Hello, I am new the forum and not sure if I have posted in the right section but looking for urgent advice from anyone if possible, as I have had three failed appeals and down know where to turn. My daughter has attended a preparatory school in Liverpool which I have struggled to fund since she was 3. She only sat entrance exams for the belvedere academy, Liverpool College and the bluecoat. She received band 1 in the academy and the college but slipped through the net of the fair banding. She missed a band B in bluecoat by 9 points, but this didn't pass the appeal. Ou appeal top belvedere did not pass as they have already taken an extra 25 girls in advance of building works to create more space, and the fact that she has attended the prep which used to be the feeder school did not interest the panel one jot. Our council have allocated her a default school which is rated inadequate by ofsted and I have refused the place. In hindsight I should have had her sit more entrance exams to cover all bases but have listed to teachers who have told us she was extremely bright and will succeed on aptitude basis. I f anyone can offer any advice, I would be extremely grateful. Thank you in advance.

Welcome to the forum. I will move your post to the Appeals section, where you should get more help.

Some initial thoughts:

Did you put any other schools down on the CAF? I'm not sure how many slots you get in Liverpool? For anyone reading this in the future, the advice is always to put at least one school down that you are sure of getting & would be (reasonably) happy with.


This would not be relevant to them appeal (I'm not clear how a prep school can be a feeder to a satet school, but it's not relevant anyway). The decision would be based on whether they consider that taking an extra child would be detrimental to the school.


Again, for future reference our advice is to always accept the offered school and then appeal. The local authority have fulfilled their obligation to offer a school place. If you have refused you are responsible now.

Hopefully our appeals experts can offer you some more advice.

I'm not local to you but have had experience of some local parents turning down the school offered under the misapprehension that they "have" to be offered something else.
My feeling is that you need to put your daughter on the waiting list of all comprehensive schools that are within reasonable distance. Locally there would be a reasonable chance that your daughter would get a place before September in one of the schools (and highly likely by Christmas) but I don't know what movement is like at your schools.
Otherwise you will have to consider sending her privately or home schooling - which you may need to do anyway prior to her getting a place in one of your local schools.

Belvedere used to be an independent school, then became an academy - at this point the fees were abolished but I think it remained as a GDST school. The prep still exists and obviously was a feeder prep to the senior school at one point.

OP It is worth having a serious look at all the possible comprehensives and asking to go on as many waiting lists as you can. I am sorry that you have had problems with schools - despite what prep schools say, the banding can be notoriously difficult to predict, I think it was set up in some cases to increase the element of chance in the whole process.

Just to confirm what others have said - if none of your preferences can be met, the LA will have fulfilled all its legal obligations by offering you a place at the nearest school with a vacancy.
If you reject that place, you are then responsible for daughter's education.

And also appeal as soon as they say they can't offer a place because they're full. It's a twin track approach: waiting list + appeal.
For advice on appeals, see:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeals/

_________________
Etienne

Thank you very much to everyone. I spent the whole of yesterday calling round and adding her name to waiting lists, which are all massive so unlikely to have any effect.

I am under Knowsley Council so we only have three preferences, and I now realise that we have listed 2 fair banding schools (plus one selective) which was a wrong tactic given the complete lottery. I am currently without a school and now and been informed by our headmistress that best bet will be to do a change of preference to any school that has a place, which is 2 in liverpool, and hope that an offer is provided via the waiting list for the belvedere as she is currently 2nd. Despite paying them for the past 8 years they have not offered much by way of advice, and simply say that's the problem with the fair banding and blame the education system. I cannot afford a fee paying school for secondary as my circumstances have changed since we entered the prep in 2011, and I have had to remortgage to continue her education thinking I was doing the right thing etc, but not obviously in no better position for it, so in all honesty I would not pay for a school again under any circumstances.

Most of the pupils in my daughters class sat the 11 plus in wirral. I didn't think this was logistically viable but now realise I have left myself completely without a contingency plan.

Thank you once again fro all your replies, I am very grateful.

You have not done anything wrong and have been very badly let down by those who should have helped you.

You used all your preferences and unfortunately nothing came through for you.

Three preferences is not really enough.

We are in Herts and it used to be three there when I applied for my two dds but all the local London boroughs had six choices and still do.

A few years ago Herts added one more but it really is still not enough.

There will be parents holding onto state and private options so places will come up as one student cannot attend two schools.

You need to get onto as many waiting lists as you can.

Near me there are two very good single sex ex grammars and places do come up as parents take the private option.

Two friends of mine with dds in different schools who were both not in the same town as the school had to wait until half term but both got places then and now have siblings that have joined the elder dd through the sibling rule.

Go back to your Headmistress and ask for a list of schools she would recommend and get yourself on the waiting lists.

Do let us know how you get on. It is a horrible thing to happen to you and totally undeserved. DG