lost our daughters appeal

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mollie79
Posts: 1
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 10:56 pm

lost our daughters appeal

Post by mollie79 »

hi peeps can some one help ive a child going into year 8 in September we applied for our sons sister to go to same school she should be starting year 7 in September but for some daft reason my baby girl wasent given the same school as her brother we took it to appeal but lost the appeal now my daughter has no school to go to in September no one has said any thing to me about my daughters education she a straight A student the only thing ive being told is to put her on school waiting lists what about her education no one has told me if im to be offered a home tutor for my daughter till she gets into a school or if im to ask for one or if shes got to do with out please some one help me I don't know where to turn
999 mum
Posts: 422
Joined: Sun Feb 14, 2010 12:02 am

Re: lost our daughters appeal

Post by 999 mum »

I am sorry to hear that the children will not be going to the same school.

Does the school have a sibling policy?
Did you mention on the application that it was a sibling application?
Did you add other schools on the application form or did you only put on the one school?
Have other siblings in previous/current year not managed to get into the school?

On what grounds were you appealing?
Okanagan
Posts: 1706
Joined: Mon Aug 22, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: Warwickshire

Re: lost our daughters appeal

Post by Okanagan »

More questions...

Was it a selective school you were applying for? In which case what was the outcome of the selection tests? A few will have policies which give preference to siblings, regardless of qualification but most don't. You need to check the admissions policy of the school you were applying for to see what their rules are regarding siblings. You should be able to find it on the school's website.

If you didn't only put one school on the application, were you not offered any of your choices? Or if you were offered others did you reject them assuming that your appeal would succeed?

Have you already talked to your local admissions office? They should be able to advise you which schools in your area still have places. You can take one of these while still being on the waiting list for other schools you would prefer. You would be highly unlikely to be offered a home tutor if there are spare places at schools in your area, even if they are not at the schools you would have chosen.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: lost our daughters appeal

Post by mystery »

You have a legal duty to provide your child with a suitable education - either at home or by sending them to school. Your home local authority has a duty to find you a school place if you wish your year 6 daughter to go to school in September. If you don't have a school place for her in September you need to phone them up and fill in the right forms to get her one.

There is no guarantee that at this point in time you will get a school of your choosing, but you should definitely be given a school place. There is no way you will be given a home tutor.

You need to make sure you are either home educating or sending her to school in September or you will be breaking the law - no-one will accept that this is someone else's fault I am afraid even if no-one has made this clear to you yet.

I hope you find a school you like. If you don't you have to take up whatever place is on offer, and then carry on appealing and sitting on waiting lists for schools that you do want. You can appeal once a year for any school you wish to have a go at getting in to.

Good luck.
Belinda
Posts: 1167
Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2007 10:57 pm

Re: lost our daughters appeal

Post by Belinda »

Sorry to hear your news.
It sounds as though you may benefit sitting down with someone, and discussing through your DD's options. Maybe her current school's teacher / headteacher may be a good place to start? They will have local knowledge of policy and procedures - and of local schools, and will know you and DD so may be able to give more suitable advice. Do check any info you are given though, either on here, or with the LEA / Admissions.
Best wishes.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: lost our daughters appeal

Post by mystery »

Yes it's a good idea. However, the longer this is left the lower the chance of getting a place this September at a school that you would be happy with, rather than just whichever schools happen to have places at the last minute. Also, it is possible to appeal to more schools.

If you told us where you lived we could find the right web links for you. What you need is a list of schools that your child could reasonably travel to, and to apply to them. Then if you are refused a place at them, you go on their waiting list and you can also appeal. Your council admissions section should be able to explain all of this, but also it should be written down clearly in their admissions booklet.

Have you turned down the school you were offered on 1 March, or are you not in the normal situation for some reason and are applying for secondary schools later than most?

If you were offered a school on 1 March and you turned it down, I'm afraid you have misunderstood the admissions system. It is always wise to keep the place you were offered on 1 March in case your appeal to a school you prefer does not succeed. Many appeals do not succeed. There will also be a reason why you did not get a place on 1 March at the school of your first choice. It is not just random.

You definitely need to find out more, but your current headteacher cannot sort it for you. You have to sort it yourself via the admissions section at your local authority and the schools that you are wanting to apply to. I am sure you could make an appointment to meet someone at the local authority admissions if you find the written stuff and the phone calls hard to understand. It can be confusing as you do get loads of people saying different things, so make sure you talk to someone sufficiently senior at the local authority e.g. a choices adviser.
Snowdaddy
Posts: 257
Joined: Tue Mar 05, 2013 10:45 am
Location: Kingston upon Thames

Re: lost our daughters appeal

Post by Snowdaddy »

Hi mollie79,
You have a number of answers trying to help you, but without more info its not clear why your DD has no school.

1) were you late applying or moved home, or did you apply on time ?
2) did you just apply to just one school, even if your DD didn't get in I'm surprised another school with spare places wasn't offered.
3) If you were offered another school, did you turn it down before knowing an appeal result
4) Is there a sibling clause in the admissions of the school the elder sibling goes to and if so did you fill in the name of the sibling on the application form.

Unfortunately if the problem was caused by your actions or mistakes in 3) or 4) or you were late in 1) there isn't much that can be done, sorry.

Just because there is a sibling doesn't automatically guarantee a place, it is usually one of a handful of deciders. For instance if school has PAN of 150, but 170 with siblings apply, then 20 aren't going to get in, the tiebreaker (usually distance from school) will apply to rank the 170.

As already suggested, I think you need to get added to waiting lists of alternative schools, or accept a place at a school with vacancies. Your LA should be able to give you a list of schools, and the current criteria, eg current cut-off distance of most recent person to get a place etc

Home tutoring wont happen unless your Local Authority runs out of school places by start of September, and can't offer you anything within a practical distance. If this situation arises it is more likely to ask school Governors to take a bulge class (effectively emergency extra spaces over the PAN (published admissions number) which the LA will fund) Bulge classes have been common in primary schools, but shouldn't really happen at secondary level as there is 10 years to plan school spaces knowing number of live births a decade earlier, and LAs are expected to plan at least 3-5% spare places to ensure there is some flexibility and parental choice.

.
Daogroupie
Posts: 11100
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 3:01 pm
Location: Herts

Re: lost our daughters appeal

Post by Daogroupie »

Mollie79, Can you explain to us how you managed to apply for a school for your son who is in Year 7 but something seems to have gone wrong for your Y6 daughter? Nobody is going to talk to you about your daughter's education. It is part of your role as a parent to focus on and sort out secondary transfer for your daughter as you did for your son. There will not have been some daft reason why she did not get a place at your son's school. Places are allocated in line with the school's published admission criteria. Either your daughter did not fulfilll the criteria or you did not apply in time so she missed all the places. Did you perhaps think that she just got a place and you did not have to apply? If you tell us where you live your post can be moved to that area and members can suggest options for you. You will have had a letter from your appeal as to why you did not win. What does that say? What were the grounds for your appeal? Nobody will be offering you home tutoring, you will be allocated your closest local school that has spaces. Give us the information we have asked you and we will do our best to help you. DG
Last edited by Daogroupie on Tue May 14, 2013 3:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MollyB
Posts: 71
Joined: Fri May 18, 2012 3:42 pm

Re: lost our daughters appeal

Post by MollyB »

Hi Daogroupie just so it does not cause any confusion I am a different Mollie I think you were replying to Mollie79.
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