Dadsnet - School admissions appeals

WiresDreamDisasters

Oh and I should add an important salient fact... the school I'd prefer for her to go to... she's already at it for nursery!

crunchman

davros said:

All good points, there's no way of knowing whether he'll be just fine in the other school. All I know is I'm doing whatever I can to get him into the outstanding rated school that's 400m from my front door!

...and I paid a premium for my house to be in the catchment! 

If you are 400m from the front door, put your son on the waiting list.  You should be pretty much at the top of it.

Some of the kids will probably not take up their places.  There will also be families moving house etc vacating places.

WiresDreamDisasters said:

Oh and I should add an important salient fact... the school I'd prefer for her to go to... she's already at it for nursery!

At primary level, a lot of it is down to the individual class teacher, as they spend the bulk of the time with them.  If they good a good teacher, they should be alright.  On the other hand, a ropey teacher will be a problem even in a good school.

TimmyO

That's sounds really frustrating - both being so close and having moved there to be more sure if getting in :-( 

As to the experience of attending a school that's not got the top Ofsted level - I'd not worry unduly (unless you know if specific problems there) - with deputy-head in the extends family we heard of examples of schools with unhappy kids where they were able to focus so much on the assesment they got the top report - and also saw first hand what an awesome positive impact a great Head teacher can have on what had previously been an unremarkable school. 

In our area there were schools that went down the tubes over a 5 year period, and the one where my boys went did the opposite in 2 years under a new Head. 

Then even within that, a good teacher and good non-academic support for those kids who need it (or who get bullied or otherwise need help - like my youngest who was really affected by the passing of his Gran) has an enormous bearing on the experience of going to a particular school. 

All that said - yeah I'd be miffed too. 

davros

The more we've been thinking on this, the less we're concerned about the school, and the more about the social side. First choice school, pretty much every kid will live in walking distance. The other school is only 3 miles away but getting there is down a dual carridgeway and across a motorway junction. So, there will be no walking or cycling to see friends. He'll be destined to spend his spare time on computer games.

...but then he probably would have anyway!!!

olafgarten

I believe that the head teacher is the most important part of the school.

When I started high school, the head teacher was great, but the school converted to an Academy and the head teacher was promoted to manage the Academy rather than just a single school. The head teacher replacing him was much weaker and the school quite rapidly got worse.

davros

So, to give some resolution to this thread, we had the appeal hearing this week, and we were successful. That's a huge load off our mind and genuinely will make a massive difference to our loves and the next 9 years that my son is at school.

The school had 20 appeals and 150 places in the intake. We were first on the waiting list on account of living the closest, so I expect that helped.

Thanks all for the advice, turned out well in the end!

sev112

davros said:

The more we've been thinking on this, the less we're concerned about the school, and the more about the social side. First choice school, pretty much every kid will live in walking distance. The other school is only 3 miles away but getting there is down a dual carridgeway and across a motorway junction. So, there will be no walking or cycling to see friends. He'll be destined to spend his spare time on computer games.

...but then he probably would have anyway!!!

That’s interesting, how are they expecting him to get there on his own?