Secondary school placement appeal

AHarvey · 20 May 2023 at 19:53

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone has been through a secondary school placement appeal for one of their children and would share their experiences of it?

We've just had the date through for our daughters and although we have prepared for it, you can't be too prepared.

The main thing we're going on is the school that she wants to go to is a better-performing school than the local one she's been assigned too and she's very academic, SATs scores show she's at least 3 years ahead of where she should be and she's wanted to be a vet since she was 3, so we're really pushing that the school we want has an advanced performance program and the school we've been given, although my wife and I both attended has gone down the toilet over the last 10 years. There was a massive student fight while the OFSTED inspector was there... says it all really

AHarvey · 20 May 2023 at 20:33

moon man said:
We used my parents address to get my youngest in to a good school, DR now so our entitled boomer tactics worked well tbh

I've actually joked with the wife that we should just rent a flat in this town and pretend we've separated, use that address to get her in and then "get back together" We'd need to pretend to separate so she can still get the bus from our town. Wife said no... was looking forward to some peace and quiet

AHarvey · 21 May 2023 at 18:22

Quartz said:
Have you considered private education? If she's as clever as you say she might get a bursary or scholarship. Gresham's, for instance is in North Norfolk. Many private schools are generous with scholarships and bursaries.

We've actually got her booked in for the Newports Girls school entrance test, which is in something like the top 20 in the country, but as it's "all girls" and a lot of her friends are boys she's a little worried about it. It's better than the school she actually wants to go to, but that is still a great school. Both are far better than the one we've got

AHarvey · 22 May 2023 at 17:38

Richie said:
Every child is a superstar protege in the eyes of their parents TBH...

Not at all, my middle child isn't academic, everything has been a struggle, he's not slow/dumb, just but just isn't really interested.He's 8, finally got him into reading, we're doing handwriting practice at home etc, but he's just very laid back about everything

AHarvey · 22 May 2023 at 17:40

a1ex2001 said:
Your appeal will fail, those are not valid grounds for appeal over a placement.

Really, because we have a headmistress at the current school and a governor at the new school that have both said that they've seen people get in on that.

AHarvey · 22 May 2023 at 17:41

Ripper said:
I’m in charge of admissions at my school and run the appeals. Sorry, but if it’s full I don’t expect you’ll get a place based on what you’ve put there. There will be others appealing too with far more distressing circumstances than your own which an appeals panel will likely sympathise with more.

I would really recommend getting your daughter prepared for the other school. You could join a waiting list and may get a place eventually when someone else leaves, but this may take a while.

That is the worry, we know people have got in in previous years using the same approach we are, however, this year it just rammed with applications due to child numbers, it's crazy