

• • To summarise the key points:
    1. You can only appeal for a school you have been refused, so this means at this point you can only appeal for your preferences as they stand in the first round
    2. You can appeal even if not qualified; the online form can be completed multiple times for schools using the LA appeals team.
    3. You can change/add preferences for the second round, and if refused in the second round that triggers the right of appeal. These appeals are likely to happen after the appeals triggered in the first round, but may be combined - this will depend on the timeline.
    4. Non qualified pupils are not included on waiting lists - they do not have to be on a waiting list to be successful at appeal. However they do have to have expressed a preference to trigger appeal.
    5. Occasionally last year the IAP decided a child should have been qualified for the school, but then felt the school's case outweighed the child's, so - from the point of the appeal decision only - they were put on the waiting list.

OK. Think I am nearly there.

What I want to do is:

Be on the waiting list for a preferred upper school
Still be able to appeal to grammar schools
Add a new upper school to my list.

What do I need to write on my form and return to admissions to achieve this? Your help, Etienne, has been great as usual but I still need a little more clarity

When you say you got your second choice secondary, do you mean that you listed grammar school(s) first, then a non-gs which you didn't get, then a non-gs which you did get? Or a non-gs which you didn't get, then a non-gs which you did get, then the grammar school(s)? If the latter, the main reason why one wouldn't get an offer from the grammar is that a higher-ranked school was able to offer a place. Again, apologies if I have misunderstood .