Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ appeal

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Mbrenno84
Posts: 150
Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2020 6:45 pm

Re: Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ ap

Post by Mbrenno84 »

Etienne wrote:
It feels like once you spend time preparing for one appeal you may as well throw your hat into the ring for the other schools as well
I agree. There's so much luck involved, it usually makes sense to cast one's net as wide as possible for little additional effort.

I'm sure you wouldn't do this but I can recall some cases where parents appeared to have sent in identical submissions - to the extent that they hadn't even changed the name of the school they were appealing for. Ouch! :lol:
How long do I have to accept that and refuse the current place
I think you would have to ask your LA. As far as I recall there's no set period of time specified in the legislation - other than that it must be "reasonable".
Oh dear on the identical submissions. While the general content remains the same (my daughter is the same person with the same qualities etc...); every appeal is tailored towards the school it was sent to. And while my preparation is pretty much the same for the actual appeal hearing, I am making sure it includes the relevant individual content appropriate to the school.

Thanks for the guidance on the timeframe. I'm going to focus on the appeals and we will see where we get to, if anywhere, on the appeals.
springbloom
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Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2021 6:18 pm

Re: Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ ap

Post by springbloom »

You mentioned there were 2 legal representatives. Were they for the school or was one the clerk?
Mbrenno84
Posts: 150
Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2020 6:45 pm

Re: Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ ap

Post by Mbrenno84 »

springbloom wrote:You mentioned there were 2 legal representatives. Were they for the school or was one the clerk?
Both clerks I believe. The appeal was put together by an outsourced company it seemed
Etienne
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Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Re: Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ ap

Post by Etienne »

Mbrenno84 wrote:
springbloom wrote:You mentioned there were 2 legal representatives. Were they for the school or was one the clerk?
Both clerks I believe. The appeal was put together by an outsourced company it seemed
Unusual to have two clerks in attendance (not least because it adds to the costs).
A possible explanation is that one of them was being trained.
Or perhaps someone was needed to help with MS Teams.
Etienne
springbloom
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Apr 25, 2021 6:18 pm

Re: Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ ap

Post by springbloom »

How did the appeal yesterday ok? Was it the same panel?
Mbrenno84
Posts: 150
Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2020 6:45 pm

Re: Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ ap

Post by Mbrenno84 »

springbloom wrote:How did the appeal yesterday ok? Was it the same panel?
I was contemplating how to reply to the group on how the appeal panel went yesterday. It was interesting. I feel a bit sensitive about posting a full account and completing the review before I get the outcome. What I will say is that I managed to get all my point across. There was a little bit of confusion about the order of proceedings. I think this is mainly because the whole thing seems to be really rushed. It was as if there was somebody in the queue after me and I needed to hurry up. It started two minutes late and finished two minutes early and considering I had quite a lot of questions and I prepared something to read out I was surprised that it actually finished earlier than scheduled. Again I didn’t get very many questions and I’m not sure what that means. They said that they had hearings all the way through this week and then will turn around the decision letters in the week commencing seventh of June. Hand on heart I’m not expecting it to be positive news. I genuinely feel as though I couldn’t have done any better or prepared any better. But it does seem as though there is very little scope to accept anybody into the school. Whether that’s because of capacity or willingness.
Mbrenno84
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Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2020 6:45 pm

Re: Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ ap

Post by Mbrenno84 »

I've had my last two appeal hearing dates come through - really disappointed to see that Stretford that my daughter passed for, has their hearing at the very end of June! That's a whole 6 week gap between the first and last! Also disappointed that not only the chair, but one of the lay members is the same as AGGS. I've read some of the previous posts where the panel member was the same, but I have some questions:

- Is there any possibility to request another appeal if I let the organisers know that two of the panel members are the same as my previous appeal? Will it be looked at unfavourably if I use a lot of the same answers - I mean it's the same child, her qualities haven't changed!

- Is there any possibility to enquire as to whether I could have an earlier appeal date, if one is available? Has anyone been successful in this?
Etienne
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Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Re: Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ ap

Post by Etienne »

Mbrenno84 wrote:Is there any possibility to request another appeal if I let the organisers know that two of the panel members are the same as my previous appeal?
You could try an objection, and see what they say. There might perhaps be stronger grounds for an objection if you lose the previous appeal.

However, the same panel is meant to hear all the appeals for a particular school.
In theory another panel could be set up for you and perhaps some late appellants if there are any (e.g. families moving in to the area), but a separate batch of appeals might not be possible before September/October.
Will it be looked at unfavourably if I use a lot of the same answers - I mean it's the same child, her qualities haven't changed!
It wouldn't matter if qualification were an issue (because the academic evidence would presumably be identical), but if the issue is oversuscription, then usually there are some differences. "This is the school we really want. My child is desperately keen to go to it. It would best meet her needs because of X, Y and Z, and here is the evidence to show why this matters ...."
Some parents find themselves at one appeal arguing how important the choice of foreign languages is, whereas at another appeal what really matters has changed to the level of pastoral care! :?

Panel members should not take into account information that is not part of the hearing, but unfortunately there's no way of legislating for what they might be thinking privately. ("I remember this parent from another appeal, and he was arguing something completely different!")
Is there any possibility to enquire as to whether I could have an earlier appeal date, if one is available?
Administrators will be under a lot of pressure if they're arranging big multiple appeals, so they may not be too keen on making changes - but you could try asking nicely whether anyone has withdrawn from an earlier appeal, thereby creating a spare slot.
Even if they could accommodate the request, it looks like a long wait for the result!
Etienne
Mbrenno84
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Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2020 6:45 pm

Re: Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ ap

Post by Mbrenno84 »

I did ring the local council who are organising this appeal. You are correct Etienne that the same panel will oversee all appeals, so I will need to stick to the date I have with 2 out of 3 of the panel members having been on my previous. I don't think I could cope with waiting until September to have all of this concluded.

For the appeal that has the same panel members, it is qualification but I am still a little gutted because the questions/speech/summary I had prepared are the same, but tailored to the school I'm appealing for. Some of my content is quite, let's say 'original', so I'm going to need to figure out a way to make it different but still impactful. The council member said that no previous appeal hearing would be taken into account. I asked if that was realistic and if this would be independent, obviously she wasn't going to give any other answer.

I enquired about another date for Stretford and she said that she would keep it in mind if anyone else cancelled. But unlikely.

There's a lot of effort going into this, and I appreciate your replies. I'm still keeping it real - honestly I don't expect anything to move, because it's Trafford and because it's an appeal. But I'll continue to try my best and will hope that everything works out well.
Mbrenno84
Posts: 150
Joined: Thu Oct 29, 2020 6:45 pm

Re: Trafford - examples of questions asked by the panel @ ap

Post by Mbrenno84 »

Here I am again. The next appeal approaches - the school's case her refers a lot to impact upon timetabling, and it being a very complex arrangement. Timetabling is mentioned more than once in the school's case and is a new one on me. I'm struggling to come up with a challenge or question related to timetabling, and why prejudice to my child would be more. Are there any ideas on which way to go with this?
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