CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

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Ummeesa2010
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:36 am

CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

Post by Ummeesa2010 »

Hi,

I would like to submit an appeal. My son achieved 236 in his 11+ test and we were not offered a place at CHB due to our location. We were given our second preference at KEA. Our distance from the school is 5755m (falls within the catchment area for CHB) as the crow flies. After contacting the Foundation Office I have been told that 4 offers were made on 23/03/21 and my son is 7th on the waiting list. Currently there are 10 in-catchment applicants with the priority score of 224 or above who are yet to be offered a place. For 2020 entry eventually all Cat 4 students were offered a place and the last boy offered a place scored 262 and lived 8872m (Cat 5). We are hopeful that he maybe given a place in the near future.

I have spoken to my son’s school and they are willing to provide a letter to help support our appeal. I am yet to find strong swaying grounds for an appeal. My son was disappointed to not get a place at CHB, his friends have gained a place with lower scores but living slightly closer than us. He did incredibly well especially as he contracted Covid when he went back to school and was very unwell and took the test a few weeks later. Logistically it would be so much better for my son to get a place at CHB as it would mean the commute would be much shorter and travelling to KEA would be much longer for the next five years. I know the whole reason why catchment areas have been allocated are so that students don’t have to travel too far but this has not favoured students that are living in the outer circle of the catchment areas. I know they faced similar issues last year hence the priority score was increased but this has not helped CHB applicants. I would really appreciate some advice as to how this appeal can be conducted. I know there are many very experienced members here. I would really appreciate some advice.
mad?
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 6:27 pm
Location: london

Re: CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

Post by mad? »

Welcome to appeals.

I"m sure one of our experts will be along shortly but in the mean time have you read the Appeals Q&A. You will find the answers to some of your questions there.
Are you arguing that he could have scored higher? Is this relevant? (sorry I am not an expert on CHB admissions process). Or is it just that you live too far away? Whichever of these is the case will determine the nature of your appeal and once you have read the relevant section above come back with any specific queries.
mad?
Ummeesa2010
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:36 am

Re: CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

Post by Ummeesa2010 »

Thankyou for your prompt response.
Once you have the qualifying score, higher scores are irrelevant unless you’re applying OOC from my understanding. The main basis for my appeal would be although we don’t qualify for PP, we weren’t allocated a place due to our location. Catchment areas will always discriminate against less affluent areas on the perimeter like Acocks green. If we don’t fall within pupil premium or can’t afford to live in a more affluent area, our child won’t get a place regardless of how high he scored in the exam.
hermanmunster
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Location: The Seaside

Re: CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

Post by hermanmunster »

the important thing to look at is the "oversubscription appeal" - you are going to have to look at reasons why CHB is the right school for your child (don't mention anything about KEA, the panel will consider it a very good school and may even have had their own children there).

There is no need to mention illness or anything of that sort as your son passed the test, this is purely about why they should take another child in and why this school is the right one

ETA you mentioned - "Catchment areas will always discriminate against less affluent areas on the perimeter like Acocks green. If we don’t fall within pupil premium or can’t afford to live in a more affluent area, our child won’t get a place regardless of how high he scored in the exam"
totally appreciate that this is very frustrating but complaining about the allocation process at an appeal will not get you anywhere, so don't mention it.
mad?
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Location: london

Re: CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

Post by mad? »

This ^^^
mad?
Ummeesa2010
Posts: 7
Joined: Tue Mar 02, 2021 10:36 am

Re: CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

Post by Ummeesa2010 »

Ok, thankyou for that feedback. I’ll have a look at the over-subscription section. What kind of letter would need to be provided from the school??
scary mum
Posts: 8841
Joined: Mon Mar 15, 2010 3:45 pm

Re: CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

Post by scary mum »

Have a look at the section that mad? linked to, in particular this section.
scary mum
Etienne
Posts: 8978
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2005 6:26 pm

Re: CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

Post by Etienne »

Welcome to Appeals! :)
The main basis for my appeal would be although we don’t qualify for PP, we weren’t allocated a place due to our location.
As explained above, challenging the admission arrangements won't achieve anything unless they are unlawful or have been incorrectly applied.
This is what the Appeals Code says:
    • 3.2 The panel must consider the following matters in relation to each child that is the subject of an appeal:
      (a) whether the admission arrangements (including the area’s co-ordinated admission arrangements) complied with the mandatory requirements of the School Admissions Code and Part 3 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998; and
      (b) whether the admission arrangements were correctly and impartially applied in
      the case in question.

