My feed
Premium

Please
or
to access all these features

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Secondary education

Appeal letter confusion...

3 replies

Frikadellen · 06/05/2013 15:11

We have appealed for our sons 1st choice.. the argument against is on the 16th and we have our induvidual on the 22nd.

I am getting confused about what to write in the letter with additional info, that has to be in with the clerk by the 9th. We have already submitted basic info in the original appeal letter.

The argument against from the school is 1 based on our son not obtaining over the 411 in 11+ that they have taken in for. I was obviously prepared for this knowing he had not got this.

However the majority of their argument is size. I know that this is the schools usual argument but I would like some comments here on a few things I feel a bit lost over. I know that this will be most schools argument against so I am not taking it personal but I would obviously like to get our argument as strong as possible.

School capacity is 789 and currently on roll they have 841 However where I get confused is this.


They write in their " against" case
"The school as completed a new sports hall. Which incorporates one new classroom. In addition the school is adding a portacabin classroom. This will allow the school to add one additional form on entry in September 2013 at the request of KCC. The additional pressures that these extra pupils added to an already stretched environment mean that we cannot admit more."

Now if they have agreed to take on a further 30 students for this year. Surely it has been deemed they are capable of having a higher capacity than what they are officially stating that they can cope with above? Or am I reading this wrong?

Additionally I feel most of what they are arguing against (size of the school hall, size of the library, size of dinning room 6th forms needs) has to mean due to the fact the school is already at its max they must have ways to deal with.. Do I ask about how they cope with this or?

I know they had 9 appeals upheld last year out of 75.

We are arguing mostly for extra curriculum reasons as I have learnt this is our strong point for ds. However his primary school has agreed to come along to put accros the school ability he has. The school specializes in mathematics and science and this is ds' huge interests. and this is why we wish him to go there.

Skinners in TWells if that helps any.. DS is on the waiting list but I don't think he will get in via it.

OP posts:
Report
prh47bridge · 06/05/2013 18:51

I don't actually sit on appeal panels but if I saw the bit about additional classrooms in the "against" case I would immediately think that it sounds like the school can take more pupils. They have clearly added these classrooms since the latest capacity calculation. You should find out the current calculated capacity - this will be a range with the actual figure they have quoted somewhere in that range. If it is at or near the bottom of the range that suggests they can cope with more pupils even without the additional classrooms.

I would certainly ask them how they are coping given that they are currently officially over capacity. Also how do they intend to cope given that they are adding a further 30 in Y7 and is one more really going to make that much difference.

You don't need to put any of this in your additional information. That is all about evidence to support your case that your son needs to go to this school and is of the right standard.

Report
admission · 06/05/2013 19:07

You need to understand exactly how the appeal process works. In part 1 of the appeal the school is arguing that it would be prejudicial to the school and the pupils in it to take any more pupils than those who have been given a place.
The school will allocate the places up to the PAN of the school and in this year have additionally taken an extra 30 pupils, which does not affect the PAN as such.
The school has to argue over an above having admitted to PAN that they are full. So they will always put in extra issues like the stretched environment, size of the hall, size of dining room and the sixth form etc is exactly what they have to do. Given that they have taken an extra 30 this year does not mean that there is anything wrong with the PAN it is because they have bought an extra classroom on site.
Yes you should ask questions about how they currently cope and try and knock down some of their arguments so that you lower the level of prejudice. I would try and argue that they have made arrangements to handle the extra 30 with an extra classroom etc and so the fact that they have taken them should not influence the level of prejudice to the school. You need to get that as low as possible as all your argument is around part 2 reasons and only if those reasons outweigh the prejudice to the school will they be offered a place. The fact that 9 appeals out of 75 were upheld gives some suggestion that there is some room for good cases to be offered a place but you need to get the panel to look past the extra 30 pupils they have already taken.

Report
Frikadellen · 06/05/2013 20:44

Thank you I think all we will do is add the schools argument and the cat's scores from year 5.

OP posts:
Report
Please create an account

To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.