11 Plus Exams Forum

Hi All,
Would anyone happen to know what happens if (after a miracle) you were sucessful at one or even two appeals?
Do you get a written offer with the chance to accept or decline or are you automatically given a place at one of the schools?

Don't know if it is the same everywhere but in Essex you get a letter from the clerk to the appeal panel informing you that your DC has a place at the school. This letter is copied to the school and the admissions department of the LEA who should then send you all the standard paperwork as if your DC had been granted place on allocation day. We had to chase because our appeal was in late June and the induction day was two days after we received letter so it was all very rushed.

Thanks for your help dutchy005.

Same as Dutchy
We had to 'accept' new offer officially, and also let originally offered school know we no longer needed place. (lots of others wanting it)

Presume, if more than one appeal won (v lucky indeed but sometimes happens) that you accept your highest choice and inform the others?

ofsoundmind wrote:Hi All,
Would anyone happen to know what happens if (after a miracle) you were sucessful at one or even two appeals?

You should receive a letter saying that your appeal has been successful. Technically, it should state, in the same was as 'appeal unsuccessful' letters, the things that were taken into account in coming to this conclusion, in case you wanted (for some perverse reason) to take it to the Ombudsman, but our clerk doesn't tend to do that as far as I know, as parents never ever complain that they have won the appeal!

Next thing that happens is that you go to the fridge, select a bottle of fizz, open & consume it. In the case of 'unsuccessful', substitute a bottle of gin, vodka or industrial spirits for the fizz.

In all seriousness, you will still need to accept the place. If you have won more than one appeal, then it would be polite to tell the school that you won't be taking that place up, so they don't expect your child come the start of the term.

Note where you've won two appeals, that the 'turned down' appeal place will NOT be allocated 'down the list' to an unsuccessful appeal - there's no waiting list for appeals - it's a one-off yes/no process, so by winning two, a child somewhere else may well have been deprived a place Of course, that's not your problem, or the panel or schools problem, launching two appeals is perfectly allowable, and neither panel will have known that you're appealing for more than one place (unless you tell them, and I wouldn't recommend that).

Thanks jingle/capers,

That clears things up.
As for the gin/vodka, I think the cupboard might be empty by the time we actually get the results, due to the stress of the build-up!! Better restock!

When did you sit your appeal and did they give you an indication of when you should receive the results. It will depend on just how many people appeal, the more there are then it will take a lot longer.

We just sat our appeal earlier this week and there are 74 others so a good 3 weeks of appeals to go. We hope to get the results about end of term.

Does anyone know if they send out the successful letters first, or in no particular order!

Hi Tina,
We haven't had ours yet. I think they will be in June sometime, but still waiting for a date.
Good luck with yours.
As for the letters, I've no idea, first timer here!

tina2476 wrote:Does anyone know if they send out the successful letters first, or in no particular order!

Once all the appeals for that school have been heard, the panel will sit down and review all the appeals, and decide which ones (if any) to allow. In your case, that will probably take a whole day - not necessarily the day after the last appeal, but when the panel have indicated that they're all available. That said, as the clerk makes notes all the time, if we get time after an appeal, or at the end of the day, we may well summarise the things raised by the parents that we're taking into account, ready for the decission letters.

The clerk will then write the letters, and they'll all go out at once. There's no advantage to sending 'successful' letters first, as accepting or turning down the place offered by appeal has no effect on the 'unsuccessful' appeals - ie, they won't suddenly become successful just because a place has been turned down.

Capers - what would the panel think if the Head of the school being appealed to made no 'fight' against the parents and in fact agreed with them that their child should have a place and said that more places could be accommodated?