Watford Schools

[watdad]

have decided to appeal.

I have thought through my case, IMO there a many reasons why our two chosen schools are a good fit for my son.

In fact there are so many I have lots of evidence to support my case. The case itself I have tried to keep short, 1 1/3 pages of A4.

The questions I have is, is it possible to over do it and submit too much evidence?

I am led to believe the standard response will be the school is oversubscribed and therefore can not admit my son etc etc.

Does anybody have a good reply to this in an appeal, when questioned?



Thanks

[Etienne]

The questions I have is, is it possible to over do it and submit too much evidence?

Probably not - provided it really is relevant, and you are focusing on why your son's needs are best met by the school in question.

I am led to believe the standard response will be the school is oversubscribed and therefore can not admit my son etc etc.

Does anybody have a good reply to this in an appeal, when questioned?

A good response would be: "I accept that the school is full, and fully understand and sympathise with their case. But I would respectfully ask the panel to consider the prejudice to my son, and whether the reasons why he needs a place are - as I believe - so strong as to outweigh the prejudice to the school."

[watdad]

Thank you excellent advice....

Could I PM you my letter please Etienne?

It contains personal information but happy to sanitise it once I submit it and share any outcome

[Etienne]

Yes. Thanks for asking.

[watdad]

Etienne happy to continue on forum now….. Once submitted I will emphasis key points to help others as promised

Thank you for your kind words and indeed your time.

I take it you would not bother about it reading grammatically? Or mention my wife and I’s involvement in any voluntary work?

A friend recently appealed to QE, successfully, and they said the school / panel liked this.

I was setting it up so I could respond at a hearing that having a child like this would not prejudice the school as from our own experiences (scout leader etc) it is disruptive children that are an issue and a child that is involved and generally perceived as being helpful and participates in school councils, committees etc are an asset and not a liability. However you seem to have cut all this.

Thanks again for you time and support, its good to know you think I may have a case and were not flogging a dead horse. Out of interest which points would you enthuse over at the hearing?

[Etienne]

I take it you would not bother about it reading grammatically?

I hope what I suggested was reasonably grammatical! - but I do think bullet points and note form are clearer than paragraphs of crafted prose.

Or mention my wife and I’s involvement in any voluntary work?

I have never known this to carry any weight. (It sounds a bit like bribery - I'm sure that's not how you mean it!)

A friend recently appealed to QE, successfully, and they said the school / panel liked this.

The panel may have smiled etc. - but did it really affect their decision? I doubt it.

Out of interest which points would you enthuse over at the hearing?

In your particular case I'd stress the educational points related to the curriculum on offer.

I was setting it up so I could respond at a hearing that having a child like this would not prejudice the school as from our own experiences (scout leader etc) it is disruptive children that are an issue and a child that is involved and generally perceived as being helpful and participates in school councils, committees etc are an asset and not a liability. However you seem to have cut all this.

Well, I did say I was trying to make the submission as clear and concise as possible, and that you could go into more detail at the presentation.
However, panels often hear the argument "My child wouldn't prejudice the school, my child would be an asset." The test, remember, is whether the strength of your case outweighs any prejudice. I tend to think it's best not to quibble too much about what the prejudice is. The panel are quite capable of working that out for themselves. And, from your presentation and evidence, it's going to be pretty obvious to them that your son isn't a "problem pupil"!

I only make suggestions - you must decide what to do.

As a compromise, you could always slip in a very brief reference to something I think unimportant. But don't overdo it, or you risk diluting what really matters.

[watdad]

Thanks for your advice.

We have some time before it needs to be submitted. I will prepare both version and discuss with my wife how to proceed.

As you said we need to be totally happy.

Thanks again and kep up all the excellent work

[watdad]

Hi Etienne

Just to keep you updated, we have decided to compromise following a conversation with Harry’s head teacher and others who have been through the process for the Watford schools.

We have changed the format to follow the one suggested by yourself but have reinstated some of the information that you ruthlessly cut. Namely our son’s involvement in school councils, House captain / eco team etc. Have headed it up extra curriculum activity and only gone into two or three points in keeping with the rest so not to aver do it.

Left out other perceived waffle which I agree is subjective. Unfortunately this takes it over a page of A4 onto approaching a page a third, surprisingly the bulleted layout take up more space than the written paragraph form.

Hoping that size doesn’t count on this occasion

Will report back and let you know how I get on, will limit supporting documentation to references etc but have got quite a bit supporting his academic achievements, graphs and tables are not space savers but hopefully they are easy to read. Pictures say a thousand words and all that.

If successful happy to send you a copy if it helps other in the same situation, reading these pages there doesn’t appear to be a lot of knowledge about the Watford consortium and if I can shed some light will only be too happy to help.

Thanks again for you help and encouragement, over to the luck of teh Gods now

[Etienne]

Thanks for the update, watdad.

Good luck!

[watdad]

Last bit of advice please before I deliver packs (getting nervous now!)

Appeal for one of two schools would you mention them both in the same document or draft two marginally different responses?

I am assuming my appeal will be sent to the school for reply, will they tak kindly to seeing another schools name on the appeal, in some cases have a stronger case for one than the other.

Reading some of the literature on the government website I notice a reasonable percentage are offered a place without a hear. Putting two and two together, I wonder if this is because the school feel the case if so strong they do not want to set a president.

Would a school feel less strongly if they thought I would accept more than one school ie it could come across a bit desperate!