Why would a school do this? (admissions-related)

[AChickenCalledKorma]

It is the day before secondary school places are allocated for Sept 2013. This morning, I have received in the post a rather glossy-looking letter from the Head of one of the schools we put on our list. The letter thanks us for our application and says that they are expecting "a lot of appeals this year". If we wish to appeal, it gives us the number to call "to ensure all relevant paperwork is completed in good time", wishes us well with our choice and "hopes to see us in the very near future".

The letter encloses copies of their recent Ofsted report, which is glowing, so I can understand them wanting to shout about it. But it all feels like some sort of slightly bizarre fishing expedition. If they are expecting a lot of appeals, presumably they are well over-subscribed, so why are they bothering to write to people?

(As it happens, they were not our first preference, largely because they came across as rather pushy and a bit of a results factory. So maybe I'm being over suspicious, but it just seems like a really odd thing to do).

[lljkk]

Does sound weird.
Good luck with getting allocation you wanted (we will here tomorrow, too).

[FillyPutty]

Lol.

My guess is that children who get in on appeals do substantially better than average, and hence the Head is trying to encourage these appeals.

[AChickenCalledKorma]

Lol indeed. That would certainly fit with Head's ethos. Speculation in the playground is that it's a low birth year and they are actually not oversubscribed, so trying to drum up trade. Only 24 hours now.....!

[Blu]

It does sound like more of a marketing ploy than a helpful distribution of forms, especially as schools do not know who has put them first or last or how many might appeal. Expensive mailing excercise. I presume the glowing ofsted has been published since the application deadline?

[AChickenCalledKorma]

Yes - they got their Ofsted a couple of months ago, after the application deadline. I hope they had a good reason for sending the mailing, because it sent a lot of people who had put them down as first choice into a flat spin, because they assumed they were going to have to appeal.

[Blu]

I can imagine! I would have had a sleepless night after a letter like that in advance of the announcements.
Whereabouts in the country are you, Chicken? Roughly.
Hope you got what you were hoping for.