My question is the can the school appeal panel that said no to an appeal, be the same panel that said no to this mid year term appeal.
Appealed in 2023 for oversubscribed school,panel said no.
We were told by admissions to try again if things got worse, which they did. Appealed again this year, two out of the three panel members were the same people as previous year.
Admission had already allowed two children in to the oversubscribed school in the last few months, maybe they had SEN ,do not know. One I know came from a private school.
Is it normal for same panel to interview you twice on such an important matter.
I am not saying they won't be impartial, but they already have an opinion on us from before.
Can not find the answer on the admissions policy. Please help. Thanks
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Appeal secondary school
Sejn123 · 05/07/2024 14:31
Pterodacty1 · 07/07/2024 14:58
if he hadnt got a label attached to him, he just doesn't stand a chance.
You don't need a lable. Just a genuine reason.
My son won an appeal (in-year, into Y8) last year. He has no lables or needs. We moved 22 miles from his current school. I applied to all 8 schools within 1h travel time of our new house. All full, all declined.
Started the appeal cycle. Decline, decline again. So in my third appeal, instead of preparing a case, I just said to the panel, in a very downcast snd resigned way, "please tell me what should I do?" I'll get a place at one of these schools anyway though fair access, but I wanted the place sorted sooner so he missed less school. We talked about this in the appeal, not really my son at all. I left with a "yeah, whatever" resigned feeling that we'd just get another decline - but this one worked!
The key was, I think, that I wasn't concerned which school he went to (they are all amazing schools, that's why people want to live here), just that he needed to be at one. And while any one school can argue why its a detriment to them, the panel needed to see the bigger picture that my son had to go to one.
I find it interesting that this method was successful for us, as opposed to the often recommended method of preparing a case why that specific school was needed. In our successful appeal, we didn't talk about that specific school or any specific needs of my son at all. I think it worked because the panel saw a genuine need.
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