Help! for you all you wise people in here :)

[maria_and_matt]

Has any of you ever been to a school admissions appeal? I am trying to get my 14 yr old son to an over subscribed school near us, appeal day is looming and it is driving me nuts! advice will be so helpful, thanks!

[Alan]

Has any of you ever been to a school admissions appeal? I am trying to get my 14 yr old son to an over subscribed school near us, appeal day is looming and it is driving me nuts! advice will be so helpful, thanks!

Where are you?

When I was a headteacher in Essex my school was full - in other words, no room for any more children. Yet parents who appealed, still won. I therefore had to accept the extra children, to the disadvantage of everyone in the school.

There is a hierarchical system for appeal - firstly, siblings, followed by acute social circumstances, such as you and/or your wife's social and economic circumstances.

PM me if you want more.

Al.:)

[Alan]

There is a hierarchical system for appeal - firstly, siblings, followed by acute social circumstances, such as you and/or your wife's social and economic circumstances.



Sorry, just re-read the above sentence which, grammatically, is crap!
Another bottle of Tanduay please! :D

Al.:)

[KeithD]

Makes perfect sense to me......these drugs are sound :xxgrinning--00xx3:

[maria_and_matt]

Where are you?

When I was a headteacher in Essex my school was full - in other words, no room for any more children. Yet parents who appealed, still won. I therefore had to accept the extra children, to the disadvantage of everyone in the school.

There is a hierarchical system for appeal - firstly, siblings, followed by acute social circumstances, such as you and/or your wife's social and economic circumstances.

PM me if you want more.

Al.:)
hey alan ... so thankful that you replied, my appeal is for a catholic school near us, they sent me the paperwork and they are so full! problem is my son is going to be in year 10 this september, works in top sets in all subjects and according to the school all of the core subjects that my son needs to be at this september is full... they sent me and my husband some paperwork that for the life of us we do not understand.. something to do with net capacity! here in ipswich there are so little schools that do well in ofsted reports, most of he school here is crap:). but maybe i left it too late to try to move him school? this is my son from my ex husband btw, we use to share custody but when my son turned 14 he moved in with me and my husband.
his current school is like 3 and half miles away, i take him to school and back as there is no direct bus that would take him to school everyday, and with traffice it takes us half an hour sometimes more if there is an accident.

please give me some tips on how i can get him in our preferred school... thanks so much in advance!

[Gavanddal]

please give me some tips on how i can get him in our preferred school... thanks so much in advance!


1. Kidnap some kids who have got admitted
2. Pay the headmaster/mistress a bribe
3. Blackmail the head with some doctored incriminating pictures (or alledge they know Max Mosley)
4. Buy the school
5. Say you work for OFSTED

Worth a try?

[andypaul]

Make the parents of the present pupils all go to confession and get the ones who pretend to be Catholic booted out.

[maria_and_matt]

1. Kidnap some kids who have got admitted
2. Pay the headmaster/mistress a bribe
3. Blackmail the head with some doctored incriminating pictures (or alledge they know Max Mosley)
4. Buy the school
5. Say you work for OFSTED

Worth a try?

would love to try your suggestions :P but i don't think it will work :P

[maria_and_matt]

Make the parents of the present pupils all go to confession and get the ones who pretend to be Catholic booted out.

this is what irritates me, there are like a hundred non catholic kids there! and this school has no catchment area, kids from far away land get to go to this school, where is the justice in that :Vader:

[Alan]

Make the parents of the present pupils all go to confession and get the ones who pretend to be Catholic booted out.

There is, I regret to say, a lot of truth in the above statement.

Al.:)

[frednbyang]

Is the any point in asking your local priest or bishop to intervene on your behalf?

[Alan]

hey alan ... so thankful that you replied, my appeal is for a catholic school near us, they sent me the paperwork and they are so full! problem is my son is going to be in year 10 this september, works in top sets in all subjects and according to the school all of the core subjects that my son needs to be at this september is full... they sent me and my husband some paperwork that for the life of us we do not understand.. something to do with net capacity! here in ipswich there are so little schools that do well in ofsted reports, most of he school here is crap:). but maybe i left it too late to try to move him school? this is my son from my ex husband btw, we use to share custody but when my son turned 14 he moved in with me and my husband.
his current school is like 3 and half miles away, i take him to school and back as there is no direct bus that would take him to school everyday, and with traffice it takes us half an hour sometimes more if there is an accident.

please give me some tips on how i can get him in our preferred school... thanks so much in advance!

You may find this hard to believe - but it is absolutely the truth.
The roll of a school is determined by square footage of the school premises, so, so many square feet in a school building, so many pupils can be accepted.

I am not really the one to ask as to how you can 'get past' the Appeals Panel, as I was always the one submitting against the appeal as my school was full. When I used to lose my appeals, no reason was ever given to me by the Local Education Authority (LEA) - who - incidentally - had set the maximum roll for my school in the first place :Erm::doh :Brick:

Perhaps the best avenue for you is, as I mentioned before, the socio/economic one. I appreciate that your child is very bright and deserves the best - I am 100% behind you on that!!

Nevertheless, the LEA are not academics, nor do they have much experience of education. They are merely bureaucrats who 'follow a script.'

Sorry - not much help to you I'm afraid. Best of luck!

Al.:)

[maria_and_matt]

thanks AL.. appeal is on the 5th and the 12th of this month.. i will give it my best shot.

[maria_and_matt]

Is the any point in asking your local priest or bishop to intervene on your behalf?
i have an appointment to see my local priest today:)

[maria_and_matt]

hey alan,
i had my appeal hearing last tuesday... and today i got a letter from them and my son got in! thought i'd share the good news with you!

[KeithD]

:xxgrinning--00xx3:

[Alan]

hey alan,
i had my appeal hearing last tuesday... and today i got a letter from them and my son got in! thought i'd share the good news with you!

Excellent!! Well done!

Al.:)