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Please help with appeal for secondary school

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Yes, I agree with everything you have said, being prepared is essential, after all you have no idea what questions the appeal panel will ask you, whatever you do, don't run down the school you have been given too much, just state why you feel it is not suitable for your child, then say why you feel strongly that the school of your choice is the right one for your child, try to give as many reasons as you can. Also be prepared to be asked "What will you do if your appeal is not successful?

It may also be useful to take a copy of both the schools ofsted reports in case you need to refer to any information on them, this way it lets them see you have done your homework.

 

Good luck to everyone going through this process, I know how you feel we were in same position this time last year.

 

My daughter and I found it heartbreaking. All her friends were looking forward to moving up and she couldn't join in as her future was uncertain. Our circumstances were a bit different in that she had been given a place then had it taken away as I couldn't provide bills to prove where we lived. This was because we lived with my mum so all the bills were in her name and her husbands. I prepared thoroughly and took enough copies of all my documentation for each panel member and the clerk. There were so many holes in the argument of the LEA that their representative ended up looking rather uncomfortable and the panel were disgusted at the basis of the place being taken away from her. The teacher representing the school said to the panel (once I'd gone) that if they planned to allow our appeal, could they tell me straight away as there was a parents evening that night that would be good to attend so I got a phone call within an hour of the appeal finishing. The clerk said we had done really well. I sent a fax to the school telling her the appeal was successful and the office staff took it to her for me. She opened it in the class and all her mates were hugging her and cheering. It's so hard sometimes, feeling powerless to protect our children against things like this that are beyond our control but what we were told by someone used to dealing with this stuff 'you get once chance with the appeal, make sure you do it right'.

 

Had we failed, we would have challenged the initial decision to take away her place. In my head, I would not have sent her to the alternative they were offering. Under any circumstances. She wouldn't have lasted 2 minutes, but I didn't mention any of that in the appeal and went in with a humble attitude.

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thanks for all your messages of support.

 

I'll be appealing the decision, so any helpful comments are much appreciated. I have three appeal packs on their way so I will appeal against all three of the rejections...

 

TIA

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Just email me with details. i no somebody that works with education that will help and get your kids to that school thanks

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If anyone needs any info on appeal process just let me know, we went through it last year.

 

I am in the same situation. My daughter has not been considered for schools in her choice 1-5 but was considered for the number 6 choice which is a very low performing school. Could you please help with the appeal process? How do I start?

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I am in the same situation. My daughter has not been considered for schools in her choice 1-5 but was considered for the number 6 choice which is a very low performing school. Could you please help with the appeal process? How do I start?

 

 

You will need to fill out an appeal form and get as much information about your chosen school as possible. It is also helpful if you can get any supporting letters from teachers etc.

After you have submitted your appeal application you will receive a letter confirming your interview date.

You then go along to town hall and sit in front of a panel.

 

At our interview there were 3 independent people, a woman taking the notes and someone who read out the case for the school you are appealing, sometimes it is someone from your chosen school but in our case it was just someone appointed to read out their reasons for not allowing my son a place.

The whole interview took about 30mins, which included them asking us questions and vice versa, you are given adequate time to ask anything relevant.

 

I hope this has been of some use, if you want to know anything else just PM, me.

 

 

Here is a link to my thread I started last year

 

http://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=314550

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When i was at school i was in the catchment area for bradfield (living at the top of stannington) but wanted to go to myers grove as all my friends went there from shooters grove and it was much closer and easier to get to. I got straight in there and my younger sister moved up 3 years later. When i finished school she wanted to move to bradfield and she got in there ok, but then she had problems and wanted to go to tapton or king edwards (cant remember which) but she was told it was full and my mum appealed against it but had no luck. So now she stays at bradfield lol

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Thanks Rainbow sky and Chloe091. I have now received the appeal form and in the process of filling it. Any advice on the appeal format will be very helpful.

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I can send you my phone number if you want to have a chat about it in person so to speak, better than sending PM's back and forward.

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We're in a similar situation. We knew we would be moving from Handsworth S9 (our daughter goes to Ballifield but our catchment high is Sheffield Park Academy) We didn't want her to go here or to Handsworth Grange which is the school which is attached to her primary.

 

We planned to move to S11 so applies to Silverdale, High Storrs, King Ecberts and King Edwards. We got turned down for all of them and were allocated Sheff Park Acd.

 

As it happened we moved on 28th Feb but to S10 and I sent an email the week before our move to tell them and to reselect schools. We applied for Tapton, Notre Dame and King Edwards and then High Storrs. We've been told all school are over subscribed and that we will go down as a late application (they have sent us another form to complete the same as the one we had to do originally)

 

My question is what are the chances of getting into one of these schools? She will not under any circumstances go to Sheff Park Acd. It would be two/three buses for her (I work so wont be able to take her to school - she'd leave from the childminders usually and I have an 11month old who'd be at the same childminder ideally)

 

Should I do a supporting letter as well as the application or do I need to just wait on the application going through?

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This sounds pretty tricky but if I was you I would send as much supporting documents with your application, thats what we did, we even followed some on after closing date.

 

 

Good luck, hope you manage to get her into at least one of them.

 

I really feel for everyone going through this as it practically took over our year last year.

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Are you in the catchment of your 2nd or 3rd choice schools?

 

If your top 3 choices are filled from within catchment, as all of the top 3/4 schools in Sheffield are this year, then you must have known your chances were slim.

 

Good luck in your appeal, stay rational, prepare well and pray!

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Right but our catchement school when we applied was sheffield park academy. We have since moved and our catchement school is now notre dame and tapton.

 

I appreciate the schools are over subscribed but what happens to the little ones within the area who can't get in to any of the schools? Surely she can't be expected to travel across the city on her own to a school that is the worst in sheffield?

 

If it's expected then I will home school her.

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