      3.5 The panel must uphold the appeal at the first stage where:
      a) it finds that the admission arrangements did not comply with admissions law or had not been correctly and impartially applied, and the child would have been offered a place if the arrangements had complied or had been correctly and impartially applied
      [my bold print]
Catchment areas will always discriminate against less affluent areas on the perimeter like Acocks green. If we don’t fall within pupil premium or can’t afford to live in a more affluent area, our child won’t get a place regardless of how high he scored in the exam.
Although it cannot be the basis of your appeal, I'd be tempted to slip these two sentences into your appeal in the hope they might get you some sympathy! (Don't make it a complaint - just introduce the point with "It seems such a pity that ....")

hermanmunster wrote:you are going to have to look at reasons why CHB is the right school for your child
Reasons for wanting a place are discussed in the Q&As here:
http://www.elevenplusexams.co.uk/appeal ... -school#c2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[cross-post with scary]
Etienne
KenR
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Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

Post by KenR »

I would focus on the fact that the KE Foundation have stated on many occasions that they intended the 2021 Admissions Policy to guarantee that all local children in catchment (Cat 4) who achieved the priority score [your child] would be offered a place in the school. They also wanted to strongly discourage children from having to travel long distances to a KE Grammar school. yet although you are not local to KEA and are out of catchment for that school they have offered your child a place at that school

This is a quote from KE Foundation Website about one of the aims of the new Admissions policy:-
With a more local focus, the current long travel times of some of our students will reduce, ensuring that they do not arrive at school in the morning fatigued by a long, congested cross city journey but rather will enjoy better wellbeing in school, including being able to access our rich ‘out of hours’ extra-curricular opportunities.
New Admissions Proposal
“The proposals are designed to enhance our historic mission of providing high-quality education for the children of Birmingham, regardless of background. They aim to improve accessibility for disadvantaged students; to ensure that there is more priority for local children; and to provide a consistent approach across our family of selective schools.

No admissions system can please everyone. It is not surprising that many more affluent parents, particularly those living outside Birmingham, are unhappy at what they see as a loss of entitlement to a place at their preferred school. On the other hand, we have received many messages in favour of the proposals from parents who have had to send their child across the city, despite achieving a high score in the entrance test. We believe that our schools should be rooted in the communities that they serve.

The consultation runs until 7 January and we will consider the full range of views expressed.” – King Edward VI Academy Trust Birmingham
Also don't forget that for Cat 5 the distance from the school is irrelevant - it's purely on score.
KenR
Posts: 1506
Joined: Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:12 pm
Location: Birmingham

Re: CHB Oversubscription Appeal 2021

Post by KenR »

You might want to quote from a response I received about the 2020 Consultation and Cat 4 catchments from the KE Foundation. Note they decided to set the Cat 4 priority score at 222 for the 2020 Admissions but they still found that some Cat 4 catchment didn't get a place on the 1st March (although I think all did eventually via the waiting list). That's presumably why they set the priority score as 224 for 2021 but they clearly missed the target again. :-
Response 2
Thank you for your email and the comments sent via the consultation which have been received.

The proposals have been drawn up in a way to offer as far as possible, certainty to PP applicants within catchment that they would be offered their catchment school if scoring 205+. You will note category 2 does not have a limit of 25%, so there could in theory be more than 25% places at the schools taken if there were enough PP applicants within catchment achieving the qualifying score.

Based on admissions data we are confident that all applicants achieving the priority score of 220 would be able to access their catchment school, however, we can offer no guarantee due to the number of factors that can influence this. We do anticipate places would still be available to offer to applicants within category 5, though this would vary from school to school. To set a percentage of places available in category 5 like you suggest would mean the potential to offer places from this category before all applicants within a higher category (4) have been offered, e.g. a high scoring child living in Leicester could be offered before a high scoring child living within catchment, something the proposals set out to address. You will note that our neighbouring grammar schools in Warwickshire do not hold back a set number/percentage of places for out of catchment/priority applicants. As most applicants (depending on their local authority) have six preferences, we still believe we would receive a high number of applications from those outside of the respective catchment areas, particularly as there would very likely be places to be offered from category 5.

We have not shared any information with you that is confidential or that we have not provided to other people, and want all those interested in the proposals to engage with the consultation.

Regards

Grammar School Admissions

The Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham
The Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham have clearly stated that it was their intention and objective, in setting the 2021 Admissions Criteria, to guarantee a place at CHB for all non PP boys in local catchment (Cat 4) who achieve the Priority score (224). You could argue, as part of the Appeal, that your child has failed to achieve a place at CHB due to the unforeseen consequences of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham setting 2021 School Admissions criteria that unfortunately failed to achieve their published admissions intentions and objective.
Last edited by KenR on Wed Mar 24, 2021 8:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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