Oversubscription Appeal - gathering information issues

[kenyancowgirl]

[ToadMum]

("DD wants to go to a school with "ham" in the name").

You may find this hard to believe, but it is absolutely true: some years ago a Muslim father quoted to me that his son felt unable to accept the offered place at Chesham Grammar because the name contained the word "ham". The parent intended to make this point at an appeal.

(Dr Challoners in Amersham did not, however, present him with the same moral dilemma ...)

Presumably Chesham had been allocated as the nearest suitable school with places...?

(A variant: the school we've been given is a church school. This is terrible. We specifically do not want a church school. I don't understand you when you say that we could have filled up all the preferences on the CAF without naming the one and only church school in the area, let alone as pref 2 (For 'church school', insert any other kind of local 'one off' type of school that you have to have made a deliberate decision to include on your CAF
)).

[anotherdad]

We really need a facepalm smilie.

I can well remember an appeal case a few years ago when a parent invoked the written support of a religious leader because her child absolutely definitely had to be educated in a single sex school rather than in a mixed upper, the only single-sex option being a grammar. Her religious beliefs were so strongly fundamental on this point that she simultaneously appealed for a place at a co-ed grammar...

Religious principles for sale, anyone?

[ToadMum]

We really need a facepalm smilie.

I can well remember an appeal case a few years ago when a parent invoked the written support of a religious leader because her child absolutely definitely had to be educated in a single sex school rather than in a mixed upper, the only single-sex option being a grammar. Her religious beliefs were so strongly fundamental on this point that she simultaneously appealed for a place at a co-ed grammar...

Religious principles for sale, anyone?

Now, now - obviously with it being a grammar school, the boys and girls would be segregated, wouldn't they? You can believe all kinds of things about a school if you never actually visit it or read the admissions policy.

[sparklies]

Good grief! Well, that probably explains a few of the ones who lost then!!

You couldn't make it up with some of them, clearly

[Marylou]

I understand the need to make succinct points in the covering letter for an appeal.

However, is it reasonable to expand upon those points in an appendix given there are probably things that give more weight to the argument? For instance, providing quotes from the prospectus or Parentview or the Ofsted report in context as evidence. Or perhaps more detailed explanation into *why*.

For example, the covering letter point might say:

"X would benefit from the very strong Y extra-curricular activity at Z school due to their passion for Y"

but the explanation in the appendix might say:

"X has always been passionate about Y. In year 4, X created a fifty foot representation of Y from cocktail sticks (with a photo) X also won "Y Champion" of the year in 2015 for the county (with copy of certificate). Z school is the only school around that offers Y as an extra-curricular activity (not sure how to evidence negatives elsewhere though!). The Y activity motivates X considerably and participating in Y in a school setting will bring the best out of X's academic work too."

Or should the appendices be purely for attaching documentary evidence such as medical reports, certificates etc and nothing else?

...+1 what Etienne said ... (as always! )

I know from my own experience that panels really appreciate a concise explanation with clear links to supporting documents in an appendix, but it's also fine to provide a few words of explanation in the main submission as per your example as long as the overall submission doesn't end up too long as a result. Our appeal case was also quite complex, hinging on a couple of circumstancial points that went against us and not dissimilar to the ones you describe. In our case it was due to a change in the interpretation of sibling rules potentially affecting a relatively small number of families, but the amount of paperwork generated in supporting our case was quite substantial so presenting it in an organised and coherent way seemed to go down well.

I wish you the best of luck and hope that the waiting list works in your favour - it has been known to happen! I know of someone who missed out on a place by a tenth of a mile who was offered a place in the first reshuffle after the girl a couple of streets away who had been offered a place turned it down in favour of an independent school. There's always the chance of a late entrant with a higher claim being given priority of course, but it's unlikely there's anyone closer than you on the waiting list!

[sparklies]

Thank you Marylou! I have a tendency to give more detail than is necessary for anything in life, so it will be an interesting challenge to try and make it concise, but I'll be a lot more motivated knowing I have to!

I'm hoping against hope we get some good news on April 10th so this is all redundant.

[sparklies]

Just giving a follow-up because I know it's always nice to hear how things ended up.

To our immense relief, we got one of probably only a tiny number of places in the second allocation round today. Big smiles all round!

[Guest55]

Great news sparklies

[Etienne]

To our immense relief, we got one of probably only a tiny number of places in the second allocation round today. Big smiles all round!

Congratulations